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U.S. ARMY
RESEARCH LABORATORY
Jerry R. Wood
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Michael D. Hathaway
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
December 2002
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RESEARCH LABORATORY
Jerry R. Wood
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Michael D. Hathaway
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
December 2002
Available from
NASA Center for Aerospace Information National Technical Information Service
7121 Standard Drive 5285 Port Royal Road
Hanover, MD 21076 Springfield, VA 22100
Summary .......................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Symbols ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Part I: Level of Technical Advancement ......................................................................................... 4
Basic Aerodynamic Technology Elements .................................................................................. 4
Aerodynamic loading and loss synthesis ................................................................................. 4
Anticipated technology advancements .................................................................................... 5
Extending the Design Envelope ................................................................................................... 6
Four-Stage, High-Pressure-Compressor Aerodynamic Technology Demonstrator ..................... 8
Meanline performance synthesis ............................................................................................. 8
Throughflow .......................................................................................................................... 10
Part II: Three-Dimensional Blading Development ........................................................................ 14
Three-Dimensional Inverse Method ........................................................................................... 14
Reblading Using INV3D ............................................................................................................ 15
Multistage Performance Evaluation ........................................................................................... 19
Procedure ............................................................................................................................... 19
APNASA results .................................................................................................................... 20
Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 25
Appendixes
A—Geometry ............................................................................................................................. 27
B—Computed Axisymmetric Averaged Spanwise Profiles at Design Throttle ........................ 31
References ..................................................................................................................................... 36
NASA/TP—2002-211568 iii
Aerodynamic Design Study of Advanced Multistage Axial Compressor
Louis M. Larosiliere
U.S. Army Research Laboratory
Glenn Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio 44135
Jerry R. Wood
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Glenn Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio 44135
Michael D. Hathaway
U.S. Army Research Laboratory
Glenn Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio 44135
NASA/TP—2002-211568 1
and system constraints, such as reduced cost, low environ- The quest for further aerodynamic performance
mental emissions, and wide operability under adverse advancements is becoming progressively more difficult
conditions. An interesting account of the first 50 years of because of a dwindling residue of losses. Prohibitive
aeropropulsion gas turbines was offered by Singh (ref. 1), demands such as performance invariance to various oper-
who clarified the trail taken to improve fuel economy by ating conditions and hardware degradation are imposing
way of higher thermal and propulsive efficiencies. severe aerodynamic limitations. Easing these limitations
Figure 1 shows the effects of component efficiency, requires the application of new technology to manage the
compressor delivery temperature, and turbine entry tem- particular flow structures responsible for performance
perature on the thermal efficiency of a simple Brayton shortfalls. Effective strategies for achieving this are not at
cycle using a hydrocarbon fuel and metallic materials. all clear. A vital issue is whether to advance by refining
The implication is that overall polytropic efficiencies of and extending well-proven concepts, perhaps in the face
94 percent with compression ratios in the range of 60:1 of diminishing returns, or by changing to something
and beyond must be realized to arrive at thermal efficien- more unpredictable yet inviting.
cies surpassing 55 percent. Techniques for achieving A research program being conducted at the Glenn
low losses at high aerodynamic loadings have therefore Research Center is investigating advanced design con-
received renewed interest in many recent turbomachinery cepts that will lead to compact, high-efficiency, and wide-
studies (refs. 2 and 3). operability compressors. This is a direct response to the
Turbocompression technology has been advanced need for further performance gains from current
continuously by higher work capacity per stage as a result turbomachinery systems. To service these gains, a com-
of increases in rotor speed, aerodynamic loading, and bination of evolutionary and revolutionary approaches to
throughflow Mach numbers. Using sophisticated diag- technology development was selected. The evolutionary
nostic tools involving CFD and measurement tech- approach employs advancements in simulation techniques
niques, more suitable blade shapes with relatively low to refine traditional design concepts in a bid for higher
losses at higher diffusion and Mach number levels have efficiencies at increased aerodynamic loading levels,
been deployed. Better materials and matured structural whereas the revolutionary approach attempts to explore
analysis methods have also allowed increases in rotor unconventional concepts and paradigms for increased
speed with significant weight reductions. Improved pressure ratio, higher efficiencies, and wider operability.
mechanical design and fabrication techniques have
raised the quality of current products.
Turbine entry
65 temperature,
K
Polytropic Second 1800
Thermal efficiency, percent
60 efficiency, quarter,
21st century 1600
p,
percent
55 1600
94
92 1400
50 Early 21st
century
1600
Engines in
service 13.7
45
Takeoff 1400
88 Typical cruise
40
600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000
Compressor delivery temperature, K
Figure 1.—Impact of component efficiency on thermal efficiency (Singh, ref. 1)
2 NASA/TP—2002-211568
Part I of this report depicts the level of technical Symbols
advancement being sought, quantifies this advancement
in terms of the basic aerodynamic technology elements of Aex passage exit area, in.
current design systems, and identifies a four-stage core
compressor configuration for advanced technology Aθ tangential projection of blade surface area
development. A preliminary aerodynamic design of the Dfactor diffusion factor
four-stage configuration is described in the context of
current practice. Custom-tailored blade contours were E effectivity ratio
initially developed from mean camber surfaces derived
f blade mean camber surface, f (r,z)
from axisymmetric stream surfaces generated by an
inverse throughflow calculation. Isolated blade-row fstack blade stacking line, fstack(r)
CFD simulations provided some guidance to fine-tune
∆H total enthalpy change, BTU/lbm
the blading. A multistage CFD computation using a
mixing plane scheme indicated an efficiency potential for Ldiff equivalent diffusion length
the four-stage compressor that is within current stan-
dards. In addition, performance-limiting flow features, Ldiff / Aex ratio of equivalent diffusion length
such as leakage-vortex-dominated endwall action and/or to effective passage exit width
reaction and strong shock-boundary-layer interactions,
were identified and targeted for improvement. The possi- M1 inlet Mach number
bility of further performance gains requires a design ṁ mass flow rate, lbm/s
method that effectively extends the custom-tailored
blading philosophy into the endwall regions and P total pressure, psia
adequately allows matching of blade rows in the multi- PR pressure ratio
stage environment.
In part II of the report, an aerodynamic design of the p static pressure, psia
front two stages of the four-stage configuration is devel- ∆p static-pressure difference between blade
oped using the best available CFD tools. The three-
dimensional inverse design method of Dang (ref. 4) was upper and lower surfaces at fixed axial
used to define advanced transonic rotor blading. To
positions, ∆p = ∆p(r,z)
illustrate the benefits of this method, the front two stages
of the four-stage configuration were rebladed and the Rec chord Reynolds number
performance potential evaluated. The multistage aerody-
T blade thickness distribution, T(r,z)
namic environment was modeled using the substantiated
method of Adamczyk (ref. 5). This modeling permitted a t/g ratio of clearance to staggered spacing
reliable prediction of the performance potential of the
U blade speed, ft/s
two-stage group and guided design revisions, including
the facilitation of stage matching. The results show the V velocity, ft/s
critical role of this method and illustrate achievable
performance using an evolutionary approach buttressed Vθ absolute tangential velocity, ft/s
by advanced turbomachinery CFD. Wc inlet corrected flow, lbm/s
Geometric information for all blade rows is given in
appendix A, and spanwise profiles of axisymmetric aver- z/s ratio of axial spacing to pitch
aged flow properties extracted from the multistage CFD α swirl angle from axial direction, deg
simulation of the front two-stages at the aerodynamic
design point are given in appendix B. η efficiency, percent
NASA/TP—2002-211568 3
Λ blade aspect ratio; ratio of average length to mixing; and (3) aerodynamic stability. The demarcation
of these three elements is sometimes distorted by various
pitchline chord empirical correlations that implicitly account for aerody-
namic transport. Denton (ref. 6) gives a good physical
σ solidity; ratio of chord to average tangential
description of entropy production in turbomachines and
spacing Greitzer (ref. 7) does likewise for aerodynamic stability.
Adamczyk (ref. 5) and Adkins and Smith (ref. 8) discuss
ϕ flow coefficient, Vz /Um
aerodynamic transport phenomena in turbocompressors.
