Analysis of the Sensitivity of Multi-Stage Axial Compressors to Fouling at Various Stages

Abstract

This thesis presents a simple, meanline analysis of the impact of blade roughness on the mass flow, work coefficient, and efficiency of a three-stage axial compressor as a function of the location of fouling. First, an extensive review is presented on the state-of-the-art of measuring compressor degradation and on the impact of roughness on loss and deviation in a compressor cascade. The performance of a baseline, three-stage compressor, which has hydrodynamically smooth blades, is predicted. Using this baseline geometry, the influence of roughness in the front, middle and rear stages is calculated using empirical data for the enhanced losses and increased deviation, with a stage stacking technique. Influence coefficients that relate percentage changes in one parameter to percentage changes in other parameters are calculated. This analysis predicts that the most sensitive parameter for predicting fouling in the front stages is the percentage change in mass flow and the most sensitive parameter for predicting fouling in the rear stages is the efficiency.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA421547

Entities

People

  • Jonathan D. Baker

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Axial Flow
  • Axial Flow Compressors
  • Boundary Layer
  • Compressible Flow
  • Compressors
  • Condition Based Maintenance
  • Flow
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Gas Turbines
  • Geometry
  • Inlet Guide Vanes
  • Mass Flow
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Turbines
  • Turbomachinery

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Aerodynamics.