Effects of measuring positions on the measured aerodynamic performance of a centrifugal compressor

This paper performs a numerical simulation of three-dimensional flow field in a centrifugal compressor with long inlet and outlet pipes using CFX software. By arranging virtual probes at different positions in both inlet and outlet planes, the aerodynamic performance of the centrifugal compressor is measured and compared with each other. Then effects of measuring positions on measurement results are discussed. The results show that it will generate notable measuring errors of the pressure ratio and efficiency if the inlet total pressure is measured using a single- point probe. The inlet total pressure data can be accurate when they are measured using a 3-point rake. The outlet total pressure and total temperature data cannot be accurate if they are respectively measured at one circumferential position even using a multi-point rake. Increasing tangential measuring positions at the outlet is effective to improve the test accuracy. When the outlet total pressure and total temperature are respectively measured at 3 tangential positions, the data can be almost accurate.