Gas Turbine System , Centrifugal and Axial Flow Compressors

Introduction
A turbofan engine that gives propulsive power to an aircraft is shown in Figure 4.1 and the schematic of the
engine is illustrated in Figure 4.2. The main components of the engine are intake, fan, compressor,
combustion chamber or burnner, turbine and exhaust nozzle.
The intake is a critical part of the aircraft engine that ensures an uniform pressure and velocity at the entry
to the compressor. At normal forward speed of the aircraft, the intake performs as a diffusor with rise of
static pressure at the cost of kinetic energy of fluid, referred as the 'ram pressure rise'. Then the air is
passed through the compressor and the high pressure air is fed to the combustion chamber, where the
combustion occurs at more or less constant pressure that increases its temperature. After that the high
pressure and high temperature gas is expanded through the turbine. In case of aircraft engine, the
expansion in the turbine is not complete. Here the turbine work is sufficient to drive the compressor. The
rest of the pressure is then expanded through the nozzle that produce the require thrust. However, in case
of stationery gas turbine unit, the gas is completely expanded in the turbine. In turbofan engine the air is
bypassed that has a great effect on the engine performance, which will be discussed later. Although each
component have its own performance characteristics, the overall engine operates on a thermodynamic
cycle.

Figure 4.1 Gas Turbine (Courtesy : ae.gatech.edu)

Figure 4.2 (Courtesy : NASA Glenn Research Centre)

In this chapter, we will describe the ideal gas turbine or aircraft propulsion cycles that are useful to review
the performance of ideal machines in which perfection of the individual component is assumed. The specific
work output and the cycle efficiency then depend only on the pressure ratio and maximum cycle
temperature. Thus, this cycle analysis are very useful to find the upper limit of performance of individual
components.
Following assumptions are made to analysis an ideal gas turbine cycle.

(a) The working fluid is a perfect gas with constant specific heat.
(b) Compression and expansion process are reversible and adiabatic, i.e isentropic.
(c) There are no pressure losses in the inlet duct, combustion chamber, heat exchanger, intercooler,
exhaust duct and the ducts connecting the components.

(d) The mass flow is constant throughout the cycle.

(e) The change of kinetic energy of the working fluid between the inlet and outlet of each component is
negligible.
(f) The heat-exchanger, if such a component is used, is perfect.

Joule or Brayton Cycle

The ideal cycle for the simple gas turbine is the Joule or Brayton cycle which is represented by the cycle
1234 in the p-v and T-S diagram (Figure 4.3). The cycle comprises of the following process.
1-2 is the isentropic compression occuring in the compressor, 2-3 is the constant pressure heat addition
in the combustion chamber, 3-4 is the isentropic expansion in the turbine releasing power output, 4-1 is
the rejection of heat at constant pressure - which closes the cycle. Strictly speaking, the process 4-1 does
not occur within the plant. The gases at the exit of the turbine are lost into the atmosphere; therefore it is
an open cycle.

CCompressor
B- Burner or Combustion Chamber
TTurbine
L- Load

Figure 4.3 Simple gas turbine cycle.

In a steady flow isentropic process,

Thus, the

Compressor work per kg of air

Turbine work per kg of air

Heat supplied per kg of air

The cycle efficiency is,

or,
Making use of the isentropic relation , we have,

Where, r is pressure ratio. The cycle efficiency is then given by,

Thus, the efficiency of a simple gas turbine depends only on the pressure ratio and the nature of the gas.
Figure 4.4 shows the relation between and r when the working fluid is air ( =1.4), or a monoatomic
gas such as argon( =1.66).

