Application of SPIV in turbomachinery

Stereoscopic particle-image velocimetry (SPIV) has been successfully used in a low-speed large-scale axial compressor. A configuration in which two CCD cameras were placed at different sides of the light sheet was employed. It is demonstrated that the results measured with such a configuration are significant for the study of unsteady flow structures of the streamwise vortices and secondary flows in the test rotor, and that such a configuration is easy to use in multi-stage turbomachinery. The instantaneous snapshots, ensemble-averaged results and turbulence statistics in the rotor passage were obtained at both the design and near-stall conditions. The representative flow structures, such as the tip leakage vortex, the corner vortex and the inlet guide vane wake, can be depicted clearly. Moreover, according to experimental and theoretical analyses, some guidance is provided for the application of SPIV in turbomachinery.