Effect of Sloped Trench Casing Treatment on Performance and Stability of Axial Compressors

Abstract Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the effect of the sloped trench casing treatment on the performance and stability of a compressor cascade, an isolated rotor, and a single compressor stage. The research objects alter from a simplified flow model to an actual compressor working environment. Firstly, a detailed study of how the sloped trench casing treatment effects the tip leakage flow structure, especially the tip leakage vortex of a compressor cascade, is presented. Results show that the strength of the tip leakage vortex is weakened as the sloped trench casing treatment transforms the structure of the tip leakage vortex. Then the simulation results of the isolated rotor and the single stage are studied. For both cases, the effect of the sloped trench casing treatment on the tip leakage flow is analogous to that of the cascade case. For the isolated rotor, the improvement on the performance is not obvious. While under the stage environment, different from the traditional casing treatment, both the performance and the stability of the compressor are advanced, by getting the tip leakage vortex under control and letting the downstream stator working under a better inflow condition.