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Copyright OD 1998 by ASME All Rights Reserved Primed in U.S.A.

THE CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR INDUCER

C Rodgers

3010 N Arroyo Dr,

San Diego , Ca 92103

ABSTRACT. Q Compressible flow function
W4T/ AP
The function of the centrifugal compressor Qcrit Compressible flow function ,sonic
inducer is to provide wide flow margins from conditions

the design flow to the stall and choke flow q Work factor, or dynamic head
limits, together with high static pressure RMS Root mean square
recovery. At transonic conditions the inducer Blade pitch
becomes the critical to impeller performance T Total temperature
in that shock losses and blockage growth U Blade speed
diminish stable flow range and may trigger W Massflow or relative velocity
near vertical stage characteristics.
The paper covers the various types of inlet
configurations upstream of the inducer, a Air angle
followed by a review of the state-of-art Blade angle
inducer design for centrifugal compressors, A Difference
culminating with some research developments c Diameter ratio
in transonic inducer blading characteristics. ri Efficiency
Flow factor
p Density
NOMENCLATURE co Angular velocity

A Area Subscripts
At Inducer throat area
C Velocity 1 Inducer inlet
Cp Specific heat 2 Impeller exit
CFS Volume Flow ad Adiabatic
D Diameter c Compressor
ETAC Compressor Efficiency e Stage exit
g Gravity h Hub
H Head s Shroud
k Ratio of specific heats t Throat
L/E Leading Edge
M Mach number Note : All angles are with respect to the
Mu Delaval Number = U2 /(gIcRT)" axial or radial direction.
N Rotational speed
Ns Specific speed
= o I CFS / ( g Had ) 0.75
o Throat opening
P Stagnation or total pressure

Presented at the International Gas Turbine & Aeroengine Congress & Exhibition
Stockholm, Sweden — June 2—June 5, 1998
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 1. INTRODUCTION.
The centrifugal impeller stage characteristic
is basically determined by its entry and exit
blade shapes. The entry or inducer section
throat contols the stall and choke flows, and
the exit or exducer essentially governs the
momentum exchange.
The demand for more efficient compressor
operation at higher Mach numbers and
extended suction specific speeds of pumps
during the early 1950's, focused extensive
research on separate axial inducers ahead of
the radial section of the radial impeller. In
particular these inducers were shown to
provide improved centrifugal compressor
efficiencies at the higher pressure ratios
necessitated by gas turbine cycle performance
requirements.
The past restrictions to successfully analyze
the impeller internal flow prompted
modeling the inducer section as its axial
compressor stage counterpart, a practice
which is still current, for at least meanline
stage performance predictions.
Later performance improvements in
centrifugal compressor technology emerging
in the last two decades have been realized by:
. Adoption of diffusion controlled three-
dimensional backswept impellers.
. Applied transonic axial compressor
technology.
. Numerically controlled machining for three-
dimensional arbitrary blade surfaces.
. Refinement of meanline performance
prediction codes together with application of
computational fluid dynamic codes.
This paper covers the various types of inlet
configurations upstream of the inducer
followed by a review of the state-of art
inducer design, culminating with recent
research developments in transonic inducer
blading characteristics.
2. INLET CONDITIONS.
Maximum performance of the inducer is
achieved with unspoiled inlet flow.
Centrifugal compressor inlets are typically of
either the axial or radial single entry type. In
some instances the installation may require
dual, or bifurcated inlets which may impose
flow distribution problems, and or, additional
pressure losses dependent upon specific
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geometric features. Maximum performance is
normally obtained with an axial bellmouth type
inlet. In some cases the radial inlet with
circumferentially accelerating flow around a 90
deg bend towards the inducer eye is often
selected, such as gas turbine engine and
multistage centrifugal compressor
configurations. This is not to be confused with
the so called "radial inlet" from a suction pipe.
Several types of centrifugal compressor inlet
configurations are shown on Figla through f.
Ref 1 describes the results of tests concerning
radial inlet geometric features, and in
particular the influence of axial length
extension upstream of the inducer leading
edge. The test results shown on Fig 2 indicates
that relatively short axial extensions can be
used at De Laval Mach numbers up to 1.15,
without significant performance penalties
providing;
. The ratio of the hub axial extension to the
hub diameter L/ D1 5 >0.4
. The mean streamline velocity maintains a
positive acceleration gradient, especially in
the last third of the flow path up to the
inducer leading edge.
. A meanline axial velocity ratio of 2.0
(exit/entry) is maintained.
The use of these simplistic guidelines for
preliminary design layouts provides a quick
design aid, but it is not recommended as a
detail design tool, especially when inlet
distortion may be present at the radial entry,
and or, higher inducer tip relative Mach
numbers are incurred. Under such conditions
higher meanline acceleration rates are
preferred to prevent excessive shroud
boundary layer growth, and a complete inlet
throughflow analysis is warranted.
The effects of inlet flow distortion on
centrifugal compressor performance are
addressed in Ref 2. Radial flow distortion was
found to have a more pronounced effect on
surge margin and efficiency than
circumferential distortion. It is generally
accepted, however, that the centrifugal
compressor is less sensitive to flow distortion
that its axial flowcounterpart.
In most compressor applications it is required
to provide an inlet plenum or muff to direct
the airflow from an exterior source to the
compressor eye, the radial type of inlet is
 often used in conjunction with a rectangular
inlet muff.
The area ratio between the muff inlet and
compressor eye is again a primary factor in
muff sizing, and performance both in terms of
pressure loss and flow distortion.
Area ratios of at least 3.0 to 4.0 are required
for minimum loss, and can assist in reducing
sensitivity to externally propagated flow
distortions.
Asymmetric or tangential type suction nozzles
can create non-uniform flows with prewhirl
components at the compressor eye. The use of
1 Muff
a flow splitter at bottom dead center is
customary, especially with confined low area
ratio configurations.
Although an inlet center body or spinner
ahead of the impeller is esthetically pleasing
most turbocharger centrifugal compressors
are produced with an uncovered impeller
retainment nut. Comparative compressor
performance tests with and without a
streamlined spinner al m 0.4) have
\---111-2<
shown negligible differences.

