The impact of casing groove location on the flow instability in a counter-rotating axial flow compressor

To make up the lack of the experimental and numerical investigations about the grooved casing treatment (CT) applied in counter-rotating axial flow compressors (CRAC), the effects of circumferential single grooved CT on the stability enhancement were investigated in the rear rotor of a low-speed CRAC with numerical simulations. The main purpose was to gain a better understanding of the application principle of casing groove and the associated control mechanisms in the CRAC. Parametric studies show that the optimal position of the groove should be located near the blade leading edge in terms of stall margin improvement (SMI) and efficiency enhancement at the near stall condition. Due to the impact of casing groove on tip leakage flow (TLF), the blade tip unloading effect, redirection effect and the compound effect of suction–injection are all beneficial to the SMI. Detailed observation of flow structures illustrates that it is more effective to improve flow stability by controlling the critical TLF released from about mid-chord and the stall inception process may be probably changed due to the direct effect of groove on the main TLF released near the blade leading edge. Additionally, the effects that the groove has on rotor outflow blockage, backward axial momentum flux and TLF momentum perpendicular to the blade tip camber inside the tip gap are also studied in the paper.