Effect of Leading-Edge Tubercles on Compressor Cascade Performance

Tubercles are modifications to the leading edge of an airfoil in the form of blunt wave-like serrations. Several studies on the effect of tubercles on isolated airfoils have shown a beneficial effect in the poststall regime as reduced drag and increased lift, leading to a delay of stall. The prospect of delaying stall is particularly attractive to designers of axial compressors in gas turbines, because this leads to designs with higher loading and therefore higher pressure rise with fewer number of stages. In the present study, experiments were performed on a cascade of airfoils with a NACA 65209 profile with different tubercle geometries. The measurements were made over an exit plane using a five-hole probe to compare the cascade performance parameters. Additionally, hot-wire measurements were taken near the blade surface to understand the nature of the flow in the region close to the tubercles. Oil-flow visualization on the cascade end wall reveals the flow through the passage of blades with and without tubercles. For the cascade considered, the estimated stall angle for the best performing set of blades is found to increase up to 8.6 deg from that of the unmodified blade of 6.0 deg. Application of such structures in axial compressor blades may well lead to suppression of stall in axial compressors and extend the operating range.