Effect of active/passive flow control based on synthetic jet of stator blades on a single stage axial compressor

Abstract

To investigate the effect of synthetic jet on the stator blade’s suction surface on the axial compressor’s performance and stability, a high-speed subsonic single-stage axial compressor is numerically simulated in this paper. The results show that there is an optimal excitation position. Under this position’s excitation, the compressor’s peak efficiency is improved, and the comprehensive stability margin is also slightly improved. The analysis of internal flow field shows that the improvement of compressor efficiency is mainly due to the reduction of stator blockage, which reduces the stator’s channel loss and outlet loss. At the same time, the reduction of stator channel blockage also optimizes the inter-stage matching of the compressor, which is of positive significance for the improvement of rotor channel flow. To further improve the stability margin of the compressor, a coupling flow control method combining the rotor casing treatment with the synthetic jet on the stator suction surface is proposed. The results show that compared with the simple casing treatment, the flow stability margin of the single axial compressor is expanded from 4.38% to 5.46%, and the peak efficiency is improved from −0.93% to only −0.3%.