Investigation of Effect of Tip Clearance in Centrifugal Compressor

Abstract

In this thesis investigations are done to determine the tip clearance effect in centrifugal compressor diffuser used in an industrial gas turbine. Two different configurations of original & one pinched diffuser at 10% by varying the tip clearance 0.028, 0.054, 0.083, 0.107. Design calculations are done by varying the tip clearance values in the range 0.028,0.054, 0.083 & 0.107, thickness 3mm and diffuser width  1mm to determine diffuser height, diffuser width and diffuser radius. 8 models are modeled with 4 each in original & pinched respectively in Creo 2.0. CFD analysis is performed on the models to determine pressure, velocity and turbulent kinetic energy.