Effect of Wet Gas Behavior on Centrifugal Compressor Shaft Power

Abstract

The focus of this work is the influence of atomizing flow on a centrifugal compressor. First, the authors clarify that the performance of the centrifugal compressor under wet gas conditions decreases with the increase of LMF as a result of an increase to the impeller shaft power, as suggested in their previous report. A new method for predicting the compressor shaft power based on the liquid behavior in the impeller is then proposed. The authors hypothesize that the increment of the impeller shaft power under wet gas conditions is different when liquid film is dominant in the impeller than when liquid droplets are. In the previous report, the predicted shaft power under the condition that the liquid film was assumed to be dominant in the impeller was experimentally verified. This paper experimentally verifies the predicted shaft power under the condition that the liquid droplets are assumed to be dominant.