An Experimental Characterization of Tip Leakage Flows and Corresponding Effects on Multistage Compressor Performance

The effect of rotor tip clearances in turbomachinery applications has been a primary research interest for nearly 80 years. Over that time, studies have shown increased tip clearance in axial flow compressors typically has a detrimental effect on overall pressure rise capability, isentropic efficiency, and stall margin. With modern engine designs trending toward decreased core sizes to increase propulsive efficiency (by increasing bypass ratio) or additional compression stages to increase thermal efficiency by increasing the overall pressure ratio, blade heights in the rear stages of the high pressure compressor are expected to decrease. These rear stages typically feature smaller blade aspect ratios, for which endwall flows are more important, and the rotor tip clearance height represents a larger fraction of blade span. As a result, data sets collected with large relative rotor tip clearance heights are necessary to facilitate these future small core design goals.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Berdanier, Reid Adam

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nicole L Key
• Hyoun-Woo Shin
• Guillermo Paniagua
• Aaron J King
• Patricia Davies

• Axial compressor
• Multistage compressor
• Tip clearance
• Tip leakage flow

Repository record dc:identifier

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1167

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:docs.lib.purdue.edu:open_access_dissertations-2383