Stall inception induced by the volute tongue at centrifugal compressor inlet

The stall and surge directly impact on the safety and reliability of compressors. The spike-type and modal-type stall inception exist in compressors. At present, few studies pay attention to the stall inception of centrifugal compressor, such as the formation reason for the stall inception and the action by the volute tongue on the stall precursor. This paper investigated the stall characteristics of a high-speed small-flow centrifugal compressor and illustrated the relationship between the volute tongue and the location of stall inception. In addition, the mechanism of stall inception was also clarified. Both the analysis of initial flow structures and the comparison of the frequency spectrum characteristics at different monitoring points show that the spike-type stall occurs at about 115° circumferential position in this centrifugal compressor. The nonaxisymmetric geometry structure of the volute leads to the uneven circumferential pressure distribution. The blockade effect of the volute tongue results in high static pressure area near the volute tongue. The disturbance caused by high static pressure adversely propagates into the diffuser, resulting in the static pressure peak value at different radii. As the pressure peaks adversely migrate to the impeller inlet and induce the leading edge spillover near the corresponding blade, the spike-type stall occurs. Therefore, the volute tongue both induces the stall inception and determines the circumferential position of the stall inception at the centrifugal compressor inlet.