ψ 2
work coefficient, ∆H/ Um An adaptation of the loss model of Koch and Smith
(ref. 9) and the stage maximum static-pressure-rise pre-
Ω corrected mechanical speed, rpm diction method of Koch (ref. 10) was used to estimate
both the efficiency potential and the maximum aerody-
Subscripts: namic loading capability for the present study. The losses
are grouped according to source: (1) viscous dissipation
abs absolute along the blade-surface profile and the resultant wake
mixing; (2) endwall viscous shear including interactions
ex exit
with secondary and leakage flows; and (3) shocks on the
in inlet blading. Blade-surface-profile losses are linked to
suction-surface diffusion (Vmax/Vte ), blade trailing-edge
le leading edge
thickness, Reynolds number, and surface roughness.
m meanline Endwall losses that have been determined from hub and
casing viscous layer measurements are related to aspect
max maximum ratio, solidity, blade stagger, endwall clearance, blade-
p polytropic row axial spacing, and aerodynamic loading level. The
shock loss model relates passage shock losses to inlet and
ref reference exit Mach numbers. A leading-edge bow shock loss is
rel relative calculated based on the inlet Mach number and leading-
edge thickness.
t total The stage maximum static-pressure-rise potential is
te trailing edge linked to stage geometric parameters (e.g., solidity,
aspect ratio, stagger, etc.) by a correlation based on an
tip tip analogy between compressor blade passages and straight
tt total to total diffusers. There are also corrections for Reynolds num-
ber, endwall leakage, and blade-row axial spacing. The
z axial blading is averaged over a stage without separating the
rotor and stator performance. This is a simple yet effec-
tive method to complement conceptual design calcula-
Part I: Level of Technical Advancement tions made at a representative section of a machine (i.e.,
meanline with implicit accounting of aerotransport). A
Basic Aerodynamic Technology Elements relative aerodynamic loading parameter is defined by the
ratio of the actual stage pressure-rise coefficient to that
Aerodynamic loading and loss synthesis.—Turbo- predicted by the correlation (the effectivity ratio E).
compressor aerodynamics comprises a complex array of Hence, an effectivity of 1 (E = 1.0) indicates limit loading.
intimately linked thermofluid processes that are difficult It can be argued that this is a more appropriate indicator
to separate into neat compartments. However, simplified of aerodynamic loading from the point of view of insta-
models, which sufficiently incorporate the important bility initiated by the endwall flow. Measurements
physical phenomena, have been synthesized into design (ref. 11) have indicated that for well-designed blading
systems. Three essential aerodynamic technology ele- with adequate circulation capacity, aerodynamic instabil-
ments of such design systems are (1) entropy production ity is likely to occur when endwall viscous layers increase
or loss; (2) aerodynamic transport including spanwise to a limiting value dependent on effectivity and clearance.
4 NASA/TP—2002-211568
The loss and aerodynamic loading models are unified in currently underway should provide the knowledge
the sense that endwall loss and aerodynamic blockage are required for practically achieving this control.
interrelated through aerodynamic loading. Thus, it is The stage maximum static-pressure-rise capability was
possible to determine the maximum pressure rise that can postulated to increase relative to the state of the practice
be obtained with moderate losses but not necessarily to as shown in figure 3 for a fixed Reynolds number Re, the
determine the point of instability. ratio of clearance to staggered spacing t/g, and the ratio of
Anticipated technology advancements.—Changes to axial spacing to pitch z/s. The abscissa, Ldiff / Aex , is
the loss and peak pressure-rise models were made to the ratio of an equivalent diffusion length Ldiff to an
reflect anticipated aerodynamic technology advancements. effective passage exit width (square root of passage exit
It was surmised that low blade profile losses could area Aex). This ratio can be expressed in terms of concep-
be extended to higher diffusion levels by employing tual design parameters (solidity, aspect ratio, stagger) at
boundary-layer control techniques. Cascade tests and a representative section of the machine. Shown on the
boundary-layer analysis have shown the potential for ordinate is the stage maximum effective static-pressure-
effecting this through diffusion control using tailored rise coefficient averaged over the rotor and stator (see
contours, staged diffusion (e.g., tandem and/or splittered ref. 10 for details). Also indicated in the figure is a data
architectures), or active diffusion control (e.g., surface point from a low-speed rig with high-stagger, forward-
transpiration or surface morphing). Figure 2 shows the swept blading. This data point is clearly above the state-
postulated improvement in the ratio of the blade trailing- of-the-practice level and reasons for this are under
edge momentum thickness to the chord (i.e., viscous investigation using a simple physical model developed
dissipation) relative to the state of the practice for a fixed- by Khalid et al. (ref. 13) for clearance-related blockage.
chord Reynolds number Rec, an inlet Mach number M1, The results from this model provide a quantification of
and an axial velocity-density ratio (AVDR). Note that aerodynamic blockage and a framework for screening
the reference is the state of the practice extracted from endwall flow-management strategies based on casing
the method of Koch and Smith rather than state of the art treatment, vector diagrams, or pressure-loading distribu-
because there are some uncertainties as to what the tion. The model corroborates the experiments of Lee and
latter is. Also indicated is a data point assembled from Greitzer (ref. 14), who demonstrated significant enhance-
measurements (ref. 12) on a compressor stator equipped ments to the peak static-pressure rise of a blade row by the
with bleed slots for boundary-layer control. Research downstream removal of low-momentum flow and the
1.0
Projections with
Projections with advanced
Maximum effective static-pressure-rise
advanced aerodynamic
aerodynamic concepts 0.9
0.040 concepts
State-of-the-practice 0.8
Ratio of trailing-edge momentum
0.035
technology (Koch and
0.030 Smith, ref. 10) 0.7
coefficient
thickness to chord
0.020 0.5
State-of-the-practice
0.015 0.4 technology (Koch's
Aspirated correlation, ref. 11)
0.010 cascade 0.3
demonstrator
0.005 0.2
0 1 2 3 4 5
0.000 Equivalent conical diffusion angle parameter,
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 Ldiff/(Aex)0.5
Suction-surface diffusion ratio, Vmax/Vte
Figure 3.—Enhancements to stage maximum static-
Figure 2.—Enhancements to profile loss model. Fixed- pressure rise. Fixed Reynolds number, Re, 130 000;
chord Reynolds number, Rec, 106; inlet Mach number, ratio of clearance to staggered spacing, t/g, 0.055;
M1, 0.05; axial velocity-density ratio, AVDR, 1.0. ratio of axial spacing to pitch, z/s, 0.38.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 5
upstream injection of flow with sufficient streamwise 1.3
momentum.
1.2
It was judged that managing the endwall flow (e.g., Effectivity
1.1 .95
represent the design and operational space of a
turbocompressor stage with a given geometric form and 1.0
flow type. This space is spanned by a suitably averaged .85
flow coefficient (ϕ = Vz /Um ) and work coefficient 0.9
6 NASA/TP—2002-211568
6.0 specific performance trends, figure 5 presents the effect
of rotor tip speed and stage aerodynamic loading on stage
5.5
Lines of constant total-pressure ratio and polytropic efficiency for the pro-
5.0
Total-pressure ratio, PRtt
polytropic efficiency
4.5 of higher work coefficients and stage total-pressure ratio.
.95 In addition, high efficiencies are extended to more el-
4.0
evated loadings. An increased pressure ratio per stage has
3.5 .85 traditionally been realized partly because of higher rotor
3.0 .75 speeds and primarily because of a lower aspect ratio,
2.5 .65 increased solidity, and higher stagger blading. These
design choices, as can be inferred from figure 3, are often
2.0
made to increase stage maximum static-pressure rise,
1.5 thereby insuring adequate aerodynamic stability, which
(b)
1.0 can often be accompanied by increased losses. A report
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 by Wisler, Koch, and Smith (ref. 15) illustrates the
Rotor tip speed, Utip, ft/s
interactions between different design choices and offers
Figure 5.—Performance trends for prototypical stage. guidance for selecting multistage core compressor
(a) State-of-the-practice technology. (b) Postulated design parameters that have a high-efficiency potential.
advanced technology. Based upon these results and some vector diagram con-
siderations, figure 6 was constructed using information
ary E = 1.0. For a given relative aerodynamic loading from actual compressor rig tests of machines having a
level E, flow and work coefficients can be selected to certain degree of similarity in terms of tip clearance,
maximize efficiency. stability requirement, specific flow, and blading. The
Evident from figure 4 is a significant extension of the abscissa is the Skoch parameter (SP), which is defined as
design space in the direction of higher work coefficients
made possible by the postulated aerodynamic technology 1/ 2
advancements. A potential increase of three points in σϕ 1 2
SP = 1+
peak polytropic efficiency is depicted along with the Λψ ϕ − tan α in
availability of more options for high-efficiency designs.
