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Compressors consume a considerable portion of the electricity used in the industrial sector. Hence, improvements in compressor efficiency lead to energy savings and reduce environmental impacts. The efficiency of an unshrouded centrifugal compressor suffers from leakage flow over the blade tips. The effect of tip leakage flow on the passage flow differs between the full and splitter blade passages. In this study, the differences in the flow fields between the full and splitter blade passages were studied numerically in detail. An industrial high-speed compressor with a design pressure ratio of 1.78 was modelled. Numerical studies were conducted with six different tip clearances and three different diffuser widths. The results show that increasing tip clearance considerably increases the reversed flow into the impeller with an unpinched diffuser. The reversed flow then partly mixes into the flow in the same blade passage it entered the impeller and the rest migrates over the blade, mixing with the tip clearance flow. Furthermore, as the reversed and clearance flow mix into the wake, the wake is weakened. As pinch reduces both the reversed flow and clearance flow, the passage wakes are stronger with pinches. However, the pinch is beneficial as the losses at the impeller outlet decrease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of the width of the vaneless diffuser on the stage performance and flow fields of a centrifugal compressor is studied numerically and experimentally. The diffuser width is varied by reducing the diffuser flow area from the shroud side (i.e., pinching the diffuser). Seven different diffuser widths are studied with numerical simulation. In the modeling, the diffuser width b/b2 is varied within the range 1.00 to 0.50. The numerical results are compared with results obtained in previous studies. In addition, two of the diffusers are further investigated with experimental measurement. The main finding of the work is that the pinch reduces losses in the impeller associated with the tip-clearance flow. Furthermore, it is shown that a too large width reduction causes the flow to accelerate excessively, resulting in a highly nonuniform flow field and flow separation near the shroud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]