AE451A: Experiments in Aerospace engineering

Study of a compressor cascade

Date of Experiment: 24/8/2015

Date of submission: 28/8/2015

Piyush Awasthi
G7

Objective
To study the performance of an axial compressor cascade.
Introduction and Theory
The cross-section of the control volume is shown in Figure 4. It has a unit depth, and the sides 2 and 4 are
stream surfaces that lie midway between the blades. Sides 1 and 3 are at the inlet and exit stations
respectively, parallel to the tangential direction.

Equipment
1.) Wind tunnel: The open-circuit low speed wind tunnel in the laboratory consists of a centrifugal blower driven by a
30 hp electric motor. The blower draws in air from the atmosphere from the vents on the side. A short diffuser
section after the blower smoothens the flow before it enters the settling chamber. The honeycomb section and
screens in the settling chamber dampen any circulatory motion. The air is further accelerated in the contraction
section to deliver air to a test section with dimensions 300 mm _ 300 mm. A schematic of the tunnel is shown in
figure

Schematic of wind tunnel

2.) Pressure scanner: Electronic pressure scanners (ESP 32 HD by Pressure Systems) are miniature electronic differential
pressure measurement units that are capable of acquiring pressure from 32 ports at high sampling rates (about 20
kHz, by multiplexing). The measurements each port is carried out using silicon piezoresistive pressure sensors. For the
present setup, a scanner of range +/-1 KPa is used. The connections made for the various ports are shown in Table 1.

3.) Data acquisition system: NI-USB 6251 (National Instruments) is used for data acquisition from the ESP
pressure scanner. It is a multi-function DAQ capable of providing the digital signals for addressing the ports
of the ESP scanner
4.) Yaw probe: The yaw probe consists of a head with three holes, one aligned with the axis of the probe stem,
and the other two placed symmetrically off the axis. There is a provision to change the direction of the probe
stem and a protractor measures this angle. When the stem is aligned with the local flow velocity vector, the
central hole measures the total pressure (w.r.t. a reference pressure), and the other two holes sense the
same pressure. Conversely, when the differential pressure between the two holes is zero, we can consider
the central hole to be measuring the local total pressure and the protractor to read out the flow angle. A
static pressure tap near the sensing head measures the local static pressure. The assembly is mounted on a
lead screw that advances 1.2 mm for every turn.
5.) Cascade: The cascade consists of five blades, set at an incidence of 00 and stagger 00. The airfoil profile is
the Standard Test configuration 1, with 100 camber. The pressure taps located along the pressure and
suction surfaces are connected to the ESP scanner. The location of these taps are given in Table 2. The chord
is 152.1 mm and the blade span is 300 mm, giving it an aspect ratio of 1.97. The pitch (spacing between
adjacent blades, measured along the tangential direction) is 60.5 mm. The measurement plane is 110 mm
downstream of the blade trailing edges. Figure 2 shows the schematic of the cascade setup.

Procedure
1. Observe and familiarize with the various components of the compressor cascade.
2. Note the ambient pressure and temperature.
3. Note the cascades geometrical parameters, namely, stagger angle, inlet flow angle and the blade angles.
4. Switch on the VI, and zero the pressure scanner.
5. Switch on the tunnel, and set the required speed setting. The exact speed will measured in the next step.
6. Position the yaw probe at the measurement point, and turn the stem until the differential pressure
between the off-axis holes reads zero. When it does, note the value of the location of measurement point,
the flow angle and the pressure measured by the central pressure tap. The VI used in the program logs these
values, together with the values of pressure from all 32 ports (in Pascals)
7. Move the yaw probe head along various points along the measurement line that spans at least one pitch
downstream of the central airfoil. At each point, carry out the procedure. Outlined in the previous step.
8. shut down the tunnel after all readings are acquired. The exact speed will measured in the next step

Probe
position(mm)

(Pa)

(Pa)

(Pa)

(Pa)

Angle(degrees)

Reference
angles(deg)

