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RENEAU
Aerodynamics Engineer, Senior,
Lockheed Missiles and Space Co.,
Sunnyvale, Calif.
J. P. JOHNSTON Performance data and flow characteristics for subsonic, two-dimensional, straight
Associate Professor, center line diffusers are presented. The four primary flow regimes which can occur are
Department of Mechanical Engineering.
described and presented as functions of overall diffuser geometry. The performance of
Assoc. Mem. ASME
both stalled and unstalled diffusers is mapped for a wide range of geometries and inlet
boundary layer thicknesses. An understanding of the relationships between flow regime
S. J. KLINE and performance leads to a rational basis for diffuser design. The important maxima
Professor, of performance and their location on the performance maps are presented. Both the
Department of Mechanical Engineering. range of data and correlations of optima of performance are extended beyond previous
Mem. ASME
results.
Stanford University,
Stanford, Calif.
-Nomenclature-
AR = area ratio = Wi/Wi H = shape factor, ratio of boundary y/u
= rms turbulence intensity
layer displacement thickness U
4 S = aspect ratio = b/Wi to momentum thickness U = mass average velocity
Hl head loss = Cp; Cp W = diffuser width between diverg-
b = distance between parallel walls L diffuser wall length ing walls
of a diffuser V diffuser wall length including the 5* = boundary layer displacement
arc length of fairing at the thickness
Cp = static pressure recovery effectiveness = Cp/Cpi
- P') entrance
=
N half angle of the diffuser
diffuser axial length
p.W/2 kinematic viscosity
P average static pressure
Cp, ideal static pressure recovery Re Reynolds number = UiWi/v Subscripts
No Appreciable Sta
I 1.5 2 3 4 6 8 10 15 20 30 4 0 SO
I 15 2 3 4 6 8 10 15 20 3 0 4 0 6 0
<Vw,
Fig. 2(a) 28 - N / W i plane Fig. 2(b) AR - N/Wi plane
Fig. 2 Flow regimes in straight-wall, t w o - d i m e n s i o n a l diffusers [ 6 ] . " L i n e of appreciable s t a l l " is called line a ' - a ' for high inlet turbulence in [S],
and area ratio, IFo/IFi. In the work to be reported here, aspect most easily correlated by use of an inlet flow blockage parameter.
ratio is an unimportant parameter; it was greater than eight in In the two-dimensional diffusers this parameter most naturally
all the performance data, and in this range end wall effects can be takes the form of the ratio of the sum of the diverging wall inlet
neglected. displacement thicknesses to the inlet width. For the data pre-
In design and in analysis of performance data both the inlet sented here, the inlet flow was symmetrical so the blockage
and exit conditions must be considered. Diffuser exit conditions parameter is 25i*/Wi. 4 Of the important past summaries of the
are usually classified in terms of the geometry of the downstream diffuser literature [1, 3, 4] only references [1] and [4] recognized
tailpipe, i.e., by its length. If the diffuser discharges directly into the importance of inlet blockage on diffuser performance. In
a stationary atmosphere, as was the case in the data to be pre- fact, the complete specification of diffuser inlet conditions is as
sented, it is said to have a plenum exit condition. This simplifica- important to the designer as is knowledge of the important rela-
tion does not detract from the generality of the results as any tionships between stall flow regime limits and performance.
pressure recovery taking place in a tailpipe due to flow reattach- Many of the data contained in the older literature are of doubtful
ment and/or velocity profile flattening may be considered sepa- utility because inlet and exit conditions have not been reported.
rately. However, even though one may generally neglect down-
stream conditions 3 when considering diffuser flow and per-
formance, inlet conditions are of primary importance and must be Flow Regimes in Two-Dimensional Diffusers
carefully specified. The classical stall pattern which is by and large confirmed in
Specification of all the possible variations of inlet conditions external flows, does not always accurately describe stall in dif-
that may affect diffuser performance and flow is an impossible fusing passages. The spectrum of stall states for internal flow can
task. However, experience and careful study of the diffuser litera- be logically divided into four major patterns or flow regimes.
