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Subsea centrifugal compressors commonly using labyrinth seals (LS) and pocket damper seals (PDS) must withstand the flow of oil in gas mixtures with a liquid volume fraction (LVF) up to 5%. This paper presents experimental results for the leakage and rotordynamic coefficients of a uniform clearance PDS and a similar size LS both supplied with wet gas. The shaft diameter D = 127 mm and the seal axial length L = 48 mm. In the tests, the seals' pressure ratio (inlet/exit) = 2.5, and the shaft speed reaches 5.25 krpm (surface speed = 35 m/s). The LS has a 17% larger radial clearance (Cr, LS = 0.230 mm > Cr, PDS = 0.196 mm) due to a manufacturing error. This paper extends prior work by Torres et al. (2022, "A Stepped Shaft Labyrinth Seal versus a Pocket Damper Seal: Leakage and Dynamic Force Coefficients Under Wet Gas Operation," ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 145(1), p. 011006) for the same two seal types with a stepped clearance configuration that promotes damping. When supplied with a dry gas, the LS leaks more because of its larger clearance. A loss coefficient (cd) is a fraction of the physical clearance that characterizes a seal's effectiveness in reducing leakage. The cd of both seals is nearly identical for operation with pure gas; the small differences are well within the experimental uncertainty. For operation with wet gas, the PDS cd decreases as the LVF increases whereas the LS cd increases, thus indicating the PDS is more effective to restrict wet gas leakage. When operating with pure gas, the direct stiffness (K) and effective damping (Ceff) of both seals are small in magnitude (K < 0.5 MN/m, Ceff < 2 kN-s/m) and often less than the experimental uncertainty. For wet gas operation and with shaft speed = 3 krpm and 5.25 krpm, the PDS produces Ceff < 0 for whirl frequencies below 50 Hz. In contrast, the LS Ceff > 0, although small in magnitude. The experimental results under wet gas operation are similar for operation with LVF equal to 3% and 5%. Unexpected low-frequency broadband motions appear when supplying the PDS with a wet gas. Although small in amplitude (<5 µm), the motions increase in severity as the mixture inlet LVF and shaft speed increase. The motions are entirely absent for tests with the LS. Experiments in which the mixture is drawn from the PDS cavities rule out liquid accumulation as the cause of the observed motions. The current test results serve as a reference for turbomachinery design engineers and aid in the validation of analytical predictive tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerodynamic instability plays an important role in compressor design and may cause performance degradation and fatigue damage. In this paper, an experimental study on the evolution of aerodynamic instability is carried out on a compressor that combines the performance benefits of an axial stage and centrifugal stage. The spatiotemporal characteristics of unsteady wall pressure were obtained using fast-responding pressure transducers over a range of operating conditions. The results show that the axial stage works on the positive slope of the performance characteristic curve from choke to stall at low-speed operating conditions, and mainly features rotating instability. Rotating stall is also observed in the impeller (IMP) and diffuser passages. At medium-speed operating conditions, the centrifugal stage suffers a high-frequency mild surge, alternating with rotating stall. With the increase in back pressure, the mild surge diminishes, and rotating stall persists. This behavior is similar to a two-regime-surge, which has been reported for centrifugal compressors. At high-speed operating conditions, the compressor directly reaches surge without other instabilities. Further analysis of the spatial pattern of the rotating stall revealed the existence of a high-pressure region near the volute tongue, resulting in obvious pressure distortion along the circumferential direction at the volute inlet. This induced the amplitude difference of stall cells in corresponding diffuser passages. The disturbance caused by stall cells propagates upstream through the blade passage, and the largest pressure disturbance induced by the stall cell propagation appears in a circumferential position 45 deg downstream of the volute tongue at the impeller inlet and the axial stage inlet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a numerical investigation of the effect of wing integration on the aerodynamic behavior of a typical large civil aero-engine exhaust system at wind-milling flow conditions. The work is based on the dual stream jet propulsion (DSJP) test rig, as will be tested within the transonic wind tunnel (TWT) located at the aircraft research association (ARA) in the UK. The DSJP rig was designed to measure the impact of the installed pressure field due to the effect of the wing on the aerodynamic performance of separate-jet exhausts. The rig is equipped with the dual separate flow reference nozzle (DSFRN), installed under a swept wing. Computational fluid dynamic simulations were carried out for representative ranges of fan and core nozzle pressure ratios (CNPR) for "engine-out" wind-milling scenarios at end of runway (EOR) takeoff, diversion, and cruise conditions. Analyses were done for both isolated and installed configurations to quantify the impact of the installed pressure field on the fan and core nozzle discharge coefficients. The impact of fan and core nozzle pressure ratios, as well as freestream Mach number and high-lift surfaces on the installed suppression effect, was also evaluated. It is shown that the installed pressure field can reduce the fan nozzle discharge coefficient by up to 16%, relative to the isolated configuration for EOR wind-milling conditions. The results were used to inform the design and setup of the experimental activity which is planned for 2023. