Flow losses in supersonic compressor cascades

Loss models used in compression system performance prediction codes are often developed from the study of two-dimensional cascades. The physical mechanisms that affect the flow in supersonic compressor cascades have been reviewed, including the changes in shock geometry that will occur with back pressure for both started and unstarted operation. Compressible fluid mechanics has been applied to the known shock geometry to obtain a physics-based engineering shock loss model that is applicable over the entire supersonic operating range of the cascade.

Predictions from the present method have been compared to measurements and Navier-Stokes analyses of the L030-4 and L030-6 cascades, and very good agreement was demonstrated for unstarted operation. Son1e of the started comparisons exhibited good agreement, while others did not. A clear improvement has been demonstrated over previously published shock loss models, both in the accuracy of the predictions and in the range of applicability.

The dramatic increase in overall loss with increasing inlet flow angle is shown to be primarily the result of increased shock loss, and much of this increase is caused by the detached bow shock. For a given Mach number, the viscous profile loss is nearly constant over the entire unstarted operating range of the cascade, unless a shock-induced boundary layer separation occurs near stall. Shock loss is much more sensitive to inlet Mach number than is viscous profile loss.

The present shock loss model has been used as the basis of an overall loss prediction method by adding a constant value, representative of the viscous profile loss, to the predicted shock loss characteristics. The overall loss characteristics obtained in this manner showed good agreement with the experimental values over the most useful operating range of the cascade.