Active control of vaneless diffuser rotating stall

Abstract

Experiments were carried out to study the feasibility of active stabilization of vaneless diffuser rotating stalls. Pressure fluctuation at the diffuser inlet was monitored and used to control the rotating stall. AC control flow, which is produced by a load speaker, was introduced into the diffuser at the inlet. It is shown that the rotating stall can be suppressed when the phase of the control flow has a certain relation with the phase of the rotating stall. By considering the energy flux due to the AC control flow, it is shown that the rotating stall is suppressed when the control flow has the phase such that the energy is subtracted out from the diffuser flow. Discussions are made on the relations between the energy flux and the amplitude of the pressure fluctuation due to the rotating stalls.