Experimental hot-wire measurements in a centrifugal compressor with vaned diffuser

The purpose of this study was to improve the understanding of the flow physics in a centrifugal compressor with vaned diffuser. For this reason three component hot wire measurements in the vaneless space and vane region of a low speed centrifugal compressor are presented. A low speed compressor with a 19 bladed backswept impeller and diffuser with 16 wedge vanes were used. The measurements were made at three inter-vane positions and are presented as mean velocity, turbulent kinetic energy and flow angle distributions. The flow entering the diffuser closely resembles the classic jet-wake flow characteristic of centrifugal impeller discharges. A strong upstream influence of the diffuser vanes is observed which results in significant variations in flow quantities between the vane-to-vane locations. The circumferential variations due to the passage and blade wakes rapidly mix out in the vaneless space, although some variations are still discernible in the vaned region. The impeller blade wakes mix out rapidly within the vaneless space and more rapidly than in an equivalent vaneless diffuser. Although the flow is highly non uniform in velocity at the impeller exit, there is no evidence in the results of any separation from the diffuser vanes. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.