Meanline Performance Prediction of Volutes in Centrifugal Compressors

Abstract

Sources of head loss in compressor volutes are reviewed and new models for tangential velocity dump loss and for exit cone loss are presented for use in meanline performance prediction computer programs. The concept of equivalent sizing parameter, SP, for volutes is also introduced and is shown to be valuable for comparing tangential velocity dump loss models against test data. For SP ≥ 1 the new models for tangential velocity dump loss and exit cone loss show only a slight improvement over old loss models, but for SP<1 the new models are clearly superior.