L J
Fig 1 Centrifugal Compressor Inlet Types

Ihr Lid1 Impeller Effy%

0 62 82.6
0 51 82.0
0.46 79.7

I dl
(----- Mu=1 .3

Fig 2. Effect of Inlet Axial Length

Fan Interstage Separate Inducer 3D Mixed Flow
Fig 3 Impeller Types

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 3 REVIEW OF INDUCER STATE-OF-
ART.
The main function of the impeller is to
provide the required pressure and flow levels
with minimum energy input and with stable
flow operation. The desired pressure level is
idealistically attained merely by providing
sufficient tip speed, with the product of
rotational speed and tip diameter, whereas
the required flow and stability is mostly
dependent upon the correct shaping and
sizing of the inducer section.
The inducer is the critical section of the
impeller, especially for efficient operation at
high inlet relative Mach numbers.
Essentially five impeller entry (inducer)
configurations have evolved during the course
of centrifugal compressor and pump
development as depicted on Fig 3.
The simple radial and diagonal leading edges
are still utilized on low pressure fans and for
low specific speed applications, exhibiting
comparable performances to inducer type
impellers at Mum40. 6.
The demand for more efficient compressor
operation at higherMach numbers and
extended suction specific speeds of pumps
during the late 1940's, focused extensive
research on separate axial inducers ahead of
the radial section of the impeller.
The effects of inducer axial chord, splitters,
camberline shape (circular and parabolic),
leading edge contour was some of the many
inducer geometric features studied.
Analysis of these experimental studies
revealed the similarity of inducer operating
characteristics to those of the axial
compressor rotor stage, even though followed
by an impeller flow turns from the axial to
the radial direction. It was subsequently
possible to correlate inducer characteristics
with extensive existing cascade data of axial
compressors as discussed in Ref 3.
Initial meridional sizing of the inducer is
dependent upon;
.Inducer hub diameter Dm as constrained by
either blade manufacture, or shaft diameter.
inducer tip diameter Di s for minimum
relative curvature concerns.
For zero prewhirl the inducer tip relative
velocity is given by;
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Wis =‘-lsm 2 +[ Massflow pi Alf) 0.5
Examination of the above equation shows that
for constant massflow and density that the
right hand term increases with increasing
diameter, whilst the left hand term decreases
with increasing diameter.
The relative velocity Wi s therefore has a
minimum which for incompressible flow is at
a tip relative flow angle f3 i s of 55 deg. For
compressible flow, Wi s is minimum with [3 i s
between 55 to 65 deg, depending upon the
inducer hub to tip ratio, and specific speed.
High specific speed designs may however
result in excessive shroud curvature (1/- 15 —>
Dib), thus selection of a lower inducer tip
flow angle (than optimum) may be
considered.
Having made a preliminary selection of the
inducer hub and tip diameters attention is
focused towards sizing the inducer throat to
pass the desired flow, of sufficient area to
avoid choking , or cavitation in pumps. A
choke flow margin of up to10% is typical for
Mu > 1.5 compressors, the appropriate throat
of which, must be compatible with a selected
blade entry angle and possess adequate stall
margin. The following conditions should
therefore be satisfied;
. Smallest possible inducer hub diameter
consistent with blade manufacture and shaft
dynamic concerns.
. Optimum inducer tip diameter for minimum