Figure 4.4 Efficiency of a simple gasturbine cycle

The specific work output w, upon which the size of plant for a given power depends, is found to be a
function not only of pressure ratio but also of maximum cycle temperature T 3.
Thus, the specific work output is,

Let

and

Then

at

means

i.e., no heat addition

Figure 4.5 Specific work output of a simple gas turbine

To get the maximum work output for a fixed temperature ratio t and inlet temperature T 1,

or,
or,
or,
Thus, the work output will be maximum when the compressor outlet temperature is equal to that of turbine.
Figure 4.5 illustrates the variation of specific work output with pressure ratio for different values of
temperature ratio. The work output increases with increase of T 3 for a constant value of inlet temperature
T1. However for a given temperature ratio i.e constant values of T 1 and T3, the output becomes maximum
for a particular pressure ratio.
Simple Cycle with Exhaust Heat Exchange CBTX Cycle (Regenerative cycle)
In most cases the turbine exhaust temperature is higher than the outlet temperature from the compressor.
Thus the exhaust heat can be utilised by providing a heat exchanger that reduces heat input in the
combustion chamber. This saving of energy increases the efficiency of the regeneration cycle keeping the
specific output unchanged. A regenerative cycle is illustrated in Figure 2.6

for heat exchange to

take place
We assume ideal
exchange

Figure 4.6

and

Simple gas turbine cycle with heat exchange

With ideal heat exchange, the cycle efficiency can be expressed as,

or,

or,
we can write

or,

Efficiency is more than that of simple cycle

With heat exchange (ideal) the specific output does not change but the efficiency is increased

Gas Turbine Cycle with Reheat

A common method of increasing the mean temperature of heat reception is to reheat the gas after it has
expanded in a part of the gas turbine. By doing so the mean temperature of heat rejection is also increased,
resulting in a decrease in the thermal efficiency of the plant. However , the specific output of the plant
increases due to reheat. A reheat cycle gas turbine plant is shown in Figure 5.1

Figure 5.1 Reheat cycle gas turbine plant

The specific work output is given by,

The heat supplied to the cycle is

Thus, the cycle efficiency,

Therefore, a reheat cycle is used to increase the work output while a regenerative cycle is used to enhance
the efficiency.

Gas Turbine Cycle with Inter-cooling

The cooling of air between two stages of compression is known as intercooling. This reduces the work of
compression and increases the specific output of the plant with a decrease in the thermal efficiency. The
loss in efficiency due to intercooling can be remedied by employing exhaust heat exchange as in the reheat
cycle.

Specific work output

Figure 5.2 Cycle with intercooling

Heat supplied =

If

is constant and not dependent on temperature, we can write:

Note
Here heat supply and output both increases as compared to simple cycle. Because the increase in heat
supply is proportionally more,

decreases.

With multiple inter-cooling and multiple reheat, the compression and expansion processes tend to be
isothermal as shown in Figure 5.3

Figure 5.3 Multiple reheat and intercool cycle

The cycle tends towards the Ericsson cycle, the efficiency is same as that of the Carnot cycle

The use of intercoolers is seldom contemplated in practice because they are bulky and need large quantities
of cooling water. The main advantage of the gas turbine, that it is compact and self-contained, is then lost.

Actual Gas Turbine Cycle

Efficiency of the compression and expansion processes will come into consideration.
Pressure losses in the ducting, combustion and heat exchanger.
Complete heat exchange in the regenerator is not possible.

 Mechanical losses due to bearings auxiliary etc are present.

Specific heat of the working fluid varies with temperature.
Mass flow throughout the cycle is not constant.

Gas Turbine Cycles for Propulsion

In aircraft gas turbine cycles, the useful power output is in the form of thrust. In case of turbojet and turbofan
(Figure 4.1), the whole thrust is generated in the propelling nozzel, whereas with the turboprop most is
produced by a propeller with only a small contribution from the exhaust nozzle. A turboprop and a turbojet
engine is illustrated in Figure 5.4and 5.5 respectively.
(i) Turboprop

Figure 5.4 Turboprop Engine

Power must eventually be delivered to the aircraft in the form of thrust power, just as it is with a piston
engine driving a propeller. The thrust power ( TP ) can be expressed in terms of shaft power ( SP ), propeller
efficiency (

where

) and jet thrust F by

is the forward speed of the aircraft .

(ii) Turbjet Engine

Figure 5.5 Turbojet Engine

Figure 5.6 Propelling Nozzle

a-1 -> ram effect in intake.

