Analysis and measurement of the impact of diffuser width on rotating stall in centrifugal compressors

In compression systems, instability has long been an important issue. However, compared to axial machines, relatively little work has been done on the stability of centrifugal machines. Especially, many analytical models of stabilities have been developed to predict and control rotating stall, using compressor characteristic. However, stability models for centrifugal compressors are not scarce. Much research on compressor stability has focused on stalling flow coefficient and rotating stall phenomenon at the stalling flow coefficient. Given this situation, this paper presents a stability analysis of centrifugal compressors to predict rotating stall inception as well as the speed and number of cells. This analysis involves the use of compressor geometries, a steady compressor characteristic, and threedimensional flow analysis in the diffuser. The flow field perturbations at the axial inlet duct, impeller, and radial exit duct are determined via an eigenvalue analysis. The predictions are validated against experimental results from compressors with three different diffuser widths. The model accurately predicts the rotating stall inception flow coefficient. As the compressor characteristic becomes less steep with increasing diffuser width, the stalling flow coefficient increases. Also, experiment validates the model prediction that, depending on the dominant mode of flow perturbation, the number of rotating stall cells can be changed from three to two cells in the tested configurations. Furthermore, the cell speed increases as the flow coefficient decreases for a given number of stall cells. However, when the stall cell number is reduced, the cell speed decreases.