Unsteady numerical study on the effects of inlet distortion parameters on the aerodynamic instability of the centrifugal compressor

Total pressure inlet distortion significantly impairs the aerodynamic performance and flow stability of centrifugal compressors. This paper presents a full annulus unsteady numerical simulation to investigate the flow mechanisms under varying inlet distortion parameters. First, the flow characteristics of a uniform inflow is studied as a baseline for comparison with distorted inlet conditions. Results indicate that the interaction between shock waves and tip leakage flow is a primary factor leading to aerodynamic instability. The instability signal in this region is detected through fast Fourier transform and frequency slice wavelet transform (FSWT). Under near stall condition, different distortion parameters are set to research the effects on aerodynamic performance, flow mechanisms, and instability characteristics. The results reveal that distortion intensity has the most significant impact, causing a maximum stall margin loss of 55.43%, followed by distortion angle with a maximum stall margin loss of 43.02%. Total pressure inlet distortion leads to a deterioration in aerodynamic performance, primarily due to premature occurrences of unstable flow phenomena such as leading-edge spillage and trailing-edge backflow. The onset key features triggering aerodynamic instability are identified as leading-edge spillage vortex, tip leakage vortex, and passage vortex. The continuous disintegration of the tip leakage vortex results in low-frequency fluctuating energy exhibiting multipeak characteristics, with pulsation peaks centered around 0.5 BPF, related to the spike stall of the compressor. The high-energy frequency band dissipates over time in the time–frequency spectrum, as shown by FSWT results, indicating the characteristics of instability in the flow.