1-2 -> isentropic compressor
2-3 -> constant pressure heat addition
in the combustion chamber
3-4 -> Isentropic expansion in the
turbine
4->Constant pressure heat addition
in the after burner
-5 -> isentropic expansion in the
nozzle

Figure 5.7 Turbojet Cycle

Propelling nozzle refers to the component in which the working fluid is expanded to give a high velocity jet.
Between the turbine exit and propelling nozzle, there may be a jet pipe. When thrust boosting is required,
an afterburner may be introduced in the jet pipe as shown in figure 5.7. Figure 5.7 indicates the ideal turbojet
cycle on the T-S diagram, which is often used to evaluate the design performance of a turbojet engine.
After reviewing the thermodynamic cycle for a gas turbine or aircraft engine, characteristic features and
performance of individual components such as the compressor, turbine, combustion chamber and nozzle
(in case of aircraft engine) will be discussed in the following section.

Compressors
In Module 1, we discussed the basic fluid mechanical principles governing the energy transfer in a fluid
machine. A brief description of different types of fluid machines using water as the working fluid was also
given in Module 1.However, there exist a large number of fluid machines in practice, that use air, steam
and gas (the mixture of air and products of burnt fuel) as the working fluids. The density of the fluids change
with a change in pressure as well as in temperature as they pass through the machines. These machines
are called 'compressible flow machines' and more popularly 'turbomachines'. Apart from the change in
density with pressure, other features of compressible flow, depending upon the regimes, are also observed
in course of flow of fluids through turbomachines. Therefore, the basic equation of energy transfer (Euler's
equation, as discussed before) along with the equation of state relating the pressure, density and
temperature of the working fluid and other necessary equations of compressible flow, are needed to
describe the performance of a turbomachine. However, a detailed discussion on all types of turbomachines
is beyond the scope of this book. We shall present a very brief description of a few compressible flow
machines, namely, compressors, fans and blowers in this module. In practice two kinds of
compressors:centrifugal and axial are generally in use.

Centrifugal Compressors
A centrifugal compressor is a radial flow rotodynamic fluid machine that uses mostly air as the working fluid
and utilizes the mechanical energy imparted to the machine from outside to increase the total internal
energy of the fluid mainly in the form of increased static pressure head.

During the second world war most of the gas turbine units used centrifugal compressors. Attention was
focused on the simple turbojet units where low power-plant weight was of great importance. Since the war,
however, the axial compressors have been developed to the point where it has an appreciably higher
isentropic efficiency. Though centrifugal compressors are not that popular today, there is renewed interest
in the centrifugal stage, used in conjunction with one or more axial stages, for small turbofan and turboprop
aircraft engines.
A centrifugal compressor essentially consists of three components.
1. A stationary casing
2. A rotating impeller as shown in Fig. 6.1 (a) which imparts a high velocity to the air. The impeller
may be single or double sided as show in Fig. 6.1 (b) and (c), but the fundamental theory is same
for both.
3. A diffuser consisting of a number of fixed diverging passages in which the air is decelerated with
a consequent rise in static pressure.

Figure 6.1(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 6.1 Schematic views of a centrifugal compressor

Figure 6.2 Single entry and single outlet centrifugal compresssor

Figure 6.2 is the schematic of a centrifugal compressor, where a single entry radial impeller is housed inside
a volute casing.

