A new method for reliable performance prediction of multi-stage industrial centrifugal compressors based on stage stacking technique: Part I - existing models evaluation

The growing acceptability of the natural gas as an energy source yields to place a higher research concentration on improving the centrifugal compressor design and performance prediction techniques. This is the first part of a two-part study that aims to introduce a new integrated method for reliable performance prediction of multi-stage industrial centrifugal compressor based on stage stacking technique. In this part, two most common existing models are adapted to be valid for industrial centrifugal compressors and the predicted characteristics are evaluated against measured data. Based on the conducted evaluation, a new model will be derived in the second part which incorporates the advantages of both approaches with more accurate prediction. Lüdtke method predicts the compressor design efficiency based on the correction of the derived experimental set of data. This approach has been applied for a single stage centrifugal compressor at a single speed and flow values. Recently, Casey-Robinson method uses a new set of algebraic equations to obtain the compressor curve with less dependency on the geometrical features. This model has been tested with a single stage turbocharger compressor where the performance curve can be derived without considering the mechanical stages. This approximation will introduce a more significant impact when this method is used for large industrial compressors. Therefore, these models will be improved to be suitable for multi-industrial centrifugal compressors and their prediction capability to estimate the performance map will be examined in this paper.