Comparative Studies on Short and Long Length-Scale Stall Cell Propagating in an Axial Compressor Rotor

In a low-speed compressor test rig at Kyushu University, multiple short length-scale stall cells appeared under a mild stall condition and turned into a long length-scale cell under a deep stall condition. Then, for the two types of stall cell, the pressure distribution on the casing wall and the velocity distributions upstream and downstream of the rotor have been measured by high-response pressure transducers and a slanted hot-wire, respectively. The time-dependent ensemble-averages of these distributions have been obtained phase-locked to both the rotor and the stall cell rotation using a “double phase-locked averaging technique” developed by the authors. The structures of the two stall cells are compared: The short length-scale stall cell is characterized by a concentrated vortex spanning from the casing wall ahead of the rotor to the blade suction surface. In the long length-scale stall cell, the separation vortices go upstream irregularly when blade separation develops in the front half of the cell, and re-enter the rotor on the hub side in the rear half of it. The unsteady aerodynamic force and torsional moment acting on the blade tip section have been evaluated from the time-dependent ensemble-averages of the casing wall pressure distribution. The force fluctuation due to the short length-scale cells is somewhat smaller than that for the long length-scale cell. The blade suffers two peaks of the force during a period of the short length-scale cells passing through it. The moment fluctuation for the short length-scale cells is considerably larger than that for the long length-scale cell.