Investigation of the Flow at the Exit of an Unshrouded Centrifugal Impeller and Comparison With the “Classical” Jet-Wake Theory

Abstract

L2F measurements of the flow at the exit of modern unshrouded centrifugal impellers with backswept blades yield a much more uniform velocity profile compared to former measurements on impellers with radial blading. Further evaluations show that the “classical” jet-wake theory assuming an isentropic jet and a wake flow congruent with the shape of the blade at the impeller exit needs correction in order to obtain meaningful results when interpreting thermodynamic measurements on centrifugal compressor stages.