Compressors
Principle of operation: Air is sucked into the impeller eye and whirled outwards at high speed by the
impeller disk. At any point in the flow of air through the impeller the centripetal acceleration is obtained by
a pressure head so that the static pressure of the air increases from the eye to the tip of the impeller. The
remainder of the static pressure rise is obtained in the diffuser, where the very high velocity of air leaving
the impeller tip is reduced to almost the velocity with which the air enters the impeller eye.
Usually, about half of the total pressure rise occurs in the impeller and the other half in the diffuser. Owing
to the action of the vanes in carrying the air around with the impeller, there is a slightly higher static pressure
on the forward side of the vane than on the trailing face. The air will thus tend to flow around the edge of
the vanes in the clearing space between the impeller and the casing. This results in a loss of efficiency and
the clearance must be kept as small as possible. Sometimes, a shroud attached to the blades as shown in
Figure.6.1(d) may eliminate such a loss, but it is avoided because of increased disc friction loss and of
manufacturing difficulties.
The straight and radial blades are usually employed to avoid any undesirable bending stress to be set up
in the blades. The choice of radial blades also determines that the total pressure rise is divided equally
between impeller and diffuser.
Before further discussions following points are worth mentioning for a centrifugal compresssor.
(i) The pressure rise per stage is high and the volume flow rate tends to be low. The pressure rise per stage
is generally limited to 4:1 for smooth operations.
(ii) Blade geometry is relatively simple and small foreign material does not affect much on operational
characteristics.
(iii) Centrifugal impellers have lower efficiency compared to axial impellers and when used in aircraft engine
it increases frontal area and thus drag. Multistaging is also difficult to achieve in case of centrifugal
machines.

Work done and pressure rise

Since no work is done on the air in the diffuser, the energy absorbed by the compressor will be determined
by the conditions of the air at the inlet and outlet of the impeller. At the first instance, it is assumed that the
air enters the impeller eye in the axial direction, so that the initial angular momentum of the air is zero. The
axial portion of the vanes must be curved so that the air can pass smoothly into the eye. The angle which
the leading edge of a vane makes with the tangential direction,
, will be given by the direction of the
relative velocity of the air at inlet,
velocity of

, as shown in Fig. 6.3. The air leaves the impeller tip with an absolute

that will have a tangential or whirl component

such that the whirl component is equal to the impeller speed

axial direction,

.Under ideal conditions,

, would be

at the tip. Since air enters the impeller in

Figure 6.3 Velocity triangles at inlet and outlet of impeller blades

Under the situation of

mass of air as

and

, we can derive from Eq. (1.2), the energy transfer per unit

(6.1)

Due to its inertia, the air trapped between the impeller vanes is reluctant to move round with the impeller
and we have already noted that this results in a higher static pressure on the leading face of a vane than
on the trailing face. It also prevents the air acquiring a whirl velocity equal to impeller speed. This effect is
known as slip. Because of slip, we obtain
in the case of a centrifugal pump as

<

. The slip factor is defined in the similar way as done

The value of lies between 0.9 to 0.92. The energy transfer per unit mass in case of slip becomes

(6.2)

One of the widely used expressions for was suggested by Stanitz from the solution of potential flow
through impeller passages. It is given by

, where n is the number of vanes.

Power Input Factor
The power input factor takes into account of the effect of disk friction, windage, etc. for which a little more
power has to be supplied than required by the theoretical expression. Considering all these losses, the
actual work done (or energy input) on the air per unit mass becomes
(7.1)

where
is the power input factor. From steady flow energy equation and in consideration of air as an
ideal gas, one can write for adiabatic work w per unit mass of air flow as
(7.2)

where
and
are the stagnation temperatures at inlet and outlet of the impeller, and
mean specific heat over the entire temperature range. With the help of Eq. (6.3), we can write

is the

(7.3)

The stagnation temperature represents the total energy held by a fluid. Since no energy is added in the
diffuser, the stagnation temperature rise across the impeller must be equal to that across the whole
compressor. If the stagnation temperature at the outlet of the diffuser is designated by
then

. One can write from Eqn. (7.3)

(7.4)

The overall stagnation pressure ratio can be written as

(7.5)

where,

and

are the stagnation temperatures at the end of an ideal (isentropic) and actual

process of compression respectively (Figure 7.1), and

is the isentropic efficiency defined as

(7.6)

Figure 7.1 Ideal and actual processes of compression on T-s plane

Since the stagnation temperature at the outlet of impeller is same as that at the outlet of the diffuser, one
can also write

in place of

in Eq. (7.6). Typical values of the power input factor lie in the region

of 1.035 to 1.04. If we know

we will be able to calculate the stagnation pressure rise for a given
impeller speed. The variation in stagnation pressure ratio across the impeller with the impeller speed is
shown in Figure 7.2. For common materials,

is limited to 450 m/s.

