Investigation on the Off Design Performance of a Transonic Compressor with Circumferential Grooves

Two cases with circumferential grooves were designed for a transonic compressor, and 3-D numerical simulations were conducted for stall mechanism at three representative speeds. A conclusion can be drawn from the comparison between compressors with or without casing treatment that: with the rising of rotation speed, stall margin increases dramatically under the help of casing treatments, and the case with middle grooves has reasonable compromise between stall margin increment and efficiency cutting. At lower speed, the increment reduces, and grooves at the back of blade tip have more influence on stall margin. Further investigation shows there is a transition in mechanism of compressor stall with the decline of rotational speed: at high rotation speed, the expansion of stall margin mainly results from the suppression of tip leakage vortex by casing treatments, yet it benefits more from the depression of boundary layer separation from suction surface of blade tip.