Numerical and experimental investigations of flow separation control through a linear compressor cascade

Modern large-scale gas turbines are equipped with high-pressure ratio compressors to increase engine work and its overall efficiency. Flow separation and energy losses are also two interrelated phenomenon associated with changes in compressor loading level and performance. This paper examines therefore the control of flow separation using a passive-control technique. An arced divergent-convergent slot grooved from the blade pressure side to its suction side was adopted to control flow separation, reducing the losses through a linear compressor cascade. The spanwise location of the slot was selected based on CFD simulations where the corner separation was predicted. The slot height in the spanwise direction was selected to be 8% of the blade height at the end-wall side. The present work was performed experimentally and numerically at an inlet Reynolds number, $${R}_{ec}=\rho {V}_{\infty }C/\mu =2.98\times {10}^{5}$$ , covering a wide range of incidence angles from $$+ 6^{ \circ } {\text{ to}} - 6^{ \circ }$$ . The experimental work was carried out using a linear cascade test section consisting of six NACA 65-009 blade profiles integrated into a low-speed wind tunnel. A five-hole pressure probe system was used to obtain main flow parameters. Numerically, four turbulence models, including Spalart–Allmaras (S–A) model, Realizable (R k-ε) model, Shear-Stress Transport (SST k-ω) model, and Reynolds Stress model (RSM) were tested to predict the velocity and pressure fields. Good agreement between the experimental measurements and the numerical results, which were obtained using the RSM turbulence model in terms of velocity profiles and total pressure downstream of blades. It was observed also that the use of the arced-slotted blades for positive incident angles was more effective in reducing the separation than the negative and zero incident angles, approaching a maximum value of 33% for 6° with enhanced blade loading reaching 17.6%. It is to be concluded that, the use of arced slotted blade improves the compressor performance specially for positive incident angles.