Flow control treatment for shock wave/boundary layer interaction of transonic shrouded rotors

The shock wave/boundary layer interaction at the tip of transonic shrouded rotor blades usually leads to severe flow separation, which seriously affects aerodynamic performance. In this paper, the effect of part-shroud treatment on the shock wave/boundary layer interaction was numerically investigated. The part-shroud treatment suppresses the shock wave/boundary layer interaction-induced flow separation by introducing the tip leakage vortex at an optimal location. Parametric studies reveal that positioning the tip leakage vortex onset upstream the shock wave effectively reduces flow separation on the suction side, with the best outcomes achieved when the onset is slightly upstream of the shock wave. Based on these findings, the optimal shroud range extends from the leading edge to just upstream of the shock wave under a near stall condition. In National Aeronautics and Space Administration Rotor 35, the 30% shrouded rotors demonstrate a 2.4% improvement in the stall margin over 100% shrouded rotors with little reduction in peak efficiency.