Rotor Blade-to-Blade Measurements Using Particle Image Velocimetry

Abstract

The study of turbomachinery flow fields requires detailed experimental data. The rotating parts of turbomachines greatly limit the measurement techniques that can be used. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) appears to be a suitable tool to investigate the blade-to-blade flow in a rotor. The facility is a subsonic axial-flow compressor. The experimental apparatus enables the recording of a double-exposed photograph in a circumferential plane located at 85 percent of the blade height. The illumination plane has an axial direction and is provided by a pulsed ruby laser. The tracers used are submicron glycerine oil droplets. Data are processed by Young’s fringes method. Measurements were performed at 3000, 4500, and 6000 rpm with velocities in the range of 30 to 70 m/s. Steady operating conditions are chosen in such a way that the effect of radial velocity on PIV measurements can be neglected. Experimental problems encountered included homogeneous seeding of the flow field and laser light scattering from blade surfaces. The uncertainty affecting the velocity determination corresponds to 2 percent of the measured value. For a given set of operating conditions, 10 PIV pictures are recorded. The periodic flow field is approximated by averaging the experimental data point by point. Upstream and downstream velocity triangles are confirmed by measurements obtained from pressure probes. PIV measurement results were found to be similar to those of a blade-to-blade potential-flow calculation.