ture show two important facts. Flow conditions in and per- The dividing lines between regimes are arbitrarily defined in some
formance of unstalled and slightly stalled diffusers, the cases of cases because the flow may pass through a spectrum of different
greatest technical importance, are weakly affected by variations flow patterns by minor changes as one moves from one major
in Macli number and Reynolds number based on mass flow regime to another. The brief descriptions of these regimes, given
average inlet conditions when: (a) inlet Mach number is sub- below, are accordingly typical of the characteristic patterns
sonic and (6) inlet Reynolds number, Re = Z?iTFi/V, is greater found in the center of the regime in Fig. 2. The flow regimes have
than about 5 X 104, R e > 5 X 104 apparently insures that the been determined experimentally by flow visualization as func-
wall boundary layers will be turbulent at inlet. In the data sum- tions of geometry for straight-wall, two-dimensional diffusers.
marized here, inlet Mach numbers were low subsonic, and the Once the flow regime of a geometry of interest is known, one can
Reynolds numbers were usually well above 5 X 10 4 . For these immediately describe the major features of the flow and per-
conditions the most important inlet conditions that affect per- formance in that geometry. Moreover, the effect of a given de-
formance are inlet velocity profile and turbulence level [2]. sign change is often quite different for different flow regimes.
In the absence of pathological inlet conditions such as wakes, The recommended correlations of the flow regimes are shown in
stalled regions, or excessively high free stream turbulence in- Figs. 2(a) and 2(6). The dividing lines were determined by
tensity, it was found [2] that the inlet velocity profile effects are water tables studies [5, 6] using dye injection visualization and
confirmed in air tests [2, 7, 8, 9] using the wall tuft method. In
3 An exception to this rule occurs when an element of high flow re-
order to understand the meaning of this chart the following dis-
sistance, such as a heat exchanger core, is placed at the diffuser exit.
Such an element m a y cause a normally stalled diffuser to operate cussion of flow regimes is needed.
unstalled. H o w e v e r , one m a y usually neglect d o w n s t r e a m c o n d i t i o n s
when the diffuser is the primary loss p r o d u c i n g element in the flow ' Also, t h e aspect ratio was very large so that end wall b o u n d a r y
path. layers are negligible.
/'/</ V / J
40 30 20
Pressure Recovery
2 5,'
"yf~= 0.05
Constant Recovery ;
CP = . 5 7 5 /
!20 IS 12 10
8 10 15 20 30 40
15 20 30
/w,
Fig. 4(b) 2 5 i * / W i = 0.015 Fig. 4(d) 2 i * / W i = 0.05
Basic Performance Data inlet area blocked by boundary layer when A S is large. In order
The performance data presented for two-dimensional diffusers to obtain constant values of 251*/TFi for each map, interpolation
cover a wide range of geometries, 1.5 < N/Wi < 25 and 5 deg between individual performance curves was often necessary. For
< 20 < 30 deg; these ranges are repeated for each of four values reference, note that fully developed turbulent channel flow at inlet
of nondimensional inlet boundary layer thickness 2i*/TFi = with a V9 power velocity profile gives 28{*/Wi = 0.1. The thin-
0.007, 0.015, 0.03, and 0.05. Because inlet conditions play a nest boundary layer, 28i*/W, = 0.007, is equivalent to that
primary role in determining diffuser performance, only data for which would be generated by a straight section of duct about one
which inlet conditions have been reported can be used on the data throat width long upstream of the diffuser inlet. This is of the
maps. This requirement restricted usable data to those of order of the smallest value of 2b1*/Wi that can be obtained in
references [2, 7, 8, 10] and previously unpublished data presented practice since some bellmouth or inlet section is unavoidable.
in the Appendix. All the data used in construction of the maps had turbulent
The boundary layer displacement thickness on the diverging inlet boundary layers with shape factor at inlet Hi 1.4. The
walls is Si*. The ratio 28^/W, represents the fraction of diffuser inlet turbulence intensity outside the boundary layers was below
3 4 6 8 10 15 20 30
Effectiveness
w,- = 0 . 0 5
3 4 6 8 10 15 2 0 30 40 60
W,
/ AR
N/W,
or 2 0
constant
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge General Motors Corpora-
tion, General Electric Company, and Worthington Corporation,
Fig. 10 Geometries of o p t i m u m recovery for the range of geometric
whose financial support made possible the research in preparation
parameters in Table 1
for this paper under the Internal Flow Program of the Mechani-
cal Engineering Department, Stanford University.
