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Centrifugal Compressor Diffuser Optimization by the Means of DoE Methods

and RSM

Conference Paper · May 2017

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ISME2017-1974 The 25th Annual International Conference on Mechanical Engineering
ISME2017, 2-4 May 2017, Tarbiat Modares university, Tehran, Iran
Centrifugal Compressor Diffuser Optimization by the Means of DoE Methods and RSM
Moein Talebian1,Mohammad Mojaddam2
1,2-Mechanical & Energy Engineering Department, Shahid Beheshti University
Abstract:
Centrifugal compressors are broadly implemented in many
industries because of their ability to handle low and
moderate mass flow rates to obtain high pressure ratios.
Design and optimization of compressor components i.e
impeller and vane-less diffuser are considered by many
researchers as they play an important role in compressor
performance.
In this research the vane-less diffuser part of a
turbocharger compressor is optimized using design of
experiment (DOE) technique and response surface
methodology (RSM). Two different scenarios are
considered to change diffuser geometry. In the first one, the
diffuser discharge width is maintained constant and the
inlet section is changed by varying three parameters. The
second strategy also changes the discharge section width.
Diffuser performance is evaluated through compressor
efficiency and pressure ratio and also diffuser pressure
recovery and total pressure loss coefficients. The results
show that compressor efficiency and pressure ratio increase
by 2.4% and 2.9% respectively.
Key words: diffuser-design of experiment-meridional
plane-centrifugal compressor
Introduction:
A typical one stage centrifugal compressor has an inlet
section, an impeller, a diffuser part and a volute. Flow
enters the compressor through inlet section and it is
oriented to impeller eye. Energy transfer is performed in
impeller part and high velocity stream passes through
diffuser to transform the kinetic energy at impeller outlet
into static pressure. The volute collects and delivers high
pressure stream to downstream pipeline. In general, two
types of diffusers are matched with an impeller, a vane-less
or a vanned diffuser. Vane-less diffusers can cover wide
operating range of compressor in acceptable efficiency
however the vanned type could reach higher efficiency by
reducing the length of flow path and diameter [1].
Two parallel walls is the simplest design for a vane-less
diffuser, however different configurations are introduced in
literature to have an acceptable level of static pressure
recovery. Rapid diffusion in the inlet part of diffuser causes
flow separation and considerable losses[2];
The diffuser part area variation is performed by changing
the shroud curve as it is more flexible to adjust the passage
width without changing the impeller back plate.
In this research the diffuser part of a centrifugal compressor
is optimized by changing the shroud curve. The DoE
technique is used to explore the design space and the
results are used to obtain an approximated function for each
performance parameter. Genetic Algorithm is used to
optimize the approximated functions to obtain the best
geometry.
1. Mechanical engineering Bs.c. student, moein.tlbn@gmail.com
2. Assistant Professor, 021-73932681, m_mojaddam@sbu.ac.ir, )corresponding author(
Method:
Design of experiments (DoE) technique helps the designer
to select the appropriate test cases to find the effects of
input variables on the output variables. As this method
limits the design space, it has a reasonable calculation
expense and relatively acceptable accuracy. It can be
defined as a combination of mathematical and statistical
methods[3]. The common methods to generate the design
space are full factorial, fractional factorial, central
composite design (CCD), Taguchi and Box-Behnken
methods. These algorithms form an imaginary experiment
domain around the point which optimization is intended
and the problem is solved in the generated design space.
Response surface methodology (RSM) is considered as
DoE supplementary tool which accelerates the optimization
finding process[4]. The output variables which are
collected from exploring the design space are fed into RSM
and it simply fits a relation, e.g., Eq. 1 (2nd order). In which
xi are the design values, yi are output values, ε is the error
and βs are the unknown coefficients.
n n
y i  0   i x i   ii x i 2   ij x i x j  
i 1 i 1 ij
(1)
The response functions (yi), could be optimized by the
means of commonly used optimization methods i.e. GA.
The fitted surface is obtained using least square method and
the employed function optimization is genetics algorithm.
Test Case:
The investigated compressor has an impeller with 6 blades
and 6 splitters and a vane-less diffuser. Impeller outlet
diameter is 82mm and the inlet hub and shroud diameters
are 22mm and 56mm, respectively. The diffuser inlet and
outlet width are 5.5mm and 4.3mm, respectively and its
diffuser outlet radius to inlet radius is 1.7. The compressor
design point mass flow rate is 0.25kg/s at 90krpm
rotational speed.
Two scenarios are considered for vane-less diffuser shroud
curve optimization. As shown in Fig. 1 points A and C are
the diffuser shroud curve start and end points. The curve
has a linear section which starts at point B. In the 1st
scenario the control points are radial location of B, rB, and
the slopes of a curve between points A and B which are
shown by α2 and α1. In scenario II, there is no slope change
at point B and the parameters are α2, rB and diffuser outlet
width, zC.
For each parameter a variation range is selected in a way
that the resulted shroud curve has acceptable smoothness
and geometry, hence the bounds should be small enough to
have accurate prediction of the fitted function behavior.
The range of the parameters variation in the 2nd scenario is
adjusted based on the results of the first section in order to
 (P1). The optimized value for pressure ratio shows 2.8%
increase (P2) and the optimized case for Cp shows 3.47%
improvement (P3) in comparison with the original case
(P0).
In the 2nd scenario, two geometries shows the better
performance, one with the highest isentropic efficiency,
highest pressure ration and the lowest pressure loss by
2.41%, 2.9%, and 1% improvements (Q1) in comparison
with the original case(Q0). Another case experiences the
highest pressure recovery by 6.7% increase (Q2).