tip relative Mach number and tolerable
shroud curvature.
. Computation of a corresponding hub, RMS,
and tip velocity triangles
. An inducer choke margin of up to 10%, with
controlled blade turning between the leading
edge and the throat.
. Choice of a radial distribution of blade
incidence giving adequate stall margin.
Two axial compressor blade design
procedures adopted in the design of inducers
for centrifugal compressors were the
correlation maximum inlet relative Mach
number versus blade throat opening to pitch
ratio, and blade stalling incidence as a
function of turning and solidity (Ref 3).
 Typical inducer choke flow data is shown on
Fig4, and parallels the theoretical choke line
up to near the sonic limit, after which
maximum flows are highly dependent upon
such factors as blade thickness, leading edge
radius, and blade turning between the leading
edge and throat, as will be discussed later.
The iteration of the throat opening and the
blade inlet angle to provide adequate choke
and stall margins, with as is often, the desire
to have blade elements stacked radially is
resolved computationally. As a design
guideline the one-dimensional stalling
incidences (unblocked annulus) shown on Fig
5 (Ref 4), may be used.
1.4
ca
Note that for a radial leading edge, radial
element blading ,the blade angle is prescribed
by
tan 01 tan I is (D1 D1S )
For zero prewhirl ,near uniform entry
velocity, and solid body rotation, the radial
variation of incidence with this blade angle
distribution becomes minimal.
Curtailment of axial length in multistage
centrifugal compressor configurations for
shaft stiffness reasons generally restrain the
impeller to configurations shown on Fig
3,where the leading edge lies close to an
orthogonal. At lower speeds (Mu < 0.5)
maximum flows depart from the choke flow
correlation (Fig 4), negative incidences
increasing beyond 20 deg. As a general rule
from

tp
fri ckness
& therefore a maximum negative incidence is set
1.2 v ng types in these cases.
4 In many instances alternate inducer blade
cutbacks are preferred to maximize the
1.0 throat area for a given blade angle and tip
Rel
Mach no diameter, or simply for ease of manufacture,
Theo etical
M 1w especially small turbocharger type impellers.
0.8 Alternate blade cutbacks , or splittered
Test
inducers provide a larger throat area for a
given blade angle and therefore tend to
0.6
exhibit a wider flow range between impeller
Thro t Op • c to Pitch Ratio °is cos 0:1 stall and choke, sometimes at the expense of
0. .-- slightly lower impeller efficiency (of the order

0.4 0.6 0 8 1 0 1.2 14 1% point), as compared to fully bladed
inducers.
Fig 4 Typical Choke Flow Correlation
Equal circumferentially spaced splittered
inducers result in unequal channel flows as a
1 .4
result of the velocity gradient from suction to
pressure surfaces, and have been postulated
1 .2
to cause additional mixing losses at the
Ri Based on 1D impeller tip. Some compressors have splitters
Ma h No Analysis spaced for equal channel flows and claim to
1 n m iws have improved performance.Tandem cascade
type inducers have also been developed, Ref
5, in an attempt to improve compressor flow
08 range with indifferent results.
A potential disadvantage of splittered
inducers is increased noise generation if
06 reduced blade number drives the blade
passing frequency into the susceptible audible
Tip Incidence deg range.
0 .4 As mentioned previously, compressor
0 5 10 15 21 operation towards shut-off results in impeller
Fig 5 Typical Inducer Stalling Incidences flow recirculation back to the inlet causing
the inlet temperature to increase rapidly.

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 The flow recirculation first appears at
inducer stall, and may be sensed with a
Thermocouple, suggesting this as an active
stall sensor. This inducer stalling
characteristic has been delayed in many cases
by the use of inducer shroud bleed, as
discussed later.
4. ADVANCED TRANSONIC INDUCER
TECHNOLOGY.
The thrust of recent advances in single stage
centrifugal compressor technology has been
motivated to a large extent by the aerospace
and automobile communities in the interests
of increasing power density through higher
airflows per unit frontal area (higher specific
speeds) and improved thermal performances
at higher stage pressure ratios. Single stage
pressure ratios of 15.0 with very reasonable
efficiency and adequate operating range, have
been achieved by Canadian Pratt and
Whitney. Excellent performance for a small
4.0 inch tip diameter impeller at a pressure
ratio of 6.0 is reported in Ref 6 . In parallel
with aerodynamic achievements, improved
materials and structural design techniques
are being used, providing the capability of
operating at higher tip speeds,with increasing
cyclical life.
A tripartite focus of advanced transonic
inducer research has recently been:
. Adoption of inducer shroud treatments
. Transonic Blading controling inducer
incidence and diffusion
. Incorporation of leading edge sweep
4.1 Inducer Shroud Bleed.
The use of inducer shroud bleed adjacent to
the inducer throat has in many instances
shown to be effective in extending compressor
flow range by either decreasing surge flow,
and or, increasing compressor choke flow
along a constant speed line.
Refs 7, 8, and 9, respectively discuss the
effects of shroud bleed on a high pressure
ratio gas turbine centrifugal compressor, and
small turbocharger compressors.
Circumferential bleed hole ports or slots
located adjacent to the inducer throat permit
flow to be either blown out, or sucked in, as
dependent upon the port internal static
pressure,and thus throttle position. In effect
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active flow in, or out of the port, appears to
be regulating the effective inducer throat
area, but the flow mechanism is a little
subtler as will be described later. The
discharged inducer shroud bleed may be
either simply recirculated back to the inlet,
or dumped externally.
Externally dumped shroud bleed was used on
the small high pressure ratio compressor
described in Ref 6, where increased
compressor work factor with increasing
shroud bleed was speculated to stem from
reduced impeller tip flow blockage. Note that
Ref 6 tests were conducted with the bleed
flow dumped externally, whereas in Ref 8
tests the bleed flow was recirculated back to
the inlet, furthermore with a vaneless diffuser
installed.
Fig 6 Research Impeller
These beneficial effects of impeller shroud
bleed instigated the subsequent
implementation of bleed capability on a
higher specific speed experimental research
compressor partially described in Ref 10, and
shown on Fig 6. The overall stage
performance of this research compressor with
recirculated and dumped shroud bleed as
compared to baseline conditions with a
smooth shroud having no bleed holes is shown
on Figs 7 and 8 respectively.
The pronounced effect of shroud bleed on
compressor flow range is readily apparent
and is much more significant than the minor
changes in efficiency.
Measurement of the dumped bleed permitted
a flow and enthalpy balance at the impeller
tip and assessment of impeller and diffuser
performances in comparison to the baseline
 shown on Figs 9,10,and 11,which respectively
reveal:
. Increased work factor and stability (higher
negative slope of work vis flow) of the
impeller with shroud bleed
. Increased impeller efficiencies.
. Essentially the same diffuser recoveries, yet
permitting operation on the stalled (positive
slope) half of the diffuser characteristic.
Ref 11 reports that a continuous
circumferential bleed slot provided improved
compressor performance as compared to
bleed holes, which could be due in part to,
reduced discharge coefficient and slightly
higher bleedflow. It would be anticipated
that the choke flow increase is proportional
to the bleed port area (of the order 10-15%
At), a contraction coefficient multiplier
representative of the effective orifice, and the
bleed port pressure differential. These do
indeed influence the bleed flow but the major
effect of shroud bleed is summarized as
follows:
Induced Flow. When the inducer shroud
static pressure becomes sub atmospheric flow
is sucked inwards. This has the effect of
decreasing the impeller tip exit blockage
which increases the work factor, both for
recirculated and dumped bleed
configurations.
Expelled Flow. With increasing back
pressure, towards stall, the shroud static
pressure rises above suction and flow is
expelled. This also has the effect of decreasing
the impeller tip exit blockage, with increases
in both impeller efficiency and work factor.
The effect of recirculated and dumped bleed
configurations is different however, in that
recirculated bleed mixing with the suction
flow reduces the effective corrected speed and
thus the overall pressure ratio. Accordingly
the overall efficiency as obtained from the
suction and discharge pressure and
temperatures generally falls below that of the
dumped bleed configuration.
The intrinsic process by which shroud bleed
decreases the impeller tip blockage is not
identified, and is not necessarily Mach
number related. It is surmized to be more
related to the shroud curvature, and thus
more effective on higher specific speed
impellers.

80 Efficiency% ----- -5.--- ■•••

Efficiency \/

701
u
% \'
,/ \ "..1-'°-..\-S. \)C".-. ''' 1
70 I
\ \
Test Map Research
Test Map Research S 1------■
Compressor
Compressor —
— -----, g. o_ 6.5 inch Tip dia
in_ 6.5 inch lip dia
Zero Bleed
Zero Bleed - 7 ----.. --.,
_ Bleed Dumped '\ 1.64
- - - Bleed Recirculated \ 1.64
30
Pressure 1.56
3 0 Pressure ~ 1 1.56 1.4f
)N, 1.4f Ratio
Ratio t-s
Mu 1.31
_ t-s 1.31 2.0 - ---,....,
Z.0

0.98 QfOcrit
0.98 QJQcrit 10 _ _
10 04 1.0
04 0.6 0 8 .0

Fig 7 Effect of Recirculated Bleed Fig 8 Effect of Dumped Bleed

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 1.0
No Bleed - - - Bleed
Diffuser
Recovery 0 5
Cp 2-e \
0.98 8\\ \ '1.64
1.310 1.4 1.56 Mu
0
Flow Mail 0 . 4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Fig 9 Effect of Bleed on Diffuser Recovery

0.8
\
Work
\
Factor
0.7 -,-, -.. ----__ - _
\ c ----
q ...t-:..„.... ... ----.
---.
4...„,....._-
.„.t..
------- 1.54
N\ 0.98 .48 -1 . Mu
0.6 1.31

Flow 0/Ocrit 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Fig 10 Effect of Bleed on Work Factor
90
Impeller /,./ 7 --''`:;; --;%:---":--
-----
--------
Mu
Efficiency r 1.56 1.64
/ 1.31 1 8
0.98
% 80

70
.8 1.0
Flow 0/Qcrit
Fig 11 Effect of Bleed on Impeller Efficiency

4.2 . Transonic Blading. Although a solution is possible in subsonic

Impeller efficiency is highly dependent upon
inducer tip relative Mach number when
Mims exceeds unity. As a consequence in the
transonic range with optimum specific speeds
between 0.6 and 0.9, Micas is often used as
the single major parameter correlation of
peak impeller efficiency, Fig 12,and
aerodynamic blading design becomes focused
towards minimizing the effect of its
magnitude.
Design of the inducer blading from the
leading edge to the throat poses a dichotomy
in that in order to maximize range
(choke/stall flows) it is necessary to maximize
the throat area at choke ,yet effectively
minimize the throat area at stall.
blading with camberline turning from the
leading edge to the throat, operation at
transonic conditions leads to excessive shock
losses. On the other hand reducing the
turning for a given throat area decreases the
blade inlet angle, and thereby increases
incidence for a given flow.
Comparative inducer blade angle
distributions for subsonic and transonic
designs are shown on Fig 13, indicating that
slight inflexing of the initial turning may be
beneficial in reducing overshock strength.
The results of comparative choke flow tests
with subsonic parabolic camberline inducers
and transonic reduced entry turning are

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 shown on Fig 14, and reveal an intriguing
result in that a transonic inducer can exhibit 92
0
higher choke flows with a smaller throat area 0
at the higher Mach numbers. This is a result
of reduced shock losses and blockage 90

88
0 •°
accumulation up to the throat, both from ,o
Impeller 0 o 0 0 0 e
reduced turning and thinner blading. Efficiency o
Thinner blading is however a detriment to %.t-t o o
0 0 0
cost, durability and vibrational concerns,
which may dominate in some applications. An o
r 0
interesting solution is the partial thinning of 86 o
1D Uniform Axial
the inducer blading from leading edge to Velocity
o 0
throat above the diameter where the relative o Test Data
8 . Several Transom:
Mach number exceeds unity. This has been c
Inducers
demonstrated to improve efficiency by up to
1% point with little change in the inducer Inducer Tlp Relmive Mach Number
8 I
first flap bending frequency. 1 2 1 3 1 4 15
The effects of blade thickness on the Fig 12 Effect of Tip Mach Number on Impeller Efficiency
performance of the NASA 10.0 pps high
pressure ratio stage are described in Ref 12,
in which discrete attention was made to
preserve both inducer and diffuser throat
areas. Stage peak efficiencies are shown on
Fig 15 versus shroud inlet relative Mach
number, indicating some two percentage
60

40
Eawn onic
_■e
points higher efficiency with inducer tip (8.34
inch diameter) blade thickness decreased
from .027 to .016 inch. 20
13 deg
Blade
Angle N I
Since typical minimum machinable inducer
tip blade thicknesses are close to .015 inch,
blade thickness effects become significant on
0 100
small compressors of 4.0 inch (100mm) tip 20 40 60 80
diameter or less. % Chord
Fig 13 Impeller Blade Angle Distributions
As mentioned previously, the radial variation
of incidence at the inducer leading edge may
be small, whereas it may be desirable to tailor
an incidence variation to the local Mach lnflexed Turning Thin Blades
1.4
number, or even select to open the throat
towards the hub to provide increased throat
area. The optimization of a high Mach
number inducer design using a CFD code is 12
briefly discussed in Ref 13. Such codes allow Rel
Mach n
individual tailoring of the inducer and
1.0
impeller blading to suit the specific
application needs rather than correlation M1s
with appropriate airfoil cascade
characteristics.

1.4
Fig 14 Effect of Blading Types

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 80
Effici ency ....„.. -77-
_,....., , - •;:-`)
1
s ' 1.28
% 1.1 6
70 0.86
1.04
0 016 inch M1ws
----- 0.027
60
0.1 0.15 0 20 0.25 0.30
Inlet Flow Coefficient C1it12
Fig 15 Effect of Blade Thickness Ref 12. 0.6
0.6 0 8 1.0
Figl 7 Effect of Bleed Position
4.3 Inducer Leading Edge Sweepback 5.0 DISCUSSION.

Since research on axial turbofan stages had
shown leading edge sweepback effective as a
means of reducing shock losses , increasing
blade stiffness ,and deterring buzz-saw noise
generation, the inducer blading of the
research compressor Fig 7, was redesigned as
shown on Fig 16 ,while maintaining the same
throat area. Comparative performance
calibrations showed less than a 1% point
impeller efficiency improvement with sweep
at a relative inducer tip Mach number (one
dimensional) of 1.45. The effect of shroud
bleed position on this impeller is shown on
Fig 17 indicating that bleed at 30% chord
exhibited the highest performance.
Fig 16 Swept Leading Edge Impeller.
An appraisal of design rationale for moderate
to high pressure ratio centrifugal
compressors inducers has been described
based upon lessons learned in the design,
test and development of small aviation gas
turbines and industrial gas compressors
during the latter half of the 20 th century.
Compressor performance improvements have
made with the introduction of transonic
inducer blading featuring minimal turning up
to the throat, and low thickness to pitch
ratios, at some expense to manufacturing cost
and durability.
Turbomachinery aerodynamic and structural
design of centrifugal compressors has
transitioned from the traditional meanline
performance characterization,streamline
curvature internal flow analysis, and drawing
board geometry definition, to a fully
integrated computerized procedure, from
customer specification to the finished out-the-
door product. By the year 2000 this may be
accomplished within one month.
The key to such a rapid turnover will not be
entirely in the drawing creation or machined
part, but the capability of computational fluid
dynamic codes to rapidly predict the entire
compressor map, with an assurance
commitment requiring only an acceptance
delivery performance test.
This indeed is the challenge, as todays most
expensive and time consuming compressor
development task is performance
development to satisfy design requirements.
Having been exposed to the design and
development of a wide diversity of specific

10

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 speed centrifugal compressors it is apparent
that the acid test of any truly universal CFD
code, must be in the codes capability to
successfully predict the characteristics of all
geometries ranging from the partial emission
compressor at the low end of the flow scale, to
the mixed flow compressor at the high flow
limit, and including fully variable geometries.
Excellent agreement has been achieved
between test and CFD code (Dawes) inducer
choke flows at inducer tip relative Mach
numbers up to 1.5.
The magnitude of potential improvements in
efficiency, and other foreseeable reduction in
losses is generally anticipated to be minor,
and it is already clear that research emphasis
on centrifugal compressors is being more
focused on the broadness of the efficiency
islands, stable operating flow range extension
between choke and surge, plus increasing
pressure rise towards surge.
. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
The author wishes to acknowledge the
contributions of his past and present
colleagues at Sundstrand Aerospace and
Solar Turbines in San Diego for their
assistance, guidance,and collaboration, in the
many interesting centrifugal compressor
research and development programs that he
has been fortunate to report upon.
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11
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