The end-wall blockage in axial compressors has been the subject of several investigations over a period of many years. This paper reviews and compares various approaches to determining the blockage, particularly in the “repeating” stage, a stage deeply embedded in the compressor where an equilibrium state is reached, the flow through any one stage repeating in the next. These approaches include: (i) correlations of displacement thickness measured in compressor rigs; (ii) a relationship between outlet blockage and the clearance area, based both on an empirical development of a simple model of the flow through the clearance space and full CFD calculations of the flow; (iii) momentum analysis of the flow through the blockage region, developed from the boundary layer analyses of some years ago, but not now relying on boundary layer concepts. [S0889-504X(00)01502-6]

Issue Section:
Technical Papers
Keywords:
compressors, flow simulation, fluid dynamics
Topics:
Blades, Clearances (Engineering), Compressors, Displacement, Flow (Dynamics), Momentum, Pressure, Rotors, Stators, Boundary layers, Equilibrium (Physics)
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