This article is aimed to experimentally validate the beneficial effects of boundary layer suction on improving the aerodynamic performance of a compressor cascade with a large camber angle. The flow field of the cascade is measured and the ink-trace flow visualization is also presented. The experimental results show that the boundary layer suction reduces losses near the area of rnidspan in the cascade most effectively for all suction cases under test. Losses of the endwall could remarkably decrease only when the suction is at the position where the boundary layer has separated but still not departed far away from the blade surface. It is evidenced that the higher suction flow rate and the suction position closer to the trailing edge result in greater reduction in losses and the maximum reduction in the total pressure loss accounts to 16.5% for all cases. The suction position plays a greater role in affecting the total pressure loss than the suction flow rate does.
The unsteady 3D flow fields in a single-stage transonic compressor under designed conditions are simulated numerically to investigate the effects of the curved rotors on the stage performance and the aerodynamic interaction between the blade rows. The results show that, compared to the compressor with unurved rotors, the compressor under scrutiny acquires remarkable increases in efficiency with significantly reduced amplitudes of the time-dependent fluctuation. The amplitude of the pressure fluctuation around the stator leading edge decreases at both endwalls, but increases at the mid-span in the curved rotors. The pressure fluctuation near the stator leading edge, therefore, becomes more uniform in the radial direction of this compressor. Except for the leading edge area, the pressure fluctuatinn amplitude declines remarkably in the tip region of stator surface downstream of the curved rotor, but hardly changes in the middle and at the hub.
