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Modern compressor design targets require high performance and a wide operating range in order to reduce the environmental impact. To understand the fluid dynamics mechanisms that trigger instability, studying the system at the stability limit is required. In this work, a two-stage back-to-back centrifugal compressor for refrigerant applications has been simulated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques using unsteady calculations in different operating points close to surge. These models have been validated by comparing numerical performance with experimental data. An in-depth fluid dynamics analysis combined with the monitoring of several pressure signals, postprocessed with FFT, identified different flow phenomena in the two stages toward the surge limit. The key role of the volute that induces a stronger upstream counterpressure in the first stage has been highlighted. This effect causes the formation of high entropy (low momentum) rotating cells in the diffuser that involve a higher channel portion with respect to the flow structure in the second diffuser. This phenomenon affects the upstream flow conditions at the impeller. In addition, the interaction between the inlet guide vane (IGV) and the inducer has been analyzed, observing that in the second stage, due to the flow nonuniformity after the intermediate compressor pipe, non-negligible separations occur. Starting from the peaks detected in the FFT analysis of the pressure signals, all the above flow mechanisms have been detected and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A very detailed experimental case of a reversed profile in ground effect has been selected in the open literature where available experimental data have been used as reference data for the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The CFD approach has been used to predict aerodynamic performance of the profile at different distances with respect to the ground: in the freestream case, there is no ground effect whereas in the low height the profile operation is limited by the stall on the suction surface. Moreover, the effect of a Gurney flap addition on flow distribution and performance has been numerically investigated. The experimental data have been used to setup and test the capabilities of the computational approach. With the addition of a Gurney flap, a significant flow unsteadiness is introduced that needs to be considered in the numerical approach. In this case, the configurations investigated are used to highlight the capabilities of CFD using Reynolds-averaged Naiver-Stokes (RANS) approach for its effective application as a tool for the detailed design of aerodynamic components to generate downforce for race cars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The T-AX1 turbomachinery design system, an axisymmetric methodology recently developed with an educational purpose, has shown great capabilities in the redesign of existing axial flow gas turbine components. Different turbomachines, single or multistage configurations, have been already reproduced with excellent overall performance results: examples are the NASAIGE E3 HP compressor and LP turbine. In this paper, the authors present a detailed analysis of the results of a "case-study" application of the code as a complementary tool to be used during a turbomachinery design course. The NASAIGE E3 HP compressor has been chosen as the test case. Starting from the data available in open literature the different steps of the redesign have been reported: from theflowpath generation through the thermodynamic properties distributions to the overall turbomachine performance analysis. Particular attention has been given to some critical aero design parameters. The links to some interesting and useful literature sources are reported. The free-vortex, the only vortex law included in the first version of the code has been used for a first EEE compressor redesign. Different design vortex methodologies have been implemented in the new release of the code and their effects on the angular momentum are reported. The corresponding geometries can also be interfaced to a mesh generator and then the turbomachinery configurations analyzed by a 3D Navier-Stokes solver. In this way the flow field can be carefully analyzed and the fluid-dynamic physics better understood. With the above software structure the student has the opportunity to test the effects of different design strategies on the turhomachineiy performance and to understand the need of a hierarchy of tools that give complete information for the multistage turhomachineiy design. Finally, in the last section of the paper, the authors present how a project such as T-AXI, developed from their research activity in turbomachinery, numerical methods and CFD, can be included in the education tool CompEdu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]