• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.92-100
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• 2008

The main objective of this study was to clarify the origin of the unsteady flows arising in a mixed-flow vaneless diffuser system and also the effects of physical components of the system. The testing equipment consists of a straight tube, a swirl generator, and a mixed-flow vaneless diffuser. Pressure fluctuations of the flow through the tube and diffuser were measured by using a semiconductor-type pressure transducer and analyzed by an FFT analyzer. In the experiment, the velocity ratio (axial velocity/peripheral velocity) of the internal flow, and the geometric parameters of the diffuser were varied. Two kinds of unsteady flows were measured according to the combination of the components, and the origin of each unsteady flow was clarified. The fundamental frequencies of unsteady flows arose were examined by two-dimensional small perturbation analysis.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.611-614
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• 2002

Rotating stall in vaneless diffusers of centrifugal compressor occurs in the diffuser wall due to flow separation at large inlet flow angle. For this reason, the critical inlet flow angles are suggested by several researchers. Beyond this critical angle, flow separates in the diffuser, and develops into rotating stall. This paper studied this critical flow angle. Rotating stall is measured through eight fast-response pressure transducers which are equally spaced around the circumference at the inlet and exit of a vaneless diffuser. Experiments are done from 20000rpm to 60000rpm for the diffuser stall. Two-cell structure which rotates at $6{\~}l0{\%}$ of impeller speed is fully developed at $20000{\~}40000rpm$, and three-cell structure which rotates at $7{\~}9{\%}$ of impeller speed is fully developed at $50000{\~}60000rpm$. This paper shows that the critical inlet flow angle is not constant but related with tip speed of impeller. As tip speed increases, so does the critical inlet flow angle.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.548-553
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• 2015

The conventional ejector-diffuser system makes use of high pressure primary stream to propel the secondary stream through pure shear action for the purposes of transport or compression of fluid. It has been widely used in many industrial applications such as seawater desalination, solar refrigeration, marine engineering, etc. The present study is performed numerically to study the performance of a two-stage ejector-diffuser system. The detailed flow phenomenon of the ejector-diffuser system has been critically predicted by means of the numerical approach using compressible Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. The axi-symmetric supersonic ejector-diffuser flow has been solved by a fully implicit finite volume scheme with a two-equation k-omega turbulence model. The numerical results are validated with existing experimental data. Detailed flow physics and their contributions on ejector performance are detected to compare both single-stage and two-stage ejectors. The performance improvement on the ejector-diffuser system is discussed in terms of the mass flux ratio and the coefficient of power.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2009

The flow instability in a low specific speed mixed-flow pump, having a positive slope of head-flow characteristics was investigated. Based on the static pressure measurements, it was found that a rotating stall in the vaned diffuser occurs at about 65% flow rate of best efficiency point (BEP). A dynamic Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) measurement and the numerical simulations were conducted in order to investigate the flow fields. As a result, the diffuser rotating stall was simulated even by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the calculated periodic flow patterns agree well with the measured ones by DPIV. It is clarified that a periodical large scaled backflow, generated at the leading edge of the suction surface of the diffuser vane, causes the instability. Furthermore, the growth of the strong vortex at the leading edge of the diffuser vane induces the strong backflow from the diffuser outlet to the inlet. The scale of one stall cell is covered over four-passages in total thirteen vane-passages.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.937-945
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• 1998

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between pressure recovery and turbulent characteristic value of velocity and pressure, in the case where a swirling flow streams into a conical diffuser. The results of both measurements of the wall pressure fluctuation and velocity fluctuation revealed them to role the large part of the total pressure loss of the flow. The cause of the fluctuation of flow was showed to be the flow separation at the inlet of diffuser at low intensity of swirl, but the flow of diffuser center was instable at high intensity of swirl. The static pressure recovery depends strongly on the magnitude of the turbulent energy in the diffuser, and that this magnitude of the turbulent energy varies as the intensity of swirl at the diffuser inlet.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.245-252
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• 2010

It's known that pump head of centrifugal impeller with lager blade outlet angle is kept higher in air-water two phase flow condition, though the efficiency in water single phase flow condition is inferior. In the present study, a centrifugal impeller with variable blade outlet angles, that has higher efficiencies in both water single phase flow and air-water two phase flow conditions, is proposed. And the performances of the centrifugal impeller with variable blade outlet angles were experimentally investigated in both flow conditions of single and two-phase. In addition, effects of installing diffuser vanes on the performances of centrifugal pump with movable bladed impeller were also examined. The results are as follows: (1) The movable bladed impeller that proposed in this study is effective for higher efficiency in both water single phase and air-water two phase flow conditions. (2) When diffuser vanes are installed, the efficiency of movable bladed impeller decreases particularly at large water flow rate in water single-phase flow condition; (3) The performances of movable bladed impeller are improved by installing of diffuser vanes in air-water two-phase flow condition at relatively small water rate. The improvement by installing of diffuser vanes however disappears at large water flow rate.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2672-2677
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• 2007

An investigation of low Reynolds number flow in nozzles and diffusers which are widely used in the valveless micropump is presented. Flow characteristics in the nozzle and diffuser are explained in view of viscous effect and flow oscillation induced by pumping membrane. These calculation results show that the rectification property of valveless micropump is due to a flow separation in the diffuser and the separation is largely originated from the flow oscillation. Under the assumptions of steady flow velocity profile and flow separation in the diffuser, simplified analytical models are provided to see the dependency of rectification on the micropump geometry. Geometric parameters of channel length, nozzle throat, chamber size, and converging/diverging angle are depicted through the analytical models in low Reynolds number flow, and the prediction and experimental results are compared. This theoretical study can be used to determine the optimum geometry of valveless micropump.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.3639-3648
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• 1996

The effect of 15% pinched diffuser in a centrifugal air compressor with a cascade airfoil diffuser on the aerodynamic performance is investigated using a numerical approach. The commercial CFD code for three-dimensional, turbulent, compressible flow fields is executed for various mass flow rates at a design speed which can be obtained as long as the calculation succeeds. The pinched diffuser is found to help improve the instability of flow within vaneless diffuser space, especially the reverse flow near shroud, and to change both stall/surge line and choking line to increase the surge margin. It is also found to generate more favorable increase of static pressure in diffuser region, and to increase the resulting pressure ratio and efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.86-91
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• 2010

New Design configurations of the fighter aircraft igloo diffuser were studied based on the closed ventilation type in contrast to the conventional open distribution type. To validate the enhanced and safe performance, the exhaust flow patterns of the two igloo diffuser types were simulated by both experimental and computational approaches as design tools. Flow visualizations were conducted to investigate the exhaust flow patterns in experimental approach. In addition, the commercial code called Fluent was used to calculate flow field properties. Computational simulations provided detailed parametric studies that significantly reduced the amount of experimentation necessary to alter the design parameters of the existing fighter igloo diffuser. The closed ventilation type of the igloo diffuser was shown the better results.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.45-50
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• 2012

The flow characteristics in a vaneless diffuser with a backswept radial impeller have been experimentally investigated according to the variation of discharge flow rate. Particle image velocimetry(PIV) system was applied to measure velocity fields with several operating conditions and on some diffuser horizontal planes. Pressure transducers were installed on hub wall of the diffuser in order to analyze the pressure fluctuations and their corresponding velocity fields. The results show that the location of the main flow center moves from the hub to the shroud side as the flow rate decreases, and the reverse flow is locally generated on the hub side.