Annulus Wall Boundary Layers in Axial Compressor Stages

An analytical and experimental study is made of the development of secondary vorticities through the successive blade rows of a turbomachine. Whereas in cascade experiments the streamwise vorticity is usually zero at entry to the cascade, in the turbomachine this vorticity is in general nonzero and must be taken into account in the calculation of the secondary vorticity at exit from a blade row. In the calculation of boundary layer velocity profiles through an axial flow compressor stage, the variations in the exit air angles from the rows are computed first, from estimates of the secondary vorticities. There will always be overturning at the exit from the guide vane tip section, but tracing of the vorticity vectors through the machine shows that there may be underturning at rotor and stator tip. The exit air angles obtained from the analysis of these secondary flows may be used, together with actuator disk theory, to calculate axial velocity profiles in the boundary layers. It is suggested that this method of calculating the flow in the regions near the annulus walls should be used in the design of axial flow compressors.