Table 1 Value and range of the absolute l a x i m a of peak recovery
(see Fig. 10)
25I* N
AR
References
I7I Cp T-7,
1 S. J. Kline, D . E . A b b o t t , and R . W . F o x , " O p t i m u m Design
0.007 0.85 3 . 8 - 5 . 0 17-25
of Straight-Walled Diffusers," JOURNAL OF BASIC ENGINEERING,
0.015 O.SO 3 . 7 - 5 . 0 20-28
TRANS. A S M E , Series D , vol. 81, 1959, p p . 3 2 1 - 3 2 9 .
0.03 0.70 2 . 5 - 4 . 0 11-20
0.05 0.65 2 . 2 - 2 . 5 6.5-11 2 B . A . W a i t m a n , L . R . R e n e a u , and S. J. K l i n e , " E f f e c t s of
Inlet C o n d i t i o n s on P e r f o r m a n c e of T w o - D i m e n s i o n a l D i f f u s e r s , "
J O U R N A L OF B A S I C E N G I N E E R I N G , T R A N S . A S M E , Series D , vol. 83,
occurs at AR < 2 below the range of data on the effectiveness 1961, p p . 3 4 9 - 3 6 0 .
maps. The absolute minimum of head loss occurs at even lower 3 G . N . Patterson, " M o d e r n Diffuser D e s i g n , " Aircraft Engi-
area ratios than maximum effectiveness. Thus maximum re- neering, v o l . 10, 193S, p p . 2 6 7 - 2 7 3 .
covery becomes the most significant parameter in design when no 4 II. R . H e n r y , C . C . W o o d , and S. W . W i l b u r , " S u m m a r y of
limits are placed on the geometiy. Subsonic-Diffuser D a t a , " N A C A R M L 5 6 F 0 5 , O c t o b e r , 1956.
The absolute maximum of recovery occurs at high area ratio 5 C. A . M o o r e and S. J. Kline, " S o m e E f f e c t s of V a n e s and of
T u r b u l e n c e on T w o - D i m e n s i o n a l W i d e - A n g l e Subsonic D i f f u s e r s , "
and in long diffusers. The value and location of absolute maxi-
N A C A T N 4080, June, 195S.
mum recovery depends on inlet boundary layer thickness. The
6 R . W . F o x and S. J. Kline, " F l o w R e g i m e D a t a and Design
absolute maxima of recovery are shown as the horizontal line on M e t h o d s f o r C u r v e d Subsonic D i f f u s e r s , " JOURNAL OF BASIC ENGI-
each peak recovery curve in Fig. 9. Table 1 gives the value of NEERING, TRANS. A S M E , Series D , vol. 84, 1962, pp. 3 0 3 - 3 1 2 .
absolute maximum of recovery along with the range of geometries 7 D . L. Cochran and S. J. Kline, " T h e Use of Short Flat V a n e s
over which it is likely to extend; the upper limits are not well de- for P r o d u c i n g Efficient W i d e - A n g l e T w o - D i m e n s i o n a l Subsonic D i f -
fined by available data. When the geometries in the table are fusers," N A C A T N 4309, September, 195S.
plotted as shown in Fig. 10, only the shaded half of the enclosed 8 O. G . Feil, " V a n e Systems f o r V e r y - W i d e - A n g l e Subsonic D i f -
f u s e r s , " J O U R N A L OF B A S I C E N G I N E E R I N G , T R A N S . A S M E , Series D,
geometries have high recovery.
v o l . 8 6 , 1964, p p . 7 5 9 - 7 6 4 .
