Tip-Leakage Flow in a Low-Pressure Compressor: Comparison Between Low- and Medium-Fidelity Modelings

Abstract

This work assesses a low-order, three-dimensional Hybrid Panel Method (HPM) for predicting the inviscid flow around low-pressure compressor rotors, which then feeds dedicated models of the tip-leakage flow (TLF). With a runtime under one minute, it is well suited to rapid aerodynamic analysis and early design-space exploration. Predictions are compared with RANS simulations of the LMFA NACA65 low-speed rotor, a vortex-tracking algorithm being used to extract the TLF features, and the sensitivity to incidence and tip-gap height is analysed through the tip-leakage vortex trajectory, circulation and mixing loss. The rotor aerodynamics agree well between the two approaches; for the TLF, the HPM matches RANS closely for tip gaps below about 1% of chord but is more challenged at larger clearances. Overall, the method captures the key TLF trends needed to guide early-stage design before higher-fidelity refinement.

Valentin Caries

Research Engineer @ IFPEN · PhD · Scientific Python | CFD | Simulation

I build fast, reliable scientific software for fluid mechanics — from CFD and reduced-order models to data pipelines and machine-learning surrogates.