Low-Speed Model Testing Studies for an Exit Stage of High Pressure Compressor

This paper discusses detailed experimental studies of a low-speed large-scale axial compressor, which is typical of an exit stage of HPC. Numerous measuring techniques were performed, and detailed experimental results were obtained, including inlet boundary layer total pressure distributions, overall compressor and model-stage performance, traverse flow field between blade rows and inside the stator for the model stage, static pressure on the stator blade and casing dynamic pressure of the rotor. The objective of the study is to assess the low-speed model compressor design and verify 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Results show that inlet endwall blockage requirement of HPC exit stage is achieved; the low-speed model compressor design is fundamentally successful; the flow rate and pressure rise requirements are met at the design operating point, although the flow loss is relatively larger than design values for the lower half span, which can be attributed to a certain hub-corner separation. Furthermore, the reliability of adopted 3D commercial CFD code is validated. It is proved that the low-speed model testing technique is still a prospective way for the design of high performance HPC.