Figure 1-Meridional view of the impeller with design

parameters

achieve better results as α2 and rB are common parameters

in both scenarios. It is required to mention that the curved
section between points A and B is a piecewise cubic spline.

Simulation:
A numerical three dimensional model is prepared for Figure 2-Optimal diffuser Shroud Curves
analyzing the cases in ANSYS-CFX module. Inlet section,
impeller and diffuser are considered in the model. A The difference in static pressure at the outlet of the impeller
structured hexahedral grid is used for all parts. One is the main reason of efficiency and PR promotion and that
impeller channel is considered in model and the frozen is due to diffuser curvature at the beginning of the profile.
rotor method is used for considering relative motion
between impeller and stationary parts. Mesh Independency 198 kpa 203 kpa 202 kpa
analysis shows that around 600,000 grids for each channel
are considered.
Boundary conditions are the total pressure and temperature
at inlet and the mass flow rate at diffuser outlet. The shear-
stress transport (SST) turbulence model and first order
upwind discretization scheme is used. Convergence obtains
when the residuals decrease to 5E-5.

Results and discussion:

Using full factorial method for three parameters, the design
space includes 29 design points. Hence for each case, four
performance parameters are evaluated which are the P0 (Q0) P1 Q1
pressure ratio (Eq. 2), isentropic efficiency (Eq. 3), static Figure 3- Static Pressure Contour
pressure recovery coefficient (Eq. 4) and total pressure loss
coefficient (Eq. 5). Conclusion:
The results show that both isentropic efficiency and
P03
Pr  (2) pressure loss are the same indicator for diffuser
P00 performance in this study, however pressure recovery does
  1  not vary in the same manner. The scenario II could better
c  T 00  Pr 1 / T 03 T 00  (3) capture the optimized geometry and case-Q1 also showed
 
  about 1% improvement in pressure recovery. As the
P3  P2 scenario II, targets the diffuser outlet width, it could be
CP  (4) concluded that this parameter could improve diffuser
P02  P2 performance considerably.
P02  P03
KL  (5)
P02  P2 Selected References:
[1] Cumpsty, N., 1989. Compressor Aerodynamics. John
Using RSM method, for each performance parameter, an Wiley and sons Inc..
approximated function is generated and the function is [2] Japikse, D., 1996. Centrifugal compressor design and
optimized using GA. The optimization method, introduced performance. Thompson-Shore Inc..
the new design point which could be analyzed and added to [3] Montgomery, D. C., Runger, G. C., and Hubele, N. F.,
design space to generate new approximation function. This 2009. Engineering Statistics. John Wiley & Sons.
procedure will continue up to a predefined error between [4] Bonaiuti, D., Arnone, A., Ermini, M., and
resulted function. 32 generations were used in GA. Baldassarre, L., 2002. “Analysis and optimization of
In the first scenario, the optimized case is the same for transonic centrifugal compressor impellers using the
isentropic efficiency and pressure loss which shows 2.29% design of experiments technique”, ASME Turbo Expo
and 0.5% improvement for these parameters respectively Proceeding, pp. 1089-1098.

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