Numerical Study on End Wall Synthetic Jet to Improve Performance and Stability Margin of a High-speed Subsonic Axial Compressor Rotor

Abstract

Synthetic jet has been confirmed as a novel flow control technology. However, the existing application research on synthetic jet in axial flow compressor is still confined to cascade or low-speed axial flow compressors, and rarely high-speed axial flow compressor. The effects of three vital parameters (i.e., the action position, frequency, peak velocity) on the aerodynamic performance and stability margin are systematically studied, with a high-speed compressor rotor as the object of numerical simulation. An optimal excitation position is determined, corresponding to the core position of the compressor top blockage, as indicated by the results, which increases the stability margin and efficiency of the compressor by 13.2% and 1.15% respectively. The excitation frequency has a threshold ranging from 300Hz to 600Hz. Only when the frequency of synthetic jet exceeds this threshold can it suppress the tip leakage flow. Besides, the jet peak velocity may not have a threshold. However, the higher the peak velocity, the greater the mixing loss between the jet and the mainstream of the compressor rotor will be, thus limiting the further increase of the compressor efficiency.

Keywords

• compressor
• end wall
• synthetic jet
• performance improvement
• numerical simulation