Numerical investigation of the influence of the camber distribution at the rotor tip on the efficiency at different tip clearances

The present paper reports on numerical investigations into the relationship of compressor efficiency drop due to increased rotor tip clearance and the rotor tip camber distribution in a 1.5 stage low-speed axial flow compressor. Starting from a baseline compressor, six alternative designs were derived. In these redesigns the tip section camber line of the rotor was replaced by an analytically given camber distribution. These camber lines used for the redesigns ranged from extreme front load to extreme rear load. The new camber line styles were blended into the original blade over the upper 30 % of blade height. For each of these variations a design speed characteristic was calculated for five different rotor tip clearances. From these characteristics the compressor efficiency at the design flow rate was extracted. Based on these values an exchange rate could be calculated relating compressor overall efficiency to rotor tip clearance height. It turned out that the rotor tip camber line style does not have an impact on this exchange rate. It could be shown that rotor losses are only affected slightly by the rotor tip camber line style and that the pressure rise that the tip vortex experiences as it travels through the passage is generally unchanged from one tip camber line style to the other.