It is clear that for very thick inlet boundary layers, high area 9 L. E . R e n e a u , J. P. Johnston, and S. J. K l i n e , " P e r f o r m a n c e
ratios and very long diffusers do not give high recovery. At the and Design of Straight, T w o - D i m e n s i o n a l D i f f u s e r s , " R e p o r t P D - 8 ,
absolute maximum recovery there is transitory stall in the dif- T h e n n o s c i e n c e s Division, D e p a r t m e n t of M e c h a n i c a l Engineering,
fuser. Diffusers with N/Wi or AR larger than those in the Stanford University, S e p t e m b e r , 1964.
table will have lower recovery and will contain appreciable 10 E . Ct. R e i d , " P e r f o r m a n c e Characteristics of P l a n e - W a l l T w o -
D i m e n s i o n a l D i f f u s e r s , " N A C A T N 2S88, F e b r u a r y , 1953.
amounts of transitory or fixed stall unless boundary layer con-
11 S. J. Kline and F . A . Mc.Clintock, " D e s c r i b i n g Uncertainties
trol, vanes, augmented mixing, or other special devices are in Single Sample E x p e r i m e n t s , " Mechanical Engineering, January,
employed. 1953, v o l . 75, p p . 3 - S .
26 *
New Performance Data for Two-Dimensional Diffusers
Curve 3, n - i = .022
The data in this Appendix were taken for the purpose of ex-
tending the range of N /W\ at which pressure recovery is known Curve *!, T26*
T~ = .057
as a function of inlet boundary layer thickness. The experi-
mental apparatus and techniques are largely the same as those Curve 5, TT-^- = .109
used in previous diliuser studies [2, 5, 7]. The inlet velocity pro- "1
files for the data are given in Fig. 11.
I ' / W i = 2, Fig. 12. Since no data bej'ond the two-dimensional
stall regime had been previously taken, for L'/Wi = 2 the entire
range of the apparatus was utilized.
The sudden drop in recovery for 20 > 60 deg is a direct result
of the change in flow pattern from two-dimensional stall to jet
flow. As shown by the flow regime chart, Fig. 2, a hysteresis zone
exists as the border of the jet flow and two-dimensional stall flow
regimes.
By exploring the exit flows it was found that in some cases of jet
flow the flow was skewed to one side, but there was still a fixed
two-dimensional stall on each diverging wall. The small charges
from the truly symmetric to a skewed jet flow are hard to repro-
duce consistently and cause increased scatter in the pressure re-
c o v e r ; see for example curve 1, Fig. 12, at 26 = 70 deg.
L'/Wl = 4, Fig. 13. At L'/Wi = 4 data were taken only at 26 - Degrees
angles near peak recovery. Flow visualization revealed that the Fig. 13 Effects of inlet b o u n d a r y layer thickness on pressure recovery at
curves for 28 1 */IF 1 = 0.022 and 0.067 have the transitory stall L'/Wi = 4.0
L'/Wi = 24, Fig. 14. The data for thin inlet boundary layer, /
25i*/IFi = 0.014, exhibit the usual recovery and flow regime
characteristics. The data for thick inlet boundary layer, 2d1*/Wl
= 0.052 indicate that the effects of changes in flow pattern were
// I
k
amplified even though the usual spectrum of stall states was ob-
J/ti
served as the divergence angle was increased. The following flow
E 9
patterns were observed for recovery curve 7, Fig. 14. For 28 <
' 1
2.5 cleg there was essentially no stall. At 20 = 3.5 deg there is
1 '
large transitory stall, but in this particular test diffuser the B H
:.s i - : SU11
changes in stall size were so slow and large that two values of re-
covery and associated flow pattern were easily discernible.
Corresponding to the lower recovery there was an end wall stall; Sty i-n5i :r.= l Stalls
and when this stall was washed out the higher recovery was ob-
tained until the stall started to build up again. At 20 = 5 deg
the flow was relatively steady and showed the usual pattern for o