Abstract
The present study has been carried out to develop a computational procedure for the analysis of the off-design performance in centrifugal compressors with vaneless diffusers by integrating empirical loss models and analytical equations. Losses in centrifugal compressors stem from a number of sources and their exact calculation is not yet possible. This study investigates several modeling schemes and shows that a fairly good prediction can be achieved by a proper selection of the most important flow parameters resulting form a meanline one-dimensional analysis. The performance maps for compressors are calculated and compared with measured performance maps. The off-design performance characteristics in terms of the pressure ratio vs. mass flow produced have generally correct forms. However, no universal means have been found to predict accurately the onset of surge. The prediction method developed through this study can serve as a tool to ensure good matching between parts and it can assist the understanding of the operational characteristics of general purpose centrifugal compressors.