Air flow simulation in high-pressure air blower with splitter blade

In the process of air blower design, splitter blades could be adopted in the middle of rotator to improve the air blower performance. In order to understand the flow pattern in the high-pressure centrifugal blower of 9–26 type with splitter blade thoroughly, the three dimensional air flows in the air blower is numerically simulated and analyzed with computational fluid dynamics. Standard k-e turbulence model and unstructured grids are applied in computation. The calculating results showed that for the same condition, the flux of the air blower was improved more than 5% and the total pressure at outlet of the air blower was improved more than 10% due to the splitter blade. It is found that the length of the splitter blade affected the flow rate either and there is an optimum length. Compared with the air blower without the splitter blade, the velocity and the pressure distribution in the air blower impeller channel are quite different after installing the splitter blade. When installing the splitter blades, its structure should be carefully considered.