Although the operability space, including flow range, is
not directly addressed herein, the choice of how far and in where σ is the solidity (the ratio of chord to average
which direction to extend the design space is greatly tangential spacing); Λ is the blade aspect ratio (the ratio
influenced by operability considerations. To illustrate of average length to pitchline chord); and αin is the stage
NASA/TP—2002-211568 7
General Electric
0.94 Energy Efficient Engine Meanline
Advanced
Polytropic efficiency, p, percent
0.88 TESCOM
stage one
0.86
NASA Inverse
Throughflow Geometry
0.84 two-stage NASA-Allison editor design
UD0300M INV3D
fan two stage Maestro
MISES
0.82
0.80
1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4
Skoch parameter, SP
Figure 6.—Peak efficiency trends with various design CFD tools
ADPAC
choices for geometric form and vector diagram. Mechanics
APNASA
SWIFT
TURBO
inlet swirl angle. This parameter, averaged over all
stages, is analogous to a specific speed. The figure indi- Figure 7.—Aerodynamic design system.
cates the existence of judicious combinations of geomet-
ric form and vector diagram, which lead to high
efficiencies. This is discussed by Wisler, Koch, and demonstrator compatible with current multistage core
Smith, who showed the competition amongst various loss compressors for high-bypass-ratio turbofans. Although
sources as aspect ratio and solidity are varied. Thus, the a specific application was not defined, a four-stage
Skoch parameter provides a basis for trading geometric configuration under current aeromechanical constraints
form and vector diagram (e.g., compactness and oper- was selected. The execution of the aerodynamic design
ability) to optimize efficiency. consists of an iterative loop between several computer
To achieve the low parts count and high efficiency programs as illustrated in figure 7. This methodology is
required of modern turbocompression systems, advanced essentially the same as that currently employed in most
technology concepts have been driven to high-work- design offices with perhaps the exception of the three-
coefficient and moderate-flow-coefficient designs. This dimensional inverse design method. The steps of the
trend is illustrated in figure 6 with the projected advanced so-called preliminary design phase of this process and
technology goal for the chosen Skoch parameter. The their interactions are outlined below; the more detailed
advanced technology goal is a result of design choices design phase, including three-dimensional inverse design
orchestrated using the anticipated aerodynamic technol- and multistage CFD, is described in part II.
ogy advancements. A discussion of these design choices Meanline performance synthesis.—Four parameters
follows. were established at the outset. The corrected specific flow
(flow per unit annulus area) at the first rotor inlet was
40.0 lbm/s-ft2 corresponding to an average axial inlet
Four-Stage, High-Pressure-Compressor Aerody- Mach number of 0.6, which is consistent with advanced
namic Technology Demonstrator core compressors. A maximum rotor corrected tip speed
of 1500 ft/s was assumed based on turbine stress consid-
So far, no definitive path has been identified for achiev- erations for a high-bypass-ratio turbofan. An average
ing the assumed technology advancements. A research Skoch parameter in the range of 1.5 to 2.0 was selected for
configuration was conceived with the intent of evaluating high efficiency and compactness as suggested from
how far the use of advanced turbomachinery CFD and figure 6. With a casing diameter of 21.08 in. and a radius
three-dimensional design concepts might permit one to ratio of 0.528 at the first rotor inlet, the mass flow
progress in realizing high efficiency at increased loading corresponding to the prescribed specific flow was
levels. The objective was to configure a technology 70.0 lbm/s. The design can be scaled to different mass
8 NASA/TP—2002-211568
TABLE I.COMPARISON OF STAGE LOADING AND
POLYTROPIC EFFICIENCY
Stage Cumulative State of the practice Advanced technology
total-pressure Effectivity Polytropic Effectivity Polytropic
ratio, ratio, efficiency, ratio, efficiency,
PRtt E ηp, E ηp,
percent percent
1 2.372 0.894 0.890 0.755 0.923
2 4.645 .935 .883 .779 .920
3 8.213 .982 .864 .820 .919
4 12.00 .883 .899 .730 .927
Overall 12.00 ----- 0.883 ----- 0.920
flow rates if required. Most of the remaining characteris- considerations of matching with an additional down-
tics resulted from the objective of designing a multi- stream stage. Stage efficiency was refined by balancing
stage compressor with a high-efficiency potential at an stage reaction, inlet swirl, solidity, aspect ratio, and axial
elevated loading level. velocity diffusion. Orchestrating all these parameters
The initial step in the preliminary design of the four- resulted in an overall total-pressure ratio of 12:1 at a rotor
stage, high-pressure compressor (HPC) was taken by 1 (R1) corrected tip speed of 1477 ft/s. The average aspect
using a meanline program incorporating the loss and peak ratio of the rotors was 0.8 and that of the stators was 1.0.
pressure-rise models previously presented. This program Aspect ratios for the rotors were governed primarily by
also includes estimates of hub and casing vector diagrams aeroelastic stability considerations. The rotor and stator
assuming an isentropic simple radial equilibrium. A average solidities were about 2.0. The predicted stage-by-
conceptual design using state-of-the-practice technology stage distribution of polytropic efficiency and com-
and current design practices was executed first. Then, pressor overall efficiency is given in table I. Reflected
assuming the postulated technology advancements, an in these efficiencies are the following rotor tip clearance
assessment of the performance potential of this design levels: 0.020 in. for R1, 0.018 in. for R2, 0.016 in. for R3,
was made. and 0.014 in. for R4. An evaluation of current and near-
The meanline program provided the average loss, aero- term core compressor clearance trends supported the
dynamic blockage, and peak pressure-rise capability of assumed clearance levels. The first three stators are
each stage of the four-stage configuration. A stagewise cantilevered from the casing with an average hub clear-
distribution of effectivity was prescribed based on the ance of 0.018 in. These hub clearances and other clear-
philosophy that the operating points of the front and back ances for anticipated variable stators were factored into
stages would primarily pivot about the two middle stages the efficiency predictions. The overall performance quoted
as the compressor is throttled along a typical engine for the four-stage HPC extends from the guide-vane
operating line. In addition, the averaged effectivity of the leading edge to the compressor discharge.
compressor was selected to be consistent with a positive The flow path displayed in figure 8 was biased towards
stability margin of about 5 percent at the aerodynamic high work and high efficiency. A variable-stagger inlet
design speed. The required stability margin depends on guide vane (IGV) provides part-speed operability. The
the intended application and availability of practical guide vane is intended to deliver a nominal swirl distribu-
stability-management technologies. Stage effectivity tion of 9° counterswirl at the hub, 2° counterswirl at
distributions are given in table I, which shows the midheight, and 0° at the casing. This choice was made to
two middle stages to be the set near their peak loading control the rotor 1 hub reaction and to reduce the absolute
capabilities. Mach number at the inlet to the stator 1 hub. Note that the
Of the several flow-path shapes (constant casing, stator leading edges are swept forward near the endwalls
constant meanline, and constant hub) investigated, a to tailor the loading in those regions. There are 32 inlet
constant-diameter casing provided the best balance guide vanes, 54 first stators (S1), 74 second stators (S2),
between high pressure ratio and good efficiency. Because 132 third stators (S3), and 104 fourth stators (S4). The
of the need to limit the exit rim speed, the casing diameter rotor blade counts are 26 R1’s, 56 R2’s, 76 R3’s, and
was reduced at the aft end of the compressor. A discharge 80 R4’s. Preliminary estimates of off-design perfor-
Mach number of about 0.35 was assumed based on mance, assuming current technology, indicate a potential
NASA/TP—2002-211568 9
16
14
12 R3
S3
10 S2
Radius, in.
S1 R2
R1
8 IGV R4 S4
6
0
0 10
Axial location, z, in.
