Stall inception mechanisms in a contra-rotating fan operating at different speed combinations

Contra-rotating fan is a concept that can possibly replace the present-day conventional fans due to its several aerodynamic advantages. It has the potential to improve the stability limit and can achieve a higher pressure ratio per stage. One of the advantages of a contra-rotating fan is its capability to operate both the rotors at different speeds. In the present study, experiments are carried out at different speed combinations of the rotors and the stall inception phenomenon is captured using high-response unsteady pressure sensors placed on the casing upstream of the leading edge of rotor-1. The unsteady pressure data are investigated using wavelet and Fourier analysis techniques. It is observed that the mechanism of stall inception is different for different speed combinations. The pre-stall disturbances fall in different frequency ranges for different speed combinations. For the range of speed combinations investigated, the frequency of appearance of stall cells of rotor-1 does not depend on the speed of rotor-2. A higher speed of rotation of rotor-1 leads to a higher frequency of appearance of stall cells and a lower speed of rotation of rotor-1 leads to a lower frequency of appearance of stall cells. For all the speed combinations, there is a range of frequency where no disturbance is observed and this range is termed as the ‘no-disturbance zone’. Disturbances are observed at lower frequencies and at frequencies close to the blade passing frequency. In order to understand the flow physics in detail, computational analysis is carried out for different speed combinations of the rotors. For a higher speed of rotor-2, it is observed that the suction effect of rotor-2 is significant enough to pull the tip-leakage flow towards the axial direction. Thus, the suction effect of rotor-2 plays a significant role in determining the stall of the stage.