The three-stage axial research compressor facility houses two different compressor designs, based on the rear stages of a Rolls-Royce Indianapolis high-pressure compressor (HPC) core of a gas-turbine engine. The compressors are rescaled while maintaining engine-representative Reynolds and Mach numbers. The original compressor, PAX100, has been the primary workhorse of the facility throughout the last decade and reaches a design operating speed of 5,000 rpm.
A new design effort, identified as PAX200, incorporates advanced blade design technologies, higher pressure ratios, and increased rotational speeds up to 8,250 rpm. Since summer of 2016, these modifications have allowed for higher TRL research in the Purdue three-stage compressor facility.

Current research work with the P3S compressor is funded by Rolls-Royce and the GUIde 6 Consortium.

Advance Technology Demonstrator

• Develop performance evaluation and detailed multi-stage flow measurements on novel HPC geometries
• Inter-stage flow measurements to provide overall performance characteristics
• Interchangeable blade rows to allow for direct comparison between designs
• Aerodynamic measurements associated with blade passing frequencies between rotor-stator and rotor-rotor interactions
• Fast-response measurement techniques, including pressure transducers and thermal anemometry, to measure rotor primary and secondary flows

Grand Challenges in Turbomachinery Forced Response

• Numerical modeling and vibration detection of an embedded rotor stage for Campbell diagram modal crossings (1T, 1CWB, 2CWB) using NSMS and fast-response pressure transducer measurements.
• Steady and unsteady aerodynamic characteristics associated with changing forcing functions on 1T and 1CWB vibratory modes using reduced and asymmetric vane counts

Pressure taps along the casing and between each rotor and stator row provide information about pressure variation through the flow passage. Multi-element total temperature and total pressure rakes yield performance metrics for the overall compressor, individual blade rows, and stage-by-stage analyses.

Circumferential and Radial Traversing
Independent, circumferentially-indexable vane rows facilitate pitch-wise measurements and vane clocking studies. Additionally, the ability to perform radial traverses with single pressure, temperature, or hotwire probes allows for higher resolution measurements within each blade span.

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)
A novel PIV technique has been developed in the embedded stage by introducing incident laser light through the same window used for imaging the flow field. Using this technique, intrusive periscope devices are not required. Ultimately, three-component velocity fields are reconstructed using several imaging cameras through volumetric and tomographic techniques.

Capacitance Probes
Capacitance probes are used to monitor real-time rotor tip clearances. This capability is valuable for health monitoring, but these real-time clearance measurements also reveal tip clearance effects at different speeds, loading conditions, and for different ambient conditions. These data are imperative for future one-to-one comparisons with computational simulations.

Hotwire Anemometry
A unique, dedicated hotwire calibration jet facility allows up to three-dimensional sensor calibrations with precision control of velocity, temperature, and density.

Nonintrusive Stress Measurement System (NSMS)
Optical probes mounted on the compressor casing acquire blade arrival timing information to detect amplitude and phase vibration for each rotor blade.

Flow-Visualization
Powder-paint flow visualization is used to highlight the development of stator corner separations and endwall flows in the compressor.

High Frequency Pressure Measurements
High frequency pressure measurements enable identification of flow phenomena such as rotor tip leakage flows and embedded rotor vibration.

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2. Beach, A., 2023, "An Experimental Investigation of Varied IGV Stagger Angle Effects on a High-Pressure Compressor," MS Thesis, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University.


3. Kormanik, N.J., 2021, "Quantifying Heat Transfer Effects of a High-Speed, Multi-Stage, Axial Research Compressor," PhD Dissertation, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University


4. Kamdar, N., 2018, "Computational Investigation of Cavity Leakage Flow and Windage Heating within an Axial Compressor Stator Well," MS Thesis, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University


5. Matthews, D.R., 2017, "Unsteady Aerodynamics and Blade-row Interactions in the Embedded Stage of an Axial Compressor," MS Thesis, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University


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8. Aye-addo, P. A. N., 2016, "An Experimental Study of the Effects of Vane Count and Non-Uniform Vane Spacing on Rotor Resonant Response," MS Thesis, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University.


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19. Key, N.L., 2007, "Vane Clocking Effects in an Embedded Compressor Stage," PhD thesis, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University.