Study on flow fields in high specific speed centrifugal compressor with unpinched vaneless diffuser

Performance of centrifugal compressors strongly depends on their internal flow fields. CFD has become indispensable tool for getting the information about flow fields in centrifugal compressors. CFD codes are usually validated by some representative data or compared with calculated results by other CFD codes, in order to ensure their accuracies. However, learning their accuracies for all types of centrifugal compressor’s specifications requires continuous works that compare experimental data obtained in developmental processes of various types of centrifugal compressors with CFD results. A prediction of a performance and a flow field of a centrifugal compressor by CFD is relatively accurate when the impact of separation and secondary flow on that flow field is weak, i.e. near design condition. Centrifugal compressors are deemed to have a wide operating range alongside high efficiencies at design points. Hence the prediction accuracy of CFD at off design conditions, where the impacts of separation and secondary flow on the flow field are strong, is critical for the design of the centrifugal compressors. This study therefore investigated the prediction accuracy of CFD using a centrifugal compressor whose geometry was intentionally changed to have a distorted flow field over a whole operating range, i.e. from choke to surge.