Effects of Boundary Layer Suction on Aerodynamic Performance in a High-load Compressor Cascade

This article is aimed to experimentally validate the beneficial effects of boundary layer suction on improving the aerodynamic performance of a compressor cascade with a large camber angle. The flow field of the cascade is measured and the ink-trace flow visualization is also presented. The experimental results show that the boundary layer suction reduces losses near the area of midspan in the cascade most effectively for all suction cases under test. Losses of the endwall could remarkably decrease only when the suction is at the position where the boundary layer has separated but still not departed far away from the blade surface. It is evidenced that the higher suction flow rate and the suction position closer to the trailing edge result in greater reduction in losses and the maximum reduction in the total pressure loss accounts to 16.5% for all cases. The suction position plays a greater role in affecting the total pressure loss than the suction flow rate does.