Figure 8.—High-pressure compressor flow path.
need for variable S1, variable S2, and interstage bleed distribution. The stream surface sections are stacked
between the second and third stages. along a specified backbone or stacking axis to obtain
The ultimate performance potential of the previously three-dimensional blade surfaces.
described state-of-the-practice design was evaluated by A process of successive refinement guided by CFD
incorporating the anticipated advanced aerodynamic tech- results determined the incidence and deviation angles
nologies in the meanline program. The results shown in used to generate the airfoil sections. Initial values were
table I indicate a significant increase in overall efficiency estimated using the quasi-three-dimensional, viscous code
in addition to a higher stability margin for the same duty. RVCQ3D (ref. 17). RVCQ3D was also used to direct
Thus, the advanced technology goal displayed in figure 6 the initial selection (meridional distributions of angular
was set. momentum or total pressure within blades) of airfoil
Throughflow.—After selecting the aerodynamic contours. These contours were updated by conducting
design point and verifying that the basic geometric isolated blade-row viscous analysis using ADPAC
parameters derived from the meanline analysis had the (ref. 18) with inflow and outflow boundary conditions
potential to be developed into a viable configuration extracted from the throughflow analysis. The results from
which satisfied the prescribed technical goals, the spanwise the ADPAC analysis were also used to tailor the stacking
tailoring of the vector diagrams was begun by using an axis and to modify vector diagrams to control spanwise
adaptation of the inverse throughflow computer program static-pressure gradients. Spanwise distributions of blade-
described in reference 16. The tailoring involves an row losses were also revised using the CFD results as a
iterative loop between an intrablade mean-stream surface guide. Aerodynamic blockages were initially taken from
analysis and a blade geometry generator. The computa- the meanline program and were successively adjusted
tions are based on the streamline curvature method with based on CFD results.
the inclusion of an axisymmetric body force field Setting the compressor discharge Mach number and
assumed to act normal to the surface formed by the total-pressure ratio fixes the overall static-pressure rise.
stacked camber lines of each blade row. Custom-tailored With the flow path fixed, the meridional static-pressure
airfoils were employed for all blade rows. The airfoil gradient is primarily determined by the stage effectivity
customization technique used consists of assuming the distributions derived from the meanline analysis. The
meridional distributions of total pressure through the wall static-pressure distributions established with the
rotors and of angular momentum through the stators. throughflow analysis at the aerodynamic design point
Then, after correcting for departures from the mean are displayed in figure 9. To achieve low loss and to
camber line, airfoils are fitted to the calculated relative ensure aerodynamic stability, it is generally desirable to
flow angles and a two-part, quarter-sine-wave thickness minimize static-pressure gradients along the endwalls.
10 NASA/TP—2002-211568
12
10 Hub
Casing
Wall static pressure, p/Pref
0
0 5 10 15
Axial location, z, in.
Figure 9.—Wall static-pressure distribution at aerodynamic design point.
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 Rotor 40
1
30 2 30
3
20 4 20
10
10
0
0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 0
Relative Mach number, M1,rel 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1
Absolute Mach number, Mabs
Figure 10.—Rotor inlet relative Mach number.
Figure 11.—Stator inlet absolute Mach number.
Figure 9 shows that the meridional gradients of static
pressure are approximately constant through most of the aerodynamic design point. For rotor 1, the relative Mach
rotor blade rows (see fig. 8 for blade locations) and then numbers vary from high subsonic near the hub to 1.6 near
taper off toward the trailing edge. The static-pressure rise the casing. The two middle rotors (R2 and R3) have
is more rapid in the front half of the stator blade rows and supersonic inlet Mach numbers across the span, which
quickly tapers off in the remaining half of the blade. For makes stage matching exceptionally difficult. The rotor 4
all blade rows, preferential radial forces were introduced inlet Mach numbers are approximately sonic across the
through the tangential leaning of the mean camber surface span. The inlet absolute Mach number distributions for
to control spanwise gradients of static pressure. the stators are displayed in figure 11. The stator 1 hub
Spanwise variations of the rotor inlet relative Mach Mach number is slightly above sonic with all remaining
number are shown in figure 10 for all four rotors at the stators having subsonic inlet Mach numbers.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 11
100 100
90 90
Inlet
80 80
Percent of span from hub
60 60 Stator
1
50 50 2
Rotor
40 1 40 3
2 4
30 3 30 Exit
4 Inlet
20 20
10 10
0 0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 –20 –10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Diffusion factor, Dfactor Absolute flow angle, abs, deg
Figure 12.—Rotor diffusion factors. Figure 14.—Stator inlet and exit absolute flow angles.
Rotor
1 2 3 4
100
100
90
90
80 80
Percent of span from hub
Percent of span from hub
70 70
60 60
50 50
Stator
40 1 40
2
30 3 30
4
20 20
10 10
0 0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 2 4 6 8 10 12
Diffusion factor, Dfactor Cummulative total-pressure ratio, PRtt
Figure 13.—Stator diffusion factors. Figure 15.—Rotor exit cumulative total-pressure ratio.
12 NASA/TP—2002-211568
Velocity
1.02
–0.26
The spanwise distributions of the diffusion factor Dfactor The initial blading was generated and refined using
for rotors and stators at the aerodynamic design point are isolated blade-row CFD analysis. The axisymmetric
shown in figures 12 and 13, respectively. These diffusion averaged throughflow velocity distribution at the aerody-
factors are locally high, reflecting the increased stage namic design point is presented in figure 16. This was
aerodynamic loadings. The maximum diffusion factors processed from the results of a three-dimensional multi-
are in excess of 0.65 and occur near the endwalls. How- stage simulation employing a mixing plane approach
ever, the average values are not far from levels for which within the ADPAC code. The results serve to identify in
acceptable performance has been demonstrated. The the design potential weak points that are in need of further
stator inlet and exit absolute flow angles are plotted in refinements. Evident from the figure is that in the hub
figure 14. On the average, approximately 50° of turning region of R3, there is weak flow caused by the high
was achieved in the stators. The intent was to overturn aerodynamic loading being requested and by aerody-
near the endwalls to accommodate secondary flows. namic mismatching between blade rows. In addition, the
Counterswirl (swirl opposite the direction of rotor rotor tips show flow weaknesses associated with leakage
rotation) was prescribed for S2 and S3 to control the flow development in a high-loading region with shocks.
spanwise distributions of rotor (R3 and R4) aerodynamic Based on the results from the multistage ADPAC simula-
loading, as defined by the diffusion factor. This tion, the overall performance potential of this preliminary
counterswirl also increases the stage reaction, which may design configuration was predicted to be a pressure
have a favorable impact on stage performance. Spanwise ratio of 12:1 at a polytropic efficiency of 89 percent. To
distributions of cumulative rotor exit total-pressure ratios further appreciate the level of technical advancement
are displayed in figure 15. These distributions are com- being sought, figure 17 shows the fully developed com-
patible with the prescribed stator exit swirl profiles. The pressor goal relative to established performance trends.
intent was to propagate a hub-strong, total-pressure This design sits at an average work factor of 0.44. It can
profile within the multistage. Such a profile was thought be observed that the preliminary design results are in line
to be favorable with respect to aerodynamic stability as with current trends and that achievement of the goal
the machine is throttled. Overall, the vector diagrams would indicate a substantial advancement over the state of
were tailored under the guidance of CFD results to pro- the practice if not over the state of the art. What is not
vide a beneficial relief to the high-loss and high-loading explicitly stated is the suitability of such a design for a
endwall regions. practical engine product. Further research and develop-
ment are required to ascertain the postulated aerodynamic
technology advancements.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 13
94
NASA UHBR turbofan contract (2016 EIS)
90
Preliminary four stage
88
State of the art
86
84
0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70
2
Average work coefficient, = Havg/Utip
Part II: Three-Dimensional Blading gap. The INV3D computer code employed in this study
Development can run in either the standard analysis mode or the inverse
mode.
Three-Dimensional Inverse Method The successful strategy employed in the previously
published work on this three-dimensional inverse method
The primary prescribed quantities in the three-dimen- (ref. 22) was used to pick the prescribed quantities
sional inverse method are the blade stacking line fstack = [fstack, T, ∆p] that would improve the present transonic
fstack(r), the blade thickness distribution T = T(r,z), and rotor blade designs. The strategy is as follows:
the blade pressure-loading distribution ∆p = ∆p(r,z).
