Experimental and Numerical Investigation of a Centrifugal Compressor

In this research, centrifugal compressor of a gas turbine is investigated experimentally and numerically. Operation line of the compressor as a component of the gas turbine is obtained experimentally by measurements of impeller rotational speed, and flow parameters at the compressor inlet and outlet during the gas turbine operation. The flow field inside the impeller and diffusers are analyzed numerically using a full 3D Navier-Stokes program with SST turbulence model. Boundary conditions for the numerical simulation are specified from the experimental measurements. The operation line of the compressor is obtained numerically, which is compared with that of the experimental results, and shows good agreement. Having validated the numerical results, the performance characteristic curves of the compressor are obtained numerically in a wide range.