A Study on the Fundamental Surge Frequencies in Multi-Stage Axial Flow Compressor Systems

Surge phenomena in multi-stage axial flow compressors were studied with attention to the frequency behaviors. A new parameter "volume-modified reduced surge frequency" was introduced, which took into consideration the essential surge process, i.e., emptying and filling of the working gas in the delivery plenum. The behaviors of the relative surge frequencies at the stall stagnation boundaries, compared with the corresponding duct resonance frequencies, have demonstrated the existence of two types of surges; i.e., a near-resonant surge and a subharmonic surge. The former, which has fundamentally a near-resonance frequency, occurs predominantly at the stall stagnation boundary for the short -and-fat plenum delivery flow-path and the long-and-narrow delivery duct flow-path, and possibly in the intermediate conditions. The latter, which has a subharmonic frequency of the fundamental near-resonant one and occurs mainly in the intermediate zone, is considered to be caused by the reduced frequency restricted to a limited range. In relation with those dimensionless frequencies at the stall stagnation boundary, the surge frequency behaviors in more general situations away from the boundaries could be estimated, though very roughly.