Research and Development on Aspirated Compressors

摘要

This program consisted of three primary objectives: (1) the development of a computational design system for the design of aspirated compressors; (2) the design, construction, and testing of a low-tip speed fan stage incorporating aspiration in the rotor fan stator; and (3) the design, construction, and testing of a high-tip speed, high-pressure ratio fan stage. In summary, the program has succeeded in achieving all three objectives, yielding a compressor design that incorporates boundary layer control by aspiration and delivers approximately double the work of conventional stages with competitive through-flow efficiency. This has been demonstrated experimentally via a low-tip speed stage with a pressure ratio of 1.6 at a tip speed of 750 feet per second and via a high-tip speed stage with a pressure ratio of 3.2 at a tip speed of 1500 feet per second. The low-tip speed stage was demonstrated in the MIT blowdown Compressor Facility. The high-tip speed stage was demonstrated in a compressor facility at the NASA Glenn Research Center at full-simulated engine conditions, so that although its primary objective was an aerodynamic verification, it also constituted a proof of feasibility of at least one structural concept for aspirated compressors. (23 figures, 7 refs.).