Aerodynamic Development of Stages for Industrial Centrifugal Compressors: Part 1 — Testing Requirements and Equipment — Immediate Experimental Evidence

Abstract

Availability of centrifugal compressor stages having a wide variety both of geometric features and performance characteristics is required for manufacturing multi-stage industrial process compressors. Optimizing and reliably predicting stage performance requires the availability of suitable experimental aerodynamic data. Features and capabilities of rigs designed for systematically testing single-stage configurations are described; testing guidelines and requirements associated with successive use of results for both manufacturing design and development purposes are outlined. The complexity of flow fields existing on some relevant gas flow-path areas is shown for evaluating measurement reliability and outlining the nature of major problems specific to industrial compressor stages.