A General Theory of Three-Dimensional Flow in Subsonic and Supersonic Turbomachines of Axial-, Radial, and Mixed-Flow TYpes

Abstract

A general theory of steady three-dimensional flow of a nonviscous fluid in subsonic and supersonic turbomachines having arbitrary hub and casing shapes and a finite number of blades is presented, The solution of the three-dimensional direct and inverse problem is obtained by investigating an appropriate combination of flows on relative stream surfaces whose intersections with a z-plane either upstream of or some- where inside the blade row form a circular arc or a radial line. The equations obtained to describe the fluid flow on these stream surfaces show clearly the several approximations involved in ordinary two-dimensional treatments. They also lead to a solution of the three-dimensional problem in a mathematically two-dimensional manner through iteration. The equation of continuity is combined with the equation of motion in either the tangential or the radial direction through the use of a stream function defined on the surface, and the resulting equation is chosen as the principal equation for such flows. The character of this equation depends on the relative magnitude of the local velocity of sound and a certain combination of velocity components of the fluid. A general method to solve this equation by both hand and high-speed digital machine computations when the equation is elliptic or hyperbolic is described. The theory is applicable to both irrotational and rotational absolute flow at the inlet of the blade row and at both design and off-design operations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1952
Accession Number
ADA380493

Entities

People

  • Chung-hua Wu

Organizations

  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Axial Flow
  • Compressible Flow
  • Computational Science
  • Differential Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid Flow
  • Gas Turbines
  • Guide Vanes
  • Heat Transfer
  • Inlet Guide Vanes
  • Radial Flow
  • Subsonic Flow
  • Supersonic Flow
  • Thermodynamic Properties
  • Three Dimensional Flow
  • Two Dimensional

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics
  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Fluid Dynamics.

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics