Experimental and numerical investigation of two blended blade and endwall configurations

The Blended Blade and Endwall (BBEW) technique has proven to be effective in controlling the intersection of boundary layer in corner region of the compressor endwall. In this study, the experiment and analysis of two different BBEW designs are emphasized. First, based on a linear cascade with 0.7 Mach number inflow, two different configurations, BBEW1 and BBEW2, are well conducted. Then, according to the experimental result, control effects of these two BBEW configurations are validated and compared subsequently under various working conditions. The results demonstrate a reduction in total pressure loss of 12.8% and 29% at the design point for BBEW1 and BBEW2, respectively. Consequently, the BBEW technique proves effective in suppressing the development of the boundary layer and preventing corner separation. Followed by detailed numerical analysis, improvements around the corner region, especially for the boundary layer, are extracted to show the mechanisms and distinctions between the two configurations. The results indicate that BBEW1 significantly restrains the development of boundary layer before separation occurs, while BBEW2 directly controls the strength and scale of the corner separation.