DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Module VI
Topic- Air compressors
Lecture - 7
Faculty name- Dr. A Ramesh
Designation - Professor

Rajiv Gandhi Institute Of Technology, Kottayam

Email : rameshgec71@ngmail.com
 Losses in Axial Flow Compressor
• Losses in Axial Flow Compressor Stage:
• During the flow of fluid through a stage of a compressor,
various losses occur.
• The pressure loss is due to three factors, namely:
• (a) Profile losses on the blade surface;
• (b) Skin friction on the annulus walls and
• (c) Secondary flow losses

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 Losses in Axial Flow Compressor

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 Losses in Axial Flow Compressor
• a) Profile Losses:
• This is a pressure loss of two dimensional cascade arising from
the skin friction on the blade surface and due to mixing of
fluid particles after the blade.
• (b) Skin Friction Losses on the Annulus Walls:
• The total pressure loss arise from the skin friction on the
annulus walls and some secondary loss.
• (c) Secondary Flow Losses:
• These losses occur due to combined effects of curvature and
boundary layer.

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 Performance of axial flow compressor

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 Performance of axial flow compressor

• Fig shows the relationship between pressure ratio, power and

efficiency Vs flow rate for various values of speeds such as
N1,N2 etc. At a certain speed , efficiency increases as the flow
rate increases at and reaches a maximum value it decreases.
• Accordingly as the flow rate increases the power consumed
also increases.

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 Performance of axial flow compressor

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 Performance of axial flow compressor

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 Performance of axial flow compressor

• Fig
  2 shows the performance and constant efficiency curves.
• Such a plot does not take unto account the varying inlet
temperature and pressure. In addition to this , these plots
cannot show the comparison of performance for similar
compressors of different types.
• The performance curves are plotted with dimensionless
parameters.
• The dimensionless parameters are pressure ratio: speed
parmeters: and flow parameter

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• It is seen that, for a given value of N/√To1, these curves cover a
much narrow range of mass flow rate as compared with those
for centrifugal compressors. Also at higher rotational speeds,
the curves become steep, nearly vertical. Therefore, the range
of stable operation of axial flow compressor is much narrower.
Hence, great care is necessary to match the components of a
gas turbine plant for avoiding instability of operation. The
phenomena of surging and stalling can hardly be distinguished
as occurrence of one may lead to occurrence of the other.
Stalling of these compressors results in severe vibrations of
blade

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THANK YOU