Herein, blade pressure loading is defined as the pressure 1. Start with blade geometry obtained with the tradi-
difference between the blade upper and lower surfaces at tional design tools (e.g., meanline and/or throughflow
fixed axial positions. For a given set of inputs, the three- method). This geometry is termed the “original design.”
dimensional inverse method computes the corresponding Then switch to the three-dimensional inverse method to
blade mean camber surface f = f (r,z). Clearly, the improve the geometry, using the original design as the
blade geometry corresponding to prescribed values for initial guess.
[fstack, T, ∆p] is not guaranteed to have the optimum 2. Input to the three-dimensional inverse method the
performance or to be aeromechanically acceptable. The blade tangential thickness distribution, which has been
challenge is to pick these quantities to arrive at a satisfac- kept the same as the original design to satisfy some
tory blade. structural constraints and to reduce the number of degrees
The three-dimensional inverse method is based on the of freedom.
solution of the Navier-Stokes equations using the robust, 3. Adjust the blade pressure loading ∆p(r,z) to intro-
finite-volume, time-marching scheme of Jameson, duce geometric features that enable the control of local
Schmidt, and Turkel (ref. 19). Viscous effects are mod- flow structures (shock, secondary flows, boundary lay-
eled using the method proposed by Denton (ref. 20) for ers, etc.) linked to a performance index. The choice of the
turbulent flows as adapted by Damle (ref. 21). During the blade pressure loading is a three-dimensional approach.
time-marching process, fluid is allowed to cross the blade At a given spanwise station, the blade pressure-loading
surfaces, and a pressure-jump condition (blade pressure distribution is used to manage the local aerodynamics and
loading) is imposed across the blade surfaces. The “flow- to tailor the spanwise vector diagrams:
tangency” condition along the blade surfaces is then used
14 NASA/TP—2002-211568
where the subscripts te and le are trailing edge and leading 12
edge; Aθ is the tangential projection of the blade surface 10 S2
Radius, in.
area; ṁ is the mass flow rate; and Vθ is the mass-averaged S1 R2
IGV R1
tangential velocity. For a rotor, specifying the blade 8
pressure loading at every spanwise station is the same as 6
prescribing the spanwise distribution of total temperature
rise across the rotor. This is the usual two-dimensional 4
–6 –4 –2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
thinking when a two-dimensional inverse method is used.
Axial location, z, in.
With a three-dimensional method, an additional control is
the spanwise variation of the blade pressure loading. As Figure 18.—Flow path for two-stage high-pressure
compressor.
will be described shortly, this is used to adjust the orien-
tation of the passage shock as seen in a meridional plane.
4. Modify as needed the prescribed blade stacking line also critical in terms of proper stage matching because of
so as to restrain potential endwall corner separations and possible strong interactions with the upstream stator.
to limit excessive blade twisting. The design intents are obtained from the throughflow
model, which is updated based on information supplied
The blade design procedure proposed herein is very by the multistage CFD simulations to be described in the
compatible with the inverse throughflow method used in section Multistage Performance Evaluation. It is not
part I to generate the original blades. In particular, the possible to get an exact match between the present
design intents, as described by the spanwise profiles of throughflow and the axisymmetric average of the CFD
axisymmetric averaged pressure, temperature, and angles, solution because of inconsistencies in formulation.
are fed into the inverse method as inflow and outflow Nevertheless, an acceptable match was achieved. At the
boundary conditions. One of the main advantages of inlet, the spanwise distributions of total pressure, total
using a three-dimensional inverse method is that the temperature, and flow angles are specified. The design
critical physics of the complex aerodynamic interactions intent spanwise distribution of static pressure is pre-
are directly accounted for rather than being patched in a scribed downstream. Since the present formulation of the
somewhat convoluted fashion. inverse problem called for the specification of the blade
pressure loading, which is directly related to the spanwise
distribution of total temperature rather than to the total
pressure, adjustments to the magnitude of the blade
Reblading Using INV3D pressure loading were sometimes required to match the
design intent exit total-pressure distribution and the mass
The front two stages, including the inlet guide vane, of
flow rate.
the four-stage configuration were extracted for a more
For this reblading exercise, the meridional envelopes of
refined aerodynamic design. A meridional cross section
the blade were fixed. The blade pressure loading was
of the flow path is shown in figure 18. The following are
carefully constructed with the following scheme. Figure
the aerodynamic design requirements for the two stage: a
19 shows the contour of the pressure loading of the
corrected flow of 70 lbm/s, an overall total-pressure ratio
of 4.645:1, and a rotor 1 corrected tip speed of
1477 ft/sec. From part I, the state-of-the-practice
efficiency potential of this configuration was estimated to
be 89 percent polytropic. The intended axisymmetric
profiles and design considerations for the original blades
are found in part I.
In this section, the redesign of the second rotor (R2) is
discussed in detail for three important reasons. First, the
second rotor is the most challenging because the incom- Original New design
ing relative Mach number is supersonic from hub to tip.
Second, the relative aerodynamic loading based on the
–0.93 –0.75 –0.56 –0.38 –0.20 –0.02
effectivity parameter E is the highest. Third, this rotor is
Figure 19.—Blade pressure loading.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 15
Point A
Front Point A
Supersonic
region
Back
Point B
Low supersonic-
Figure 20.—Axial loading subsonic region
distribution.
Point B
original blade at the design intent backpressure (left
contour plot). Two distinct discontinuities spanning from
hub to tip are clearly indicated. The axial distribution of Figure 21.—Passage shock positioning in meridional
the blade pressure loading superimposed on the Mach plane.
number contours in the blade-to-blade plane at the same
span location (near tip region) is shown in figure 20. Note namic surfaces for the proper supersonic wave pattern
that the two near discontinuities in the blade loading and throat area. This tailoring is a means for achieving the
distribution conform to the location of the passage shock. required mass flow rate with a started shock configura-
The front discontinuity corresponds to the passage shock tion. Additionally, the selection of shock position on
impinging on the pressure surface of the blade above it, suction and pressure surfaces as well as its strength must
whereas the back discontinuity corresponds to the pas- be carefully crafted to obtain low losses. After the shock
sage shock impinging on the suction surface of the blade position in the meridional plane has been selected, one of
below it. Looking back to figure 19, note that the passage the loading discontinuities is fixed at that span position
shock is rather strong at the upper half of the blade and (points A and B in fig. 21). The other discontinuity can be
hence there exists a potential for tailoring the pressure- placed to introduce some obliquity of the shock in the
loading distribution to weaken it, as has been demon- blade-to-blade plane. As part of the selection of the
strated in previous work (ref. 23). meridional shock position, the region encompassing the
Another important consideration is the placement and passage shock must also be determined. The tip of the
orientation of the passage shock as seen in the meridional blade sets the first spanwise location and the second is
plane. At the design point, the passage shock should chosen to be where the inlet relative Mach number is
reside inside the blade passage, and its orientation should slightly above unity. This positioning divides the blade
be such that it has maximum obliquity relative to the into the low supersonic-subsonic region where smooth
incoming flow to minimize shock loss (shock sweep). loading shapes can be used without producing
This suggests that the passage shock near the tip region discontinuities in the blade and the supersonic flow
should be placed as far back as possible (i.e., the passage portion where the discontinuities in loading must be
shock impinging on the suction surface near the trailing prescribed to obtain “smooth” blade shapes (fig. 21).
edge), whereas it should be as far forward as possible at The strength of the shock can be controlled somewhat
the other end (the passage shock impinging on the pres- through the specification of the severity of the pressure-
sure surface near the leading edge). After the desired loading gradient. A steep gradient will produce a strong
shock position in the blade passage is selected, it is shock with a greater shock loss and a potentially greater
possible to estimate where the passage shock intersects risk of shock-induced, boundary-layer separation. How-
the blade surfaces based on the geometry of the blade ever, there are limits as to how much the shock can be
passage (the blade stagger angle and the blade spacing). weakened and how much obliquity can be introduced in
There are a number of different aspects to the selection the blade-to-blade plane. If the shock is weakened past a
of pressure loading for transonic blades. First, the selec- certain point, the resulting blade will have a “kink” that
tion of loading shape and magnitude in the entrance may lead to poor performance at off-design conditions.
