Investigation of Vaned-Recessed Casing Treatment in a Low-Speed Axial Flow Compressor, Part I: Time-Averaged Results

This paper investigates the effects of two modifications to a vaned recessed casing treatment. First, the shape of a circular curve was used in the top of the treated casing. Second, a fully curved guide vane was also applied. The goals of the modifications are to enhance the flow recirculation as well as to relieve the low-speed flow, which is normally accumulated within the corners of the vaned recessed casing treatment. The solid casing in addition to the two vaned recessed configurations with 23.2% and 53.5% rotor blade tip axial chord exposure have been studied numerically. The results indicated that two mechanisms are involved in the stall margin enhancement. First, the circumferential pressure gradient is reduced for both configurations. The reduction in pressure gradient largely reduces the development of tip leakage vortex and, thus, the generation of low-speed fluid is diminished. Second, the main flow/tip leakage interface moves toward downstream and the movement of interface toward the leading edge is delayed. The second configuration with a greater rotor blade tip exposure enables extra flow recirculation due to decreasing surface area and, therefore, could be superior to the application of the first casing treatment configuration. The major streamlines within the casing treatment are also discussed. The time-averaged results are presented in this paper, while the unsteady results including instantaneous flow fields, origins of the unsteadiness and frequency analysis are discussed in part II.