Abstract
A three-dimensional computation was conducted to make a study about effects of the inlet boundary layer thickness on the total pressure loss in a low-speed axial compressor operating at the design condition ($\phi=85\%$) and near stall condition($\phi=65\%$). Differences of the tip leakage flow and hub corner-stall induced by the inlet boundary layer thickness enable the loss distribution of total pressure along the span to be altered. At design condition, total pressure losses for two different inlet boundary layers are almost alike in the core flow region but the larger loss is generated at both hub and tip when the inlet boundary layer is thin. At the near stall condition, however, total pressure loss fer the thick inlet boundary layer is found to be greater than that for the thin inlet boundary layer on most of the span except the region near hub and casing. Total pressure loss is scrutinized through three major loss categories in a subsonic axial compressor such as profile loss, tip leakage loss and endwall loss using Denton's loss model, and effects of the inlet boundary layer thickness on the loss structure are analyzed in detail.