region of the blade translates into tailoring the aerody- The second limit, blade-to-blade shock obliquity, is
16 NASA/TP—2002-211568
1.5 1.5
Static pressure
Static pressure
1.0 1.0
Original Original
New design New design
0.5 0.5
Pressure loading
Pressure loading
0.0 0.0
–0.5 –0.5
(a) (b)
0.31 0.32 0.33 0.34 0.35 0.36 0.37 0.38 0.39 0.40 0.31 0.32 0.33 0.34 0.35 0.36 0.37 0.38 0.39
Axial location, z Axial location, z
1.5 1.5
Static pressure
Static pressure
1.0 1.0
Pressure loading
0.0 0.0
–0.5 –0.5
(c) (d)
0.31 0.32 0.33 0.34 0.35 0.36 0.37 0.38 0.31 0.32 0.33 0.34 0.35 0.36 0.37 0.38
Axial location, z Axial location, z
Figure 22.—Blade-surface pressure and loading distributions for several span sections. (a) Near the hub. (b) Below
50-percent span. (c) Above 50-percent span. (d) Near the tip.
observed when the two discontinuities have been placed illustrates the weakening of the passage shock and an
too far from one another (dashed line in fig. 21). In such increase in its obliquity. Figure 22 compares the detailed
a case, the shock will occur at the specified location on the blade pressure loading (bottom) and pressure distribu-
pressure surface (front discontinuity, see fig. 21) but will tions on the blade surfaces (top) of the original design and
impinge on the suction surface at a location upstream of the new design at several spanwise stations. Two impor-
the “specified” back discontinuity, resulting in too much tant differences between the two designs are worth point-
loading in the subsonic diffusion portion of the blade and ing out. First, the passage shock is weakened at all
therefore overcambering the blade in that region. This spanwise stations. Second, the passage shock moves a
“manual” adjustment of the blade pressure loading is a little forward below the 50-percent-span location while
delicate process and does require some experience to being displaced farther aft above the 50-percent-span
achieve success. location. Recall that the reorientation of the passage
Figure 19 (right contour plot) shows the blade pressure shock was purposely created in the specification of the
loading of the redesigned rotor 2. Compared with the blade pressure loading to increase its obliquity relative to
original design (left contour plot), the figure clearly the meridional flow.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 17
Original New design
Suction –1.0 –0.9 –0.8 –0.7 –0.6 –0.5 –0.4 –0.3 –0.2 –0.1 –0.0
surface Original New design Pressure
Figure 25.—Comparison of pressure loading.
surface
0.2 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.8 Rotation
Relative Mach number, Mrel
z x
Figure 23.—Relative Mach number contours at blade
trailing-edge plane.
Casing Original
100 New design
90
Spanwise location, percent
80 1.5 percent
70
54
60
of span
52
50 50
40 48
30 46 Original New design
20 0.94 0.96
10
0
Hub 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.2 1.3 1.5 1.6
Adiabatic efficiency, tt Mach number
Figure 24.—Comparison of spanwise distribution of Figure 26.—Cascade flow near casing.
adiabatic efficiency at design point.
Figure 23 shows the flow field in a crossflow (r,θ) plane slightly thinner over the entire span. The Navier-Stokes
behind the blade trailing edge. The tip clearance-to-chord solver ADPAC (ref. 18) was used to independently con-
ratio is approximately 1 percent. For the new design, there firm the improved flow field and performance of the new
is a clear indication of a cleaner endwall flow that is design. The calculation used a mesh size of 90⫻48⫻40 (a
attributed to the weakened passage shock and possibly a total of 172 800 cells) that included 4 cells in the tip
modulation of secondary and leakage flows. Note that the clearance region. At the design intent backpressure, the
new blade geometry is twisted differently near the casing ADPAC solution predicted an overall adiabatic effi-
endwall, whereas the original blade was stacked so that ciency improvement of 2 percent over the original design
its leading edge is swept forward relative to the flow. This running at the same backpressure with approximately the
new twist introduces a component of blade force that same flow rate. Figure 24 shows the spanwise distribution
restricts unfavorable spanwise flow migrations. The fig- of adiabatic efficiency as predicted by ADPAC. It can be
ure also shows that the blade wake for the new design is observed that efficiency improvements are found over the
18 NASA/TP—2002-211568
R1
R2
entire span, with about 1.5 percent over the core flow and Multistage Performance Evaluation
over 10 percent in the casing endwall.
The first rotor (R1) was also revised using the same Procedure.—To verify the improved performance
pressure-loading scheme. Figure 25 compares the blade potential of the rebladed two stage and to facilitate stage
pressure loading of the original design (left contour matching, the multistage CFD code APNASA, based on
plot) with that of the new design (right contour plot), and the formulation of Adamczyk (ref. 5), was employed. The
figure 26 presents the blade-to-blade flow field near the APNASA code computes the time-mean flow as seen by
tip. As in the second rotor (R2), the passage shock was an average passage of a blade row imbedded in a multi-
weakened and slightly reoriented to increase shock obliq- stage environment. Details of the numerics, turbulence
uity. The performance of R1 (as predicted by ADPAC) model, and deterministic stress closure are given by
showed an improvement of 1.5 percent in adiabatic Adamczyk et al. (ref. 24). This code has undergone
efficiency over the original design. extensive validation and/or calibration (refs. 25 and 26)
In summary, the transonic rotor blades generated by and has been found to be a reliable predictive tool for
INV3D using the present pressure-loading strategy indi- multistage aerodynamics. In executing the design,
cated a relatively higher efficiency potential than the APNASA, ADPAC, and INV3D were integrated in the
original blades. Stacking and thickness distributions were iterative design loop. The procedure is as follows:
fixed according to the original blades. Perhaps a combi-
nation inverse direct method can be used to explore other 1. From the throughflow model, extract the inflow and
degrees of freedom. Preliminary mechanical and struc- outflow boundary conditions for INV3D. Rotor blades
tural assessments of the inverse-designed blades thus far are designed using INV3D with the pressure-loading
appear promising. The blades are curvier than usual, strategy previously described; the stators are designed
having forward-swept leading edges (fig. 27). Implica- according to the inverse throughflow method outlined in
tions for this design freedom, from the perspective of part I.
product development and total cost, are beyond our 2. ADPAC is used to fine-tune the individual blade-row
scope. Similar to the rotors, a pressure-loading strategy designs while holding the inflow conditions extracted
can be developed for subsonic stators, but this is reserved from the throughflow model. The exit profiles from the
for future work. The stators were designed as described individual blades are checked against the design intent
in part I and were matched to the rotors solely based on and the blades are redesigned as in step 1 should the exit
CFD simulations. Additional geometric information for profiles or losses be far too different from those of the
all blade rows is given in appendix A. throughflow.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 19
TABLE II.PREDICTED PERFORMANCE POTENTIAL TABLE III.DESIGN POINT STAGE
AT AERODYNAMIC DESIGN POINT PERFORMANCE POTENTIAL
Inlet correct flow, Wc, lbm/s ..........................................71.2 PREDICTED BY APNASA
Overall total-pressure ratio, PRtt .................................4.65:1 Stage Rotor Stator
Corrected mechanical speed, Ω, rpm .........................16 060 Total-pressure Polytropic Total
Overall efficiency, percent ratio, efficiency, pressure
Adiabatic, ηtt ............................................................90.36 PRtt ηp, loss,
Polytropic, ηp ...........................................................92.19 percent ∆Pt/Pt,
percent
1 2.423 95.100 1.636
2 1.995 94.420 1.725
3. The multistage aerodynamics of all the blade rows
are predicted with APNASA. An interrogation of the
APNASA solution is made to arrive at appropriate revi-
sions for the throughflow (i.e., aerodynamic blockage,
loss and turning distributions) model and the blade design
strategies (incidence, trailing-edge loading distribution, 1.0
and stacking).