Figure 7.3 shows the inducing section of a compressor. The relative velocity

held low otherwise the Mach umber (based on

) given by

at the eye tip has to be

will be too high causing

shock losses. Mach number

should be in the range of 0.7-0.9. The typical inlet velocity triangles
for large and medium or small eye tip diameter are shown in Figure 7.4(a) and (b) respectively.

Figure 7.2 Variation in stagnation pressure ratio with impeller tip speed

Figure 7.3 Inducing section of a centrifugal compressor

Figure 7.4 (a)

Figure 7.4(b)
Figure 7.4 Velocity triangles at the tip of eye

Diffuser
The basic purpose of a compressor is to deliver air at high pressure required for burning fuel in a combustion
chamber so that the burnt products of combustion at high pressure and temperature are used in turbines
or propelling nozzles (in case of an aircraft engine) to develop mechanical power. The problem of designing
an efficient combustion chamber is eased if velocity of the air entering the combustion chamber is as low
as possible. It is necessary, therefore to design the diffuser so that only a small part of the stagnation
temperature at the compressor outlet corresponds to kinetic energy.
It is much more difficult to arrange for an efficient deceleration of flow than it is to obtain efficient
acceleration. There is a natural tendency in a diffusing process for the air to break away from the walls of
the diverging passage and reverse its direction. This is typically due to the phenomenon of boundary layer
separation and is shown in Figure. 7.5. Experiments have shown that the maximum permissible included
angle of divergence is 11 to avoid considerable losses due to flow separation.

Figure 7.5 Accelerating and decelerating flows

In order to control the flow of air effectively and carry-out the diffusion process in a length as short as
possible, the air leaving the impeller is divided into a number of separate streams by fixed diffuser vanes.
Usually the passages formed by the vanes are of constant depth, the width diverging in accordance with
the shape of the vanes. The angle of the diffuser vanes at the leading edge must be designed to suit the
direction of the absolute velocity of the air at the radius of the leading edges, so that the air will flow smoothly
over vanes. As there is a radial gap between the impeller tip and the leading edge of the vanes , this
direction will not be that with which the air leaves the impeller tip.
To find the correct angle for diffuser vanes, the flow in the vaneless space should be considered. No further
energy is supplied to the air after it leaves the impeller. If we neglect the frictional losses, the angular
momentum
remains constant. Hence
decreases from impeller tip to diffuser vane, in inverse
proportion to the radius. For a channel of constant depth, the area of flow in the radial direction is directly
proportional to the radius. The radial velocity

will therefore also decrease from impeller tip to diffuser

vane, in accordance with the equation of continuity. If both

and
decrease from the impeller tip then
the resultant velocity V decreases from the impeller tip and some diffusion takes place in the vaneless
space. The consequent increase in density means that
radius as done by

, and the way

will not decrease in inverse proportion to the

varies must be found from the equation of continuity.

Losses in a Centrifugal Compressor

The losses in a centrifugal compressor are almost of the same types as those in a centrifugal pump.
However, the following features are to be noted.
Frictional losses: A major portion of the losses is due to fluid friction in stationary and rotating blade
passages. The flow in impeller and diffuser is decelerating in nature. Therefore the frictional losses are due
to both skin friction and boundary layer separation. The losses depend on the friction factor, length of the
flow passage and square of the fluid velocity. The variation of frictional losses with mass flow is shown in
Figure. 8.1.
Incidence losses: During the off-design conditions, the direction of relative velocity of fluid at inlet does
not match with the inlet blade angle and therefore fluid cannot enter the blade passage smoothly by gliding
along the blade surface. The loss in energy that takes place because of this is known as incidence loss.
This is sometimes referred to as shock losses. However, the word shock in this context should not be

confused with the aerodynamic sense of shock which is a sudden discontinuity in fluid properties and flow
parameters that arises when a supersonic flow decelerates to a subsonic one.
Clearance and leakage losses: Certain minimum clearances are necessary between the impeller shaft
and the casing and between the outlet periphery of the impeller eye and the casing. The leakage of gas
through the shaft clearance is minimized by employing glands. The clearance losses depend upon the
impeller diameter and the static pressure at the impeller tip. A larger diameter of impeller is necessary for
a higher peripheral speed
and the impeller eye tip.

and it is very difficult in the situation to provide sealing between the casing

The variations of frictional losses, incidence losses and the total losses with mass flow rate are shown in
Figure.8.1

Figure 8.1 Dependence of various losses with mass flow in a

centrifugal compressor
The leakage losses comprise a small fraction of the total loss. The incidence losses attain the minimum
value at the designed mass flow rate. The shock losses are, in fact zero at the designed flow rate. However,
the incidence losses, as shown in Fig. 8.1, comprises both shock losses and impeller entry loss due to a
change in the direction of fluid flow from axial to radial direction in the vaneless space before entering the
impeller blades. The impeller entry loss is similar to that in a pipe bend and is very small compared to other
losses. This is why the incidence losses show a non zero minimum value (Figure. 8.1) at the designed flow
rate.

Compressor characteristics
The theoretical and actual head-discharge relationships of a centrifugal compressor are same as those of
a centrifugal pump as described in Module 1. However, the performance of a compressor is usually
specified by curves of delivery pressure and temperature against mass flow rate for various fixed values of
rotational speed at given values of inlet pressure and temperature. It is always advisable to plot such
performance characteristic curves with dimensionless variables. To find these dimensionless variables, we
start with a implicit functional relationship of all the variables as
(8.1)

where D = characteristic linear dimension of the machine, N = rotational, m = mass flow rate,

stagnation pressure at compressor inlet,

= stagnation pressure at compressor outlet,

stagnation temperature at compressor inlet,

characteristics gas constant.

= stagnation temperature at compressor outlet, and R =

By making use of Buckingham's theorem, we obtain the non-dimensional groups ( terms) as

The third and fourth non-dimensional groups are defined as 'non-dimensional mass flow' and 'nondimensional rotational speed' respectively. The physical interpretation of these two non-dimensional groups
can be ascertained as follows.

Therefore, the 'non-dimensional mass flow' and 'non-dimensional rotational speed' can be regarded as flow
Mach number,

and rotational speed Mach number,

When we are concerned with the performance of a machine of fixed size compressing a specified
gas,

and D may be omitted from the groups and we can write

(8.2)
Function

Though the terms

and
are truly not dimensionless, they are referred as 'nondimensional mass flow' and 'non-dimensional rotational speed' for practical purpose. The stagnation
pressure and temperature ratios

and

are plotted against

in the form

of two families of curves, each curve of a family being drawn for fixed values of
. The two families
of curves represent the compressor characteristics. From these curves, it is possible to draw the curves of
isentropic efficiency
definition of the isentropic efficiency as

for fixed values of

. We can recall, in this context, the

(8.3)

Before describing a typical set of characteristics, it is desirable to consider what might be expected to occur
when a valve placed in the delivery line of the compressor running at a constant speed, is slowly opened.
When the valve is shut and the mass flow rate is zero, the pressure ratio will have some value. Figure 8.2
indicates a theoretical characteristics curve ABC for a constant speed.
The centrifugal pressure head produced by the action of the impeller on the air trapped between the vanes
is represented by the point 'A' in Figure 8.2. As the valve is opened, flow commences and diffuser begins
to influence the pressure rise, for which the pressure ratio increases. At some point 'B', efficiency
approaches its maximum and the pressure ratio also reaches its maximum. Further increase of mass flow
will result in a fall of pressure ratio. For mass flows greatly in excess of that corresponding to the design
mass flow, the air angles will be widely different from the vane angles and breakaway of the air will occur.
In this hypothetical case, the pressure ratio drops to unity at'C' , when the valve is fully open and all the
power is absorbed in overcoming internal frictional resistances.
In practice, the operating point 'A' could be obtained if desired but a part of the curve between 'A' and 'B'
could not be obtained due to surging. It may be explained in the following way. If we suppose that the
compressor is operating at a point 'D' on the part of characteristics curve (Figure 8.2) having a positive
slope, then a decrease in mass flow will be accompanied by a fall in delivery pressure. If the pressure of
the air downstream of the compressor does not fall quickly enough, the air will tend to reverse its direction
and will flow back in the direction of the resulting pressure gradient. When this occurs, the pressure ratio
drops rapidly causing a further drop in mass flow until the point 'A' is reached, where the mass flow is zero.
When the pressure downstream of the compressor has reduced sufficiently due to reduced mass flow rate,
the positive flow becomes established again and the compressor picks up to repeat the cycle of events
which occurs at high frequency.
This surging of air may not happen immediately when the operating point moves to the left of 'B' because
the pressure downstream of the compressor may at first fall at a greater rate than the delivery pressure. As
the mass flow is reduced further, the flow reversal may occur and the conditions are unstable between 'A'
and 'B'. As long as the operating point is on the part of the characteristics having a negative slope, however,
decrease in mass flow is accompanied by a rise in delivery pressure and the operation is stable.

Figure 8.2 The theoretical characteristic curve

There is an additional limitation to the operating range, between 'B' and 'C'. As the mass flow increases and
the pressure decreases, the density is reduced and the radial component of velocity must increase. At
constant rotational speed this means an increase in resultant velocity and hence an angle of incidence at
the diffuser vane leading edge. At some point say 'E', the position is reached where no further increase in
mass flow can be obtained no matter how wide open the control valve is. This point represents the maximum
delivery obtainable at the particular rotational speed for which the curve is drawn. This indicates that at
some point within the compressor sonic conditions have been reached, causing the limiting maximum mass
flow rate to be set as in the case of compressible flow through a converging diverging nozzle. Choking is
said to have taken place. Other curves may be obtained for different speeds, so that the actual variation of
pressure ratio over the complete range of mass flow and rotational speed will be shown by curves such as
those in Figure. 8.3. The left hand extremities of the constant speed curves may be joined up to form surge
line, the right hand extremities indicate choking (Figure 8.3).

Figure 8.3 Variations of pressure ratio over the complete range of mass
flow for different rotational speeds

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
angle

which is less than

at

. 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
rotor. The velocity
angle

is less than

due to diffusion, some pressure rise has been accomplished in the

in combination with U gives the absolute velocity

at the exit from the rotor at an

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

Figure 9.3 Velocity triangles

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
made equal to that at the entry.
rise of the stage,

. If the absolute velocity of the air leaving the stage

, the stagnation temperature rise

is

will also be the static temperature

, 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 which is a number less than unity. This is a measure of the ratio of actual workabsorbing 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
of

. Any increase in

will result in a decrease in

compressor is designed for constant radial distribution of

and

and hence the value

and vice-versa. If the

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.

Figure 9.5 Variation of work-done factor with number of stages

Example: At the mean diameter, U = 20 m/s,
and

= 13.5 . The factor

temperature

= 0.86 and

= 0.85 and inlet

is 288 K. Calculate the pressure ratio.

= 22.24 K

= 43.9

and

of air has been taken as 1005 J/kg K]

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
respectively,

. If

and

).

are the static temperature rises in the rotor and the stator

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

(10.2)

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 =0.5 ,

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

Furthermore since

i.e.

(10.5a)

i.e.

(10.5b)

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 .

Exercises
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS FOR CYCLE, CENTRIFUGAL, AXIAL COMPRESSORS
[For all the Exercises, assume R=287J/kg K and

= 1.4 for air]

1. Determine the pressure ratio developed and the specific work input to drive a centrifugal air
compressor having an impeller diameter of 0.5 m and running at 7000 rpm. Assume zero whirl at the
entry and

= 288 K.

(1.47,33.58 kJ/kg)
2 A centrifugal compressor develops a pressure ratio of 4:1. The inlet eye of the compressor impeller is 0.3
m in diameter. The axial velocity at inlet is 120 m/s and the mass flow rate is 10 kg/s. The velocity in the
delivery duct is 110 m/s. The tip speed of the impeller is 450 m/s and runs at 16,000 rpm with a total head
isentropic efficiency of 80%. The inlet stagnation temperature and pressure are
and 300 K.
Calculate (a) the static temperatures and pressures at inlet and outlet of the compressor, (b) the static
pressure ratio, (c) the power required to drive the compressor.
Ans. (T1 = 292.8 K, T2 = 476.45 K, p = 93 kN/m 2 , p2 = 386.9 kN/m 2 , p2/p1 = 4.16, p = 1.83 MW)
3. The following results were obtained from a test on a small single-sided centrifugal compressor

Compressor
delivery
stagnation
pressure
2.97
bar
Compressor
delivery
stagnation
temperature
429
K
Static
pressure
at
impeller
tip
1.92
bar
Mass
flow
0.60
kg/s
Rotational
speed
766
rev/s
Ambient
conditions
0.99
bar
288
K
Determine
the
isentropic
efficiency
of
the
compressor.
The diameter of the impeller is 0.165 m, the axial depth of the vaneless diffuser is 0.01m and the number
of impeller vanes is 17. Making use of the Stanitz equation for slip factor, calculate the stagnation pressure
at the impeller tip.
Ans. (0.76, 3.13 bar)
4. A single sided centrifugal compressor is to deliver 14 kg/s of air when operating at a pressure ratio of
4:1 and a speed of 200 rev/s. The inlet stagnation conditions are 288 K and 1.0 bar. The slip factor and
power input factor may be taken as 0.9 and 1.04 respectively. The overall isentropic efficiency is 0.80.
Determine the overall diameter of the impeller.
Ans. (0.69m)

PROBLEMS ON AXIAL COMPRESSORS

5. Each stage of an axial flow compressor is of 50% degree of reaction and has the same mean blade
speed and the same value of outlet relative velocity angle
coefficiency

. The mean flow

is constant for all stages at 0.5. At entry to the first stage, the stagnation temperature

is 290 K, the stagnation pressure is 101 kPa. The static pressure is 87 kPa and the flow area is
.
Determine the axial velocity, the mass flow rate and the shaft power needed to derive the compressor when
there are 6 stages and the mechanical efficiency is 0.98.
Ans. (135.51 m/s, 56.20 kg/s, 10.68 MW)
6. An axial flow compressor stage has blade root, mean and tip velocities of 150, 200 and 250 m/s The
stage is to be designed for a stagnation temperature rise of 20 K and an axial velocity of 150 m/s, both
constant from root to tip. The work done factor is 0.93. Assuming degree of reaction 0.5 at mean radius,
determine the stage air angles at root mean and tip for a free vortex design where the whirl component of
velocity varies inversely with the radius

7. An axial compressor has the following data:

Temperature
Degree
Mean
Rotational
Blade

and
blade
height

pressure
of
ring
speed
at

at

entry

300
reaction
diameter
15,000
entry

K,

1.0
0.4

0.08

bar
50%
m
rpm
m

Air
angles
Axial
Work
Isentropic
Mechanical efficiency 97%

at

rotor
velocity
done
stage

and

stator
150
factor
efficiency

exit

25
m/s
0.90
85%

Determine (a) air angles at the rotor and stator entry (b) the mass flow rate of air (c) the power required to
derive the compressor, (d) the pressure ratio developed by the stage (e) Mach number (based on relative
velocities) at the rotor entry.
Ans. [(a) 25 , 58.44 (b) 17.51 kg/s, (c) 0.89 MW, (d) 1.58, (e) 0.83]
8 An axial flow compressor stage has a mean diameter of 0.6 m and runs at 15,000 rpm. If the actual
temperature rise and pressure ratio developed are 30C and 1.36 respectively, determine (a) the power
required to derive the compressor while delivering 57 kg/s of air. Assume mechanical efficiency of 86% and
an initial temperature of 35C (b) the isentropic efficiency of the stage and (c) the degree of reaction if the
temperature at the rotor exit is 55C.
Ans. [(a) 2 MW, (b) 94.2%, (c) 66.6%]