Axial Flow Compressors

The basic components of an axial flow compressor are a rotor and stator, the former carrying
the moving blades and the latter the stationary rows of blades. The stationary blades convert
the kinetic energy of the fluid into pressure energy, and also redirect the flow into an angle
suitable for entry to the next row of moving blades. Each stage will consist of one rotor row
followed by a stator row, but it is usual to provide a row of so called inlet guide vanes. This is an
additional stator row upstream of the first stage in the compressor and serves to direct the
axially approaching flow correctly into the first row of rotating blades. For a compressor, a row of
rotor blades followed by a row of stator blades is called a stage. Two forms of rotor have been
taken up, namely drum type and disk type. A disk type rotor illustrated in Figure 9.1 The disk
type is used where consideration of low weight is most important. There is a contraction of the
flow annulus from the low to the high pressure end of the compressor. This is necessary to
maintain the axial velocity at a reasonably constant level throughout the length of the
compressor despite the increase in density of air. Figure 9.2 illustrate flow through compressor
stages. In an axial compressor, the flow rate tends to be high and pressure rise per stage is low.
It also maintains fairly high efficiency.

Figure 9.1 Disk type axial flow compressor

The basic principle of acceleration of the working fluid, followed by diffusion to convert acquired
kinetic energy into a pressure rise, is applied in the axial compressor. The flow is considered as
occurring in a tangential plane at the mean blade height where the blade peripheral velocity
is U . This two dimensional approach means that in general the flow velocity will have two
components, one axial and one peripheral denoted by subscript w , implying a whirl velocity. It
is first assumed that the air approaches the rotor blades with an absolute velocity,  , at and
angle   to the axial direction. In combination with the peripheral velocity U of the blades, its
relative velocity will be   at and angle  as shown in the upper velocity triangle (Figure 9.3).
After passing through the diverging passages formed between the rotor blades which do work
on the air and increase its absolute velocity, the air will emerge with the relative velocity of   
at angle   which is less than  . This turning of air towards the axial direction is, as previously
mentioned, necessary to provide an increase in the effective flow area and is brought about by
the camber of the blades. Since   is less than   due to diffusion, some pressure rise has
been accomplished in the rotor. The velocity   in combination with U gives the absolute
velocity   at the exit from the rotor at an angle   to the axial direction. The air then passes
through the passages formed by the stator blades where it is further diffused to velocity   at
an angle   which in most designs equals to   so that it is prepared for entry to next stage.
Here again, the turning of the air towards the axial direction is brought about by the camber of
the blades.

Figure 9.2 Flow through stages

Two basic equations follow immediately from the geometry of the velocity triangles. These are:

(9.1)

(9.2)

In which   is the axial velocity, assumed constant through the stage. The work
done per unit mass or specific work input, w being given by

(9.3)

This expression can be put in terms of the axial velocity and air angles to give

(9.4)

or by using Eqs. (9.1) and (9.2)

(9.5)
This input energy will be absorbed usefully in raising the pressure and velocity of the air. A part
of it will be spent in overcoming various frictional losses. Regardless of the losses, the input will
reveal itself as a rise in the stagnation temperature of the air   . If the absolute velocity of the
air leaving the stage   is made equal to that at the entry.  , the stagnation temperature
rise   will also be the static temperature rise of the stage,   , so that

(9.6)

In fact, the stage temperature rise will be less than that given in Eq. (9.6) owing to three
dimensional effects in the compressor annulus. Experiments show that it is necessary to
multiply the right hand side of Eq. (9.6) by a work-done factor λ which is a number less than
unity. This is a measure of the ratio of actual work-absorbing capacity of the stage to its ideal
value.

The radial distribution of axial velocity is not constant across the annulus but becomes
increasingly peaky (Figure. 9.4) as the flow proceeds, settling down to a fixed profile at about
the fourth stage. Equation (9.5) can be written with the help of Eq. (9.1) as

(9.7)
 
 Figure 9.4 Axial velocity distibutions

Since the outlet angles of the stator and the rotor blades fix the value of   and   and hence

the value of  . Any increase in   will result in a decrease in   and vice-versa.

If the compressor is designed for constant radial distribution of   as shown by the dotted line

in Figure (9.4), the effect of an increase in   in the central region of the annulus will be to
reduce the work capacity of blading in that area. However this reduction is somewhat
compensated by an increase in   in the regions of the root and tip of the blading because of

the reduction of   at these parts of the annulus. The net result is a loss in total work capacity
because of the adverse effects of blade tip clearance and boundary layers on the annulus walls.
This effect becomes more pronounced as the number of stages is increased and the way in
which the mean value varies with the number of stages. The variation of   with the number of
stages is shown in Figure. 9.5. Care should be taken to avoid confusion of the work done factor
with the idea of an efficiency. If   is the expression for the specific work input (Equation. 9.3),
then   is the actual amount of work which can be supplied to the stage. The application of an
isentropic efficiency to the resulting temperature rise will yield the equivalent isentropic
temperature rise from which the stage pressure ratio may be calculated. Thus, the actual stage
temperature rise is given by
 (9.8)

and the pressure ratio   by

(9.9)

where,   is the inlet stagnation temperature and   is the stage isentropic efficiency.

Degree of Reaction

A certain amount of distributionof pressure (a rise in static pressure) takes place as the air
passes through the rotor as well as the stator; the rise in pressure through the stage is in
general, attributed to both the blade rows. The term degree of reaction is a measure of the
extent to which the rotor itself contributes to the increase in the static head of fluid. It is defined

as the ratio of the static enthalpy rise in the rotor to that in the whole stage. Variation of   over
the relevant temperature range will be negligibly small and hence this ratio of enthalpy rise will
be equal to the corresponding temperature rise.

It is useful to obtain a formula for the degree of reaction in terms of the various velocities and air
angles associated with the stage. This will be done for the most common case in which it is
assumed that the air leaves the stage with the same velocity (absolute) with which it enters
(  ).
This leads to   . If   and   are the static temperature rises in the rotor and the
stator respectively,

then from Eqs (9.4),(9.5),(9.6),

(10.1)

Since all the work input to the stage is transferred to air by means of the rotor, the steady flow
energy equation yields,

With the help of Eq. (10.1), it becomes

But   and  , and hence

(1

The degree of reaction

(10.3)

With the help of Eq. (10.2), it becomes

and
 

By adding up Eq. (9.1) and Eq. (9.2) we get

Replacing   and   in the expression for   with   and   ,

  (10.4)

As the case of 50% reaction blading is important in design, it is of interest to see the result for Λ
=0.5 ,

and it follows from Eqs. (9.1) and (9.2) that

 i.e.  (10.5a)

 i.e.  (10.5b)

Furthermore since   is constant through the stage.

And since we have initially assumed that  , it follows that  . Because of this
equality of angles, namely,   and  , blading designed on this basis is
sometimes referred to as symmetrical blading .The 50% reaction stage is called a repeating
stage.

It is to be remembered that in deriving Eq. (10.4) for   , we have implicitly assumed a work
done factor   of unity in making use of Eq. (10.2). A stage designed with symmetrical blading is
referred to as 50% reaction stage, although  will differ slightly for λ.