COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR WITH GROOVES ON CASING

Computational results of flow field in a centrifugal impeller with grooves on casing are presented in the paper. A low speed centrifugal compressor with 2% tip clearance is considered. Analysis is carried out for three different cases, one without grooves on the casing, second with two grooves on casing and third with three grooves on t he casing. The three cases are studied at five different flow coefficients φ =0.28, 0.34, 0.42 (design value), 0.48 and 0.52 using Ansys-CFX. Pressure ratio improvement with two grooves on casing is observed. The leakage of flow over tip of the blade through the grooves from pressure side to suction side of the blade is interacting with passage wake n ear casing and reduction in passage wake region area is observed with two grooves on casing.