Fraction of span
0.8
0.8
schemes that can directly accommodate aeromechanical
and manufacturing constraints. 0.6
Mass averaged
APNASA results.—A sheared H-mesh was constructed 0.4
for the two-stage configuration that included the inlet
guide vane. The mesh consisted of 61 streamwise points 0.2 Area averaged
(b)
on each of the 5 blade rows, 61 spanwise points, and 51 0.0
blade-to-blade points for a total dimension of 626⫻61⫻51. 60 70 80 90 100
There are four cells in the rotor tip clearances and stator Efficiency, tt, percent
hub clearances. The clearance gaps were modeled with a
periodic boundary condition rather than with direct 1.0
discretization. Different mesh sizes were investigated to
Fraction of span
0.8
ascertain the sensitivity of the results and to determine the
adequacy of the selected mesh size. Simulations were 0.6
conducted at several operating speeds and backpressures. 0.4
The results for the simulation closest to the aerodynamic
design point will be presented followed by the overall 0.2
(c)
characteristics at other operating conditions. 0.0
The predicted performance potential at the aerody- 60 70 80 90 100
namic design point is presented in table II. The perfor- Efficiency, tt, percent
mance is determined from computed circumferentially Figure 28.—Predicted spanwise variations in adiabatic
mass-averaged total pressures and temperatures at recti- efficiency at aerodynamic design point. (a) Overall.
fying planes situated midway between the individual (b) Rotor 1. (c) Rotor 2.
blade rows. The overall performance quoted in the table
20 NASA/TP—2002-211568
0.9
1.2
0.7 0.7
0. 1.3
9 1.5 0.7
1
1.4 1.6
(a)
(b) (c)
Figure 29.—Relative Mach number distributions at design point for rotor 1. (a) 9-percent
span. (b) 50-percent span. (c) 95-percent span.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 21
Absolute region at the hub resulting from the interaction of the hub
Mach leakage with the endwall flow. There is indication of a
number, thin wake in the core region. Because of the hub clearance
Mabs
and the local orientation (e.g., sweep and dihedral) of the
0.8
blading near the endwalls, there is a tendency for low-
.6 momentum fluid on the blade surfaces to migrate into the
core region, hence the appearance of a relatively thinner
.3
wake near the endwalls.
.0 Figure 32 shows the distribution of the relative total
Pressure pressure at several cross-passage planes from the leading
surface edge to the trailing edge of R2. Evident is the develop-
Hub Suction ment of the boundary layer on the suction surface along
leakage surface with the evolution of a low-energy cesspool associated
Figure 31.—Absolute Mach number distribution at with shock-endwall viscous interaction and tip clearance
trailing-edge plane of stator 1. leakage in the casing endwall region. A band of low
relative total pressure can be observed at the hub, indicat-
trailing-edge plane of R1. Near the tip, note the existence ing a weak flow due to excessive diffusion imposed by
of a double shock (evident in fig. 29) that is inconsistent the blading. Although not explicitly shown here, a strong
with the intent shown in figure 25. This double shock is interaction exists between the bow shock emanating at the
perhaps an indication of a deficiency in the viscous leading edge of R2 and the suction-surface boundary
treatment of the inverse method and is under investiga- layer at the trailing edge of S1. This interaction leads to a
tion. Nevertheless, the flow structure indicates a rela- local underturning of the stator core flow. However, there
tively clean flow conducive to a high-efficiency potential. does not seem to be any adverse effect on the swallowing
The absolute Mach number distribution at the trailing capacity of R2 or on the overall matching of the two
edge of S1 is shown in figure 31. Note the low-momentum stages.
Accumulation of
Trailing edge
low-momentum fluid
Trailing-edge
Losses from wake
oblique shock
Relative
Tip total
pressure,
Pt,rel,
psia
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
Hub 35
30
Leading 25
y
z
x
Figure 32.—Relative total-pressure distribution on several cross-
passage planes for rotor 2 (courtesy of ASE Technologies, ref. 27).
22 NASA/TP—2002-211568
Trailing
edge
Pressure
surface Tip
Leading Zone
edge 01 Purple
02 Red
Absolute 03 Green
total 04 Blue
pressure, 05 Teal
Pt,abs, 06 Orange
Hub
psia
76 Figure 34.—Zonal decomposition of rotor 1
74 flow domain for assessment of entropy
y 72 production.
x Sator 2, 70
z 1.1-percent span 68
66
64
62
60
58
56
NASA/TP—2002-211568 23
30 5.5
Prescribed pressure-loading 5.0 Symbols denote APNASA
25 blading (INV3D) predictions at nominal IGV
Custom-tailored blading
speed
(inverse throughflow method) 4.0 /IGV reset/
20
S1 reset
3.5 100
/0/0/
15 3.0
95
/5/1.2/
2.5 90
10 /10/2.3/
2.0 80
70 /20/4.7/
5 1.5 /30/7/
(a)
1.0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0
2 4 6 8 Corrected mass flow, m, lbm/s
Zone
Figure 36.—Relative distribution of entropy production 0.900
for rotor 1.
Adiabatic efficiency, tt, percent 0.875
24 NASA/TP—2002-211568
mixing loss and the increased aerodynamic blockage. Glenn on practical means to effect these aerodynamic
Thus, with this audit, various redesign strategies can be advancements is, in reality, still in its infancy. The chal-
conceived and tested via numerical simulation to assess lenge of discovering and developing new technology in
their relative benefits. a multistage turbocompressor environment requires a
APNASA was used to simulate the off-design perfor- well-conceived plan of attack. Nevertheless, achieve-
mance of the two-stage configuration at 100-, 95-, and ment of these advancements would give the design engi-
90-percent rotational speeds with nominal IGV and vane neer the freedom to innovate.
settings. The geometry was frozen as designed without A preliminary design of a four-stage compressor con-
accounting for structural deformation effects with vary- figuration was established for advanced technology
ing operating conditions. The results of the simulation development. This design was biased toward high effi-
were used to construct stage characteristics for each of the ciency at high loading. Three-dimensional blading and
two stages and these were subsequently stacked to predict spanwise tailoring of vector diagrams were employed
the overall performance characteristics with various under the guidance of computational fluid dynamics
IGV and vane resets. The overall adiabatic efficiency (CFD) to control the aerodynamics of the high-loaded
predicted by APNASA was degraded by 1.46 percent, endwall regions. The preliminary results were encourag-
based on engineering judgment reflective of hardware ing and the front two stages were extracted for further
quality shortfalls and other “X-factors” that may compro- aerodynamic trimming using a three-dimensional inverse
mise the CFD predictive capability. Figure 37 shows the design method.
overall characteristics (total-pressure ratio and adiabatic In part II, the design principles for constructing blade-
efficiency) derived from the stage-stacking procedure at surface, pressure-loading distributions to be applied in a
the indicated resets and compares them with APNASA three-dimensional inverse design method were presented.
predictions. Since there is no definitive application for This method produced blading having a high-efficiency
this two-stage group, the adequacy of the characteristic potential relative to current practice. In addition, the
map cannot be absolutely assessed. Nevertheless, a inverse-designed blades were successfully adapted to the
potentially adequate operating range seems to be avail- multistage environment using the APNASA code. An
able for further aerodynamic development. overall efficiency potential far exceeding current practice
was demonstrated with the APNASA CFD.
In spite of the significantly higher aerodynamic load-
Conclusions ings, advanced CFD-based tools were able to effectively
guide the design of a very efficient two-stage compressor
In part I, very aggressive performance goals were under state-of-the-art aeromechanical constraints.
defined by a rational perturbation of basic aerodynamic Adequate operability for aerodynamic research and devel-
technology elements of current design systems. A poten- opment was predicted. This two-stage configuration can
tial for a substantial expansion of the aerodynamic design be used for further aerodynamic technology research and
and operability space was shown. The research at NASA development to meet the goals established in part I.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 25
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Appendix A
Geometry
NASA/TP—2002-211568 27
Figure 38.—Inlet guide vane, aft
looking forward. Aspect ratio, Figure 40.—Stator 1. Aspect ratio, 1.128; number of
3.150; number of blades, 32. blades, 54.
Figure 39.—Rotor 1. Aspect ratio, 0.837; number of Figure 41.—Rotor 2. Aspect ratio, 0.888; number
blades, 26. of blades, 56.
28 NASA/TP—2002-211568
Figure 42.—Stator 2. Aspect ratio, 0.923; number of
blades, 74.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 29
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Appendix B
Computed Axisymmetric Averaged Spanwise Profiles at Design Throttle
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
0.90 1.00 1.10 1.20 0.92 0.96 1.00
Total pressure, Pt Total temperature
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
60 61 62 63 64 65 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
Relative flow angle, rel, deg Relative Mach number, Mrel
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
0 4 8 12 0.4 0.6 0.8
Absolute flow angle, abs, deg Absolute Mach number, Mabs
Figure 44.—Rectifying plane of inlet guide vane exit and rotor 1 inlet.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 31
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 1.28 1.32 1.36 1.40
Total pressure, Pt Total temperature
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
20 40 60 80 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Relative flow angle, rel, deg Relative Mach number, Mrel
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
–70 –60 –50 0.6 0.8 1.0
Absolute flow angle, abs, deg Absolute Mach number, Mabs
Figure 45.—Rectifying plane of rotor 1 exit and stator 1 inlet.
