An Experimental Investigation by Particle Image Velocimetry of the Active Flow Control of the Stall Inception of an Axial Compressor

This paper presents results from active flow control experiments carried out on a single stage axial compressor. The flow under various forced conditions has been investigated using 2D 2C particle image velocimetry (PIV) on three radial planes along the blades’ span and two different operating points corresponding to the minimum mass flow at which the compressor naturally stalls, and to the lower stability limit reached with the control system activated. In particular, a control strategy using continuous blowing is compared with a pulsed one using the same injected mass flow. Comparison is performed with the base flow without control (when available), or with each other, based on the PIV results in the form of relative velocity maps or inlet/outlet flow characteristics.