Flow Investigations in the Crossover System of a Centrifugal Compressor Stage

The performance of the crossover system of a centrifugal compressor stage consisting of static components of U-bend, return channel vanes and exit ducting with a bend is investigated. This study is confined to the assessment of performance of the crossover system by varying the shape of the return channel vanes. For this purpose two different types of Return Channel Vanes (RCV1 and RCV2) were experimentally investigated. The performance of the crossover system is discussed in terms of total pressure loss coefficient, static pressure recovery coefficient and vane surface pressure distribution. The experimentation was carried out on a test setup in which static swirl vanes were used to simulate the flow at the exit of an actual centrifugal compressor impeller with a design flow coefficient of 0.053. The swirl vanes are connected to a mechanism with which the flow angle at the inlet of U-bend could be altered. The measurements were taken at five different operating conditions varying from 70% to 120% of design flow rate. On an overall assessment RCV1 is found to give better performance in comparison to RCV2 for different U-bend inlet flow angles. The performance of RCV2 was verified using numerical studies with the help of a CFD Code. Three dimensional sector models were used for simulating the flow through the crossover system. The turbulence was predicted with standard k-, 2-equation model. The iso-Mach contour plots on different planes and development of secondary flows were visualized through this study.