Improvement of the Parallel Compressor Model and Application to Inlet Flow Distortion

This paper introduces a semi-analytical approach which enables one to deal with distorted inflow in axial fans or compressors. It is inspired by the classical parallel compressor (PC) theory but relies on a local flow-loading coefficient formalism. It is applied to non-uniform flow conditions to study the aerodynamic behavior of a low-speed fan in response to upstream flow distortion. Experimental measurements and 3D RANS simulations are used to evaluate the prediction of fan performance obtained with the local PC method. The comparison proves that, despite its simplicity, the present approach enables to correctly capture first order phenomena, offering interesting perspectives for an early design phase if different fan geometries are to be tested and if the upstream distortion maps are available.