This short course is the regular course on radial compressors thought at VKI to the turbomachinery students specializing in compressors in the context of the “Research Master in Fluid Dynamics”. It provides an overview of the present knowledge and flow models and intends to provide a good background for the people interested in the aerodynamic design of radial compressors.

This 5 day course is now made available to a limited number of people from outside VKI. Lectures and exercises are given by Prof. R.A. Van den Braembussche and Prof. T. Verstraete.

• Applications and achievable efficiency
• Diabatic flows and influence of gas characteristics
• Reynolds number effect and scaling
• Transformation of energy in radial impellers and performance maps
• Inlet guide vanes and inducer geometry
• Three dimensional flow in impellers and performance prediction
  
  • Blade loading
  • Two zone modeling
  • Slip factor
  • Disk friction
  • Secondary flows (mechanisms and control)
• Vaneless and vaned diffusers
• Inlet volutes
• Flow and loss mechanisms in outlet volutes
• Impeller response to outlet distortion
• Stability and range:
  • Rotating stall (types and control)
  • Surge (physics, models and control)
  • Active surge control
• How to avoid surge and stall
• Design and optimization techniques
• Design exercise using VKI software