Numerical Simulation of the Shock-Tip Leakage Vortex Interaction in a HPC Front Stage

For a single-stage transonic compressor rig at the TU Darmstadt 3D viscous simulations are compared to L2F-measurements and data from the EGV leading edge instrumentation to demonstrate the predictive capability of the Navier-Stokes code TRACE_S. In a second step the separated regions at the blade tip are investigated in detail to gain insight into the mechanisms of tip leakage vortex-shock interaction at operating points close to stall, peak efficiency and choke. At the casing the simulations reveal a region with axially reversed flow, leading to a rotationally asymmetric displacement of the outermost stream surface and a localized additional pitch-average blockage of app. 2%. Loss mechanisms and streamline patterns deduced from the simulation are also discussed. Although the flow is essentially 3D, a simple model for local blockage from tip leakage is demonstrated to significantly improve 2D-simulations on S1-surfaces.Copyright © 1998 by ASME