Unsteady Flow Mechanism of Corner Separation Control Using Blade End Slots in a Highly Loaded Compressor Cascade

Abstract Blade end slots have been proven to be an effective method to suppress corner separation, thereby improving the aerodynamic performance of the compressor. The unsteady effects of blade end slots affiliated with a highly loaded compressor cascade on corner separation control are investigated based on delayed detached eddy simulation under the Mach number of 0.59. The corner separation vortex structures between the datum blade and the end slotted blade are compared. The vortex topologies are markedly reorganized and suppressed by the blade end slots. Unsteady flow behaviors of separation vortex and the corresponding dynamic mechanisms are analyzed in both time and frequency domains. The interaction of the self-adaptive jet flow from the blade end slots to the corner separation flow results in smaller-scale vortices in the blade end region with a higher characteristic frequency. Consequently, the unsteady effects caused by corner separation vortices are significantly reduced in range and intensity through the enhancement of flow mixing and the rapid dissipation of corner separation vortices into larger-scale lower-frequency features. Furthermore, spatiotemporal features and dynamics of corner separation flow with blade end slot control are investigated using the enhanced dynamic mode decomposition method. Results show that the dominant unsteady flow behavior develops with better stability, the intermittency of low-frequency and large-scale behavior is reduced via the blade end slot control.