To investigate the influence of the trailing edge shape of the impeller on the aerodynamic performance of the centrifugal compressor, four types of impellers with different trailing edge shapes were studied in this work. The internal flow and aerodynamic load distribution of the impellers were also analyzed. Results show that the Bezier, Ellipse, and Linear impellers can optimize the pressure distribution of the impeller, decrease the reverse pressure gradient, reduce the occurrence of internal flow separation and vortices in the trailing edge area, thereby increasing compressor efficiency. Especially noteworthy is the Linear impeller, which attains robust performance for the centrifugal compressor by notably bolstering work capacity under near-choking condition and extending operating flow range.
Wang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.