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flow structures and heat transfer within rotating cavities of aero-engine axial compressors influence the thermal expansion of the rotor disks, and consequently the blade-tip clearances. To investigate the flow field at the bore and lower cavity region, experimental measurements have been acquired in an engine-representative test facility. Axial, tangential, and radial velocities were measured using a miniature five-hole probe at a range of axial and radial positions. Time-averaged results from 28 tests carried out at nondimensional parameters comparable to engine conditions: 1.3 × 104 ≤ Rez ≤ 8.2 × 104, 3.0 × 105 ≤ Reθ ≤ 3.2 × 106, 0.11 ≤ Ro ≤ 3.24, 0.14 ≤ βΔT ≤ 0.36 are presented in this paper. The axial and tangential velocity measurements conform to previous work, while the radial velocity component provides quantitative evidence of an asymmetric toroidal vortex in the cavity gap, biased toward the downstream disk. The vortex is characterized by the local vorticity and grows in strength and size as Rossby number increases above Ro = 0.34 to 1.63. The effect of βΔT on the vortex formation is negligible compared to the influence of the tangential Reynolds number as the local circulation is suppressed by the Coriolis forces at high rotational speeds. Both the tangential and radial velocity results suggest that as Ro is increased, the proportion of air that is radially ingested and expelled from a cavity decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The next generation of ultrahigh bypass ratio civil aero-engines promises notable engine cycle benefits. However, these benefits can be significantly eroded by a possible increase in nacelle weight and drag due to the typical larger fan diameters. More compact nacelles, with shorter intakes, may be required to enable a net reduction in aero-engine fuel burn. The aim of this paper is to assess the influence of the design style of short intakes on the unsteady interaction under crosswind conditions between fan and intake, with a focus on the separation onset and characteristics of the boundary layer within the intake. Three intake designs were assessed, and a hierarchical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach was used to determine and quantify primary aerodynamic interactions between the fan and the intake design. Similar to previous findings for a specific intake configuration, both intake flow unsteadiness and the unsteady upstream perturbations from the fan have a detrimental effect on the separation onset for the range of intake designs. The separation of the boundary layer within the intake was shock driven for the three different design styles. The simulations also quantified the unsteady intake flows with an emphasis on the spectral characteristics and engine-order signatures of the flow distortion. Overall, this work showed that is beneficial for the intake boundary layer to delay the diffusion closer to the fan and reduce the preshock Mach number to mitigate the adverse unsteady interaction between the fan and the shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed combustion systems have shown the potential to reduce emissions as well as increase load and fuel flexibility. A characteristic feature of such systems is a reacting jet in crossflow, which exhibits complex vortical structures. In this paper, a generic combustion chamber with elliptic reacting jets in crossflow is examined, operating under lean-premixed conditions at elevated pressure and exhibiting high-frequency transverse mode shapes. It can be seen that depending on the orientation of the elliptical shape of the jet to the crossflow, thermoacoustic modes can be suppressed. A multidimensional fast Fourier transform shows that low aspect ratios (major axis of the jet aligned with the crossflow) result in the mixed 1L1T mode of first longitudinal and first transverse structure, while this mode disappears at high aspect ratios. To get a more detailed insight into the different vortex systems of the various aspect ratios, dynamic mode decomposition is applied. This modal decomposition technique reveals for low aspect ratios a shear layer mode that oscillates at a frequency close to the acoustic mixed mode. For this configuration, a mode representing a flapping motion is also identified. For high aspect ratios, the shear layer vortex increases its frequency and a higher-frequent mode appears in the acoustic spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal energy storage (TES) devices use phase change materials (PCMs) to store and release thermal energy. Control-oriented models are needed to predict the behavior of TES devices and experimental validation is necessary to demonstrate the predictive capabilities of these models. This paper presents an experimental validation of a switched moving boundary (MB) approach for modeling TES devices, where the dynamics of the device are captured with fewer states than traditional models. A graph-based modeling approach is used to model heat flow, while the moving boundary captures the time-varying liquid and solid regions of the TES. The model uses a finite state machine (FSM) to switch between four modes of operation based on the state-of-charge (SOC) of the TES. Results show that the switched MB approach has similar accuracy and lower computational cost compared to traditional modeling approaches when predicting the SOC of an experimental TES device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lumped-parameter dynamic performance model for a single-spool turbojet engine is presented in this paper. This model can handle pre and poststall transients under forward and reverse-flow conditions. The inter-component volume technique is employed instead of the standard matching technique to be able to handle high-frequency transients and reverse-flow conditions. Inspired by Greitzer's lumped-parameter surge model, momentum (duct) and volume elements are placed within the flow path to handle surge dynamics. Compressor and turbine maps are extended to low-flow and reverse-flow regions using a combination of the guidelines presented by Kurzke, the cubic axisymmetric characteristics of Moore and Greitzer, and a quadratic function guess for in-stall characteristics. Combustor efficiency, stability limits, and delay are taken from the literature. Poststall behavior of the model is validated using the data available in the literature for a Rolls-Royce Viper engine. A good match is observed with a correct prediction of poststall behaviors, which transition from surge after locked stall to multiple surge cycles around 80% speed and multiple surge cycles to surge after flameout around 95% speed. The effects of different modeling choices and modeling parameters on the obtained results are discussed. The produced model can be calibrated for a specific engine with surge tests, and it can be used for hard-to-test scenarios like surge after shaft breakage. Different surge/stall-causing events, such as fuel spiking, in-bleeding, and shaft breakage, are simulated to see the capabilities of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]