0
6

440.9915
449.175

445.127
454.5044

-337.623
-311.503

-2.91431
16.3405

238
238

244
244

12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
60
66
72

437.4407
439.5788
433.4698
440.457
434.3989
439.0315
440.2279
437.3134
435.7098
443.2951
437.5552

425.4816
296.7174
391.5092
443.5874
437.4419
439.8467
437.8872
435.6097
435.686
438.4979
350.5642

-250.638
-70.1786
-75.7766
-286.249
-320.498
-333.704
-330.333
-331.542
-329.366
-295.651
-149.212

-5.75226
4.263291
7.330316
7.393947
-4.0724
-4.58145
-1.67986
-2.30345
2.863404
-7.21578
0.801753

238
238
242
240
240
240
240
240
240
240
238

244
244
244
244
244
244
244
244
244
244
244

Calculations and Results:

1 = difference between inlet stagnation pressure and static pressure =01 - P1
2 = difference between total pressure after blade and inlet static pressure = 02 - 1
3 = 2 - 1
4 = nulling yaw probe measure
01 - 1 = 1/2**1 2
1= 1/2**1 2
1 = (2 1 / )
2 = 3 + 1/2**2 2
2 -3 = 1/2**2 2
2 = (2 (2 3 )/ )
0 = total pressure loss = 1 -2
tan = (tan 0+ tan (deflection))/2
Lift / span = * (0.006) *1 2 * (-tan (deflection) * sec - 0.006 * 0 *sin )
Drag / span = 0.006 * 0 * cos
Total pressure loss coefficient = ( 0 *2)/ /1 2
Sample Calculations
For position of probe at 0 mm, we get
0 =440.9915-445.127= -4.135 Pa

 = tan1(tan 0 + tan 6)/2=3.008

Lift/span = 0.2802
Drag/span = -0.0124
Pressure loss coefficient = -0.0094

Probe
position

0
6
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
60
66
72

27.11062
27.36101
27.00126
27.06716
26.87842
27.09419
26.90721
27.05031
27.08714
26.99733
26.94778
27.18134
27.00479

36.11902
35.73065
33.56882
24.72839
27.90716
34.87683
35.542
35.90615
35.78222
35.75731
35.70836
34.97973
28.86106

deflection 0

6
6
6
6
2
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
6

-4.13551
-5.32942
11.95909
142.8614
41.96062
-3.13047
-3.04297
-0.81512
2.340674
1.703732
0.023784
4.797148
86.99096

/ = 4.682 N/m
/ = 1.407 N/m
Lift coefficient= / * 2 / / c / 1 2
= 4.682 * 2 / 1.2 / 0.152 / (27*27 )
= 0.07
Drag coefficient= / *2 / / c / 1 2
= 1.407*2/1.2/0.152/ (27*27)
=0.02

Lift/span

3.008247
3.008247
3.008247
3.008247
1.000305
2.00244
2.00244
2.00244
2.00244
2.00244
2.00244
2.00244
3.008247

0.280207
0.576349
0.532717
0.317896
0.158811
0.373292
0.368062
0.369526
0.367038
0.365309
0.365811
0.366856
0.240358

Drag/spin Total
pressure
loss
coefficient
-0.01239 -0.00938
-0.03193 -0.01186
0.071656 0.027339
0.855987 0.324996
0.251725 0.096802
-0.01877 -0.00711
-0.01825 -0.00701
-0.00489 -0.00186
0.014035 0.005317
0.010216 0.003896
0.000143 5.45E-05
0.028765 0.010822
0.260613 0.198811

Pressure loss coefficient vs probe position

0.35

Total Pressure coefficient(in Pa)

0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

-0.05
-0.1

Probe position(mm)

Observations and discussions

We can easily from the graph that pressure increases drastically when the probe is close to the trailing edge of
the blade.
Precautions
1. Ensure the components of the test section (blades and probe) are firmly secured before switching on the
wind tunnel.
2. Do not block the flow exiting the cascade, as it will affect the measurements.