32 NASA/TP—2002-211568
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 1.28 1.32 1.36 1.40
Total pressure, Pt Total temperature
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
56 60 64 68 72 1.00 1.10 1.20 1.30 1.40
Relative flow angle, rel, deg Relative Mach number, Mrel
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
–10 0 10 20 0.2 0.4 0.6
Absolute flow angle, abs, deg Absolute Mach number, Mabs
Figure 46.—Rectifying plane of stator 1 exit and rotor 2 inlet.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 33
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
4.0 4.4 4.8 5.2 1.50 1.60 1.70 1.80
Total pressure, Pt Total temperature
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
20 40 60 80 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80
Relative flow angle, rel, deg Relative Mach number, Mrel
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
–70 –60 –50 –40 0.4 0.6 0.8
Absolute flow angle, abs, deg Absolute Mach number, Mabs
Figure 47.—Rectifying plane of rotor 2 exit and stator 2 inlet.
34 NASA/TP—2002-211568
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
4.0 4.4 4.8 5.2 1.6 1.8 2.0
Total pressure, Pt Total temperature
1.0 1.0
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
56 60 64 68 72 0.90 1.00 1.10 1.20 1.30
Relative flow angle, rel, deg Relative Mach number, Mrel
1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
Fraction of span
Fraction of span
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
–5 0 5 10 15 20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60
Absolute flow angle, abs, deg Absolute Mach number, Mabs
Figure 48.—Rectifying plane of stator 2 exit.
NASA/TP—2002-211568 35
References 15. Wisler, D.C.; Koch, C.C.; and Smith, L.H., Jr.: Preliminary
Design Study of Advanced Multistage Axial Flow Core Com-
1. Singh, Riti: Fifty Years of Civil Aero Gas Turbines. Aircraft pressors. NASA CR–135133, 1977.
Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 68, no. 4, 1996, 16. Hearsay, R.M.: A Revised Computer Program for Axial Com-
pp. 3–19. pressor Design. ARL–75–0001, vols. 1 and 2, 1975.
2. Kerrebrock, J.L., et al.: Aspirated Compressors. ASME Paper 17. Chima, Rodrick V.: Explicit Multigrid Algorithm for Quasi-
97–GT–525, 1997. Three-Dimensional Viscous Flows in Turbomachinery. J.
3. Kerrebrock, Jack L., et al.: A Family of Designs for Aspirated Propulsion, vol. 3, no. 5, 1987, pp. 397–405.
Compressors. ASME Paper 98–FT–196, 1998. 18. Hall, E.J.; Topp, D.A.; and Delaney, R.A.: Task 7—ADPAC
4. Dang, T.Q.: A Fully Three-Dimensional Inverse Method for User’s Manual. NASA CR–195472, 1996.
Turbomachinery Blading in Transonic Flows. Trans. ASME J. 19. Jameson, A.; Schmidt, Wolfgang; and Turkel, Eli: Numerical
Turbomachinery, vol. 115, no. 2, 1993, pp. 354–361. Solution of the Euler Equations by Finite Volume Methods
5. Adamczyk, John J.: Aerodynamic Analysis of Multistage Using Runge Kutta Time Stepping Schemes. AIAA Paper 81–
Turbomachinery Flows in Support of Aerodynamic Design. 1259, 1981.
Trans. ASME J. Turbomachinery, vol. 122, no. 2, 2000, 20. Denton, J.D.: The Calculation of Three-Dimensional Viscous
pp. 189–217. Flow Through Multistage Turbomachines. Trans. ASME J.
6. Denton, J.D.: Loss Mechanisms in Turbomachines. Trans. ASME Turbomachinery, vol. 114, no. 1, 1992, pp. 18–26.
J. Turbomachinery, vol. 115, no. 4, 1993. 21. Damle, Sachin: Fully Three-Dimensional and Viscous Inverse
7. Greitzer, E.M.: REVIEW—Axial Compressor Stall Phenomena. Method for Turbomachine Blade Design. Ph.D. Dissertation,
Trans. ASME J. Fluids Eng., vol. 102, 1980, pp. 134–151. Syracuse University, 1998.
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vol. 104, 1982, pp. 97–110. Turbomachinery, vol. 121, no. 2, 1999, pp. 321–325.
9. Koch, C.C.; and Smith, L.H., Jr.: Loss Sources and Magnitudes 23. Dang, T.; Damle, S.; and Qiu, X.: Euler-Based Inverse Method
in Axial-Flow Compressors. Trans. ASME J. Engng. Power, for Turbomachine Blades, Part 2: Three-Dimensional Flows.
vol. 98, 1976, pp. 411–424. AIAA J., vol. 38, no. 11, 2000, pp. 2007–2013.
10. Koch, C.C.: Stalling Pressure Rise Capability of Axial Flow 24. Adamczyk, J.J., et al.: Simulation of Three-Dimensional Viscous
Compressor Stages. ASME J. Engng. Power, vol. 103, 1981, Flow Within a Multistage Turbine. Trans. ASME J.
pp. 645–656. Turbomachinery, vol. 112, no. 3, 1990, pp. 370–376.
11. Dzung, Lang S., ed.: Proceedings of a Symposium on Flow 25. Stringham, G.D., et al.: Design and Development of a Nine Stage
Research on Blading. Elsevier Pub. Co., Amsterdam, 1970. Axial Flow Compressor for Industrial Gas Turbines. ASME
12. Carmody, R.H.; and Seren, G.: Single-Stage Experimental Evalu- Paper 98–GT–140, 1998.
ation of Boundary Layer Blowing Techniques for High Lift 26. Wellborn, Steven R.; and Delaney, Robert A.: Redesign of a
Stator Blades. NASA CR–54567, 1968. 12-Stage Axial-Flow Compressor Using Multistage CFD.
13. Khalid, S.A., et al.: Endwall Blockage in Axial Compressors. ASME Paper 2001–GT–0351, 2001.
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pp. 499–509. Loss Audit for Two Stage POC Compressor. Order Number
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and Blowing on Compressor Stability Enhancement. Trans.
ASME J. Turbomachinery, vol. 112, 1990, pp. 133–144.
36 NASA/TP—2002-211568
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December 2002 Technical Paper
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Louis M. Larosiliere and Michael D. Hathaway, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, NASA Glenn Research Center;
Jerry R. Wood, NASA Glenn Research Center; and Adam J. Medd and Thong Q. Dang, Syracuse University,
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13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)
As a direct response to the need for further performance gains from current multistage axial compressors, an investigation of advanced aerodynamic
design concepts that will lead to compact, high-efficiency, and wide-operability configurations is being pursued. Part I of this report describes the
projected level of technical advancement relative to the state of the art and quantifies it in terms of basic aerodynamic technology elements of current
design systems. A rational enhancement of these elements is shown to lead to a substantial expansion of the design and operability space. Aerodynamic
design considerations for a four-stage core compressor intended to serve as a vehicle to develop, integrate, and demonstrate aerotechnology advance-
ments are discussed. This design is biased toward high efficiency at high loading. Three-dimensional blading and spanwise tailoring of vector diagrams
guided by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are used to manage the aerodynamics of the high-loaded endwall regions. Certain deleterious flow
features, such as leakage-vortex-dominated endwall flow and strong shock-boundary-layer interactions, were identified and targeted for improvement.
However, the preliminary results were encouraging and the front two stages were extracted for further aerodynamic trimming using a three-dimensional
inverse design method described in part II of this report. The benefits of the inverse design method are illustrated by developing an appropriate pressure-
loading strategy for transonic blading and applying it to reblade the rotors in the front two stages of the four-stage configuration. Multistage CFD
simulations based on the average passage formulation indicated an overall efficiency potential far exceeding current practice for the front two stages.
Results of the CFD simulation at the aerodynamic design point are interrogated to identify areas requiring additional development. In spite of the
significantly higher aerodynamic loadings, advanced CFD-based tools were able to effectively guide the design of a very efficient axial compressor
under state-of-the-art aeromechanical constraints.
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