Self-Adaptive Aeropropulsion Components-Enhancing Axial Compressor Performance
Abstract
The principal technical objective of this work is to explore the use of active feedback stabilization to suppress the performance limiting instabilities endemic to jet engine compression systems known as rotating stall and surge. Previous work under ONR sponsorship has shown that these disturbances are the mature form of small amplitude travelling waves characteristic of turbomachinery, and that damping of the small amplitude waves prevents rotating stall. A major theoretical conclusion of this work, backed by experimental data, is that the compressor acts as a fluid oscillator with the rotating stall regimes representing the eigenmodes of the system. Thus, it is important to understand both the details of the oscillator (the compressor) and its forcing functions (distortion and turbulent fluctuations). Almost nothing is currently known about the nature of turbulent fluctuations in a jet engine and their relationship to compressor stability since, prior to the concept of active compressor stabilization, there was little motivation to pursue these questions. The work to date has been on low speed research compressors with uniform inflow and low turbulence levels. The main aim of the new work is to extend both theory and experiment to include wave detection and active compressor control in the presence of inlet distortion and high turbulence levels characteristic of actual aircraft installations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA246123
Entities
People
- A. H. Epstein
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology