A Model to Predict Stall Inception of Transonic Axial Flow Fan/Compressors

A stall inception model for transonic fan/compressors is presented in this paper. It can be shown that under some assumptions the solution of unsteady flow field consists of pressure wave which propagates upstream or downstream, vortex wave and entropy wave convected with the mean flow speed. By further using the mode-matching technique and applying the conservation law and conditions reflecting the loss characteristics of a compressor in the inlet and outlet of the rotor or stator blade rows, a group of homogeneous equations can be obtained from which the stability equation can be derived. Based on the analysis of the unsteady phenomenon caused by casing treatments, the function of casing treatments has been modeled by a wall impedance condition which has been included in the stability model through the eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenfunctions of the system. Besides, the effect of shock waves in cascade channel on the stability prediction is also considered in the stall inception model. Finally, some numerical analysis and experimental investigation are also conducted with emphasis on the mutual comparison.