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Rotating stall alleviation in an axial compressor with deployment of air injection at its rotor blade row tip region has been experimentally investigated. Twelve air injectors had been mounted evenly spaced around the compressor casing upstream the rotor blade row. Initially, improvement of the compressor overall performance has been examined through air injection, especially at stall point condition. Instantaneous flow velocities at various radial and circumferential positions were measured simultaneously utilizing hot wire anemometry. These unsteady results, obtained from these latter measurements together with signal frequency analyses, provided to describe the stall inception process and consequent flow induced fluctuations and also alleviation process of stall during the air injection. Results show that a small amount of air injection at the rotor blade tip region can affect the total pressure rise and specifically can increase the compressor stall margin efficiently. Air injection of less than 1% of the compressor main flow rate through the injectors has caused the stall margin to be improved by 9%. Air injection at the blade row tip has caused its beneficial effects to extend throughout the blade whole span, especially while working at the near stall conditions.

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Investigation of spike stall formation and its propagation in a low-speed axial-flow compressor is the main aim of this study. Experimental measurements are performed in a low speed axial compressor test rig. Measurement parameters include instantaneous velocity and static pressure at the stall inception process. For this purpose several hot wire probes and a high response pressure transducer is used in data acquisition procedure. Instantaneous fluctuations of velocity at upstream of the blade row show that spike stall inception is accompanied by flow separation from the leading edge of the rotor blade and formation of a vortex subsequently. This vortical structure extends over the blade span. Stall cell propagates with a circumferential speed lower than rotor wheel speed which is equal to 66% of rotational speed in this compressor. Furthermore, wavelet frequency analysis is employed for detail investigation of spike disturbances and capability of this method in distinguishing the spike stall is presented. Wavelet analysis, by representing the temporal variation of frequency spectrum, shows dominant phenomena in the transient process from stable operation to the stall inception condition.