Sensitivity of Multistage Compressor Performance to Inlet Boundary Conditions

Proper boundary conditions are required to accurately compute any flowfield. Although compressor designs are accomplished in large part with computational fluid dynamics tools, confidence in these tools exists because of code validation using high-quality experimental datasets. It has been widely recognized that inlet distortion has an impact on compressor performance. However, the impact of small distortion in inlet total pressure and total temperature profiles, as found in a research facility, on compressor performance predictions has not been well documented. In this paper, the inlet flow conditions for a multistage research compressor are shown. Compressor performance calculations using the measured inlet conditions are compared with results obtained with different inlet conditions to determine the sensitivity of the calculated multistage compressor performance to these conditions. Effects of radial profiles, endwall boundary-layer thickness, and circumferential nonuniformity are considered.