Investigation of Suction Flow Control on Centrifugal Compressor with Vaned Diffuser

Abstract

In this study, the effect of suction flow control on a centrifugal compressor at operation and stall flow rates was investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The compressor geometry was reconstructed from available open source profile data and the CFD analyses have been performed on this geometry using the appropriate mesh. To validate the CFD results, the compressor performance line was acquired and compared with the experimental results obtained at the design rotational speed. Then, suction flow control was employed at various suction slot positions with different suction flow rates to improve the performance of the compressor at operation and stall flow rates. As a result of the suction flow control trials, 0.85% increase in pressure ratio and 0.8% increase in adiabatic efficiency were achieved while the compressor was running at operation flow rate. The performance improvements corresponding to the stall flow rate of the compressor were 2.5% increase in pressure ratio and 2% increase in adiabatic efficiency.