NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF FLOW IN A CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR

With the use of the domestic software suite of computational hydrodynamics FlowVision based on application of the method of control volumes, numerical simulation of air composition and delivery by a centrifugal compressor employed for supercharging a piston engine has been carried out. The head-flow characteristics of the compressor, as well as the 3D fields of flow velocity and pressure distributions in the elements of the compressor flow passage, including the interblade channels of the impeller, have been obtained for various regimes. In the regimes of diminished air flow rate, surging phenomena are identifi ed, characterized by a return flow. The application of the technique of numerical experiment will make it possible from here on to carry out design optimization of the compressor flow passage profi le and thus to improve its basic characteristics - the degree of pressure increase, compressed air flow rate, and the effi ciency - as well as to reduce the costs of the development and production of compressors.