In this study, with a focus on the rotating stall phenomenon in the vaneless diffuser of a centrifugal compressor, 2D-PIV is conducted to better understand the flow structure. Although many studies have reported concerning this problem, most data is obtained through experiments under lower speed conditions, using a simplified model or equipment. Unlike such studies, a ship board turbocharger compressor with a higher impeller rotation speed is selected as an application for the present measurement. In the measurement, an ensemble-averaged phase locking technique is also selected to compensate for the lack of time resolution of the PIV system. Since rotating stall in vaneless diffuser results in a huge amplitude of pressure fluctuation, the trigger signal for the ensemble-averaged measurement was constructed from diffuser wall pressure. The equipment layout for PIV is set to a cross sectional measurement of constant span height in the diffuser passage. PIV is conducted through a sight glass mounted on the diffuser shroud wall, the field of view of which is limited by its size. To obtain the whole flow structure of the diffuser passage, the measurement is repeated for different cyclic phases of the phenomenon.
Five different span heights ranging from diffuser hub to shroud were selected as velocity measurement planes. The result obtained at the mid span indicates a typical pattern of the flow field containing containing low and high-velocity regions mutually in a circumferential direction. Considering other results obtained at different span heights, the whole flow structure is visualized and utilizing this data, both a wall separation pattern and a stall propagation mechanism are considered.
