3D Design of Transonic Compressors

This project will examine the effect of inlet Mach number on the incidence range of compressor blade rows and hence is relevant to the EPSRC research area: Fluid dynamics and aerodynamics. As the inlet Mach number rises above approximately 0.5 a supersonic patch occurs at both high and low incidence. This impacts a number of areas pertaining to compressor design: as the incidence range of the blade reduces the pitch to chord selected in design changes, and the sensitivity of the blade row to manufacturing variation and in-service wear increases. Thus far, these mechanisms are not well understood.