Experimental Investigation of a Transonic Aspirated Compressor

The experimental investigation of a transonic aspirated stage demonstrating the application of boundary layer aspiration to increase stage work is presented. The stage was designed to produce a pressure ratio of 1.6 at a tip speed of 750ft∕s resulting in a stage work coefficient of 0.88. The primary aspiration requirement for the stage is a bleed fraction 0.5% of the inlet mass flow on the rotor and stator suction surfaces. Additional aspiration totaling 2.8% was also used at shock impingement locations and other locations on the hub and casing walls. Detailed rotor and stator flow field measurements, which include time-accurate and ensemble-averaged data, are presented and compared to three-dimensional viscous computational analyses of the stage. The stage achieved a peak pressure ratio of 1.58 and through-flow efficiency of 90% at the design point. In addition, the stage demonstrated good performance with an aspiration lower than the design requirement, and a significant off-design flow range below that predicted by the computational analysis.