Paper Title
Computational Investigation on Flow Field of a Centrifugal Compressor

Abstract
Computational analysis of low speed centrifugal compressor is carried out by inexpensive partial shroud near the rotor blade tip with finite volume method using ANSYS-CFX software. Centrifugal compressor impeller with three values of clearances i.e., τ= 2.2%, 5.1% and 7.9% of blade height at trailing edge are examined for four flow coefficients φ=0.12, 0.18, 0.28 and 0.34. The effects of tip clearance with two configurations on static pressure from inlet to outlet of the compressor variations are analyzed. The drop in static pressure with increase in tip clearance is found to be high at the tip of the blade due to high pressure fluid leakage at impeller exit. The improvement in the compressor performance may be due to the reduction of tip leakage flows by the small extension of partial shroud (2 mm on the pressure surface side). Performance reduction with tip clearance is observed. Total pressure and velocity at outlet are analysed for four flow coefficients. Keywords - Centrifugal Compressor, Flow Coefficient, Tip Clearance and partial shroud.