Compressor surge and rotating stall: modeling and control

Jan Tommy Gravdahl and Olav Egeland

Springer, 1999, ISBN: 1-85233-067-8

This book is now out of print, but it can be downloaded for free here.

This work gives a comprehensive overview of the achievements in the field of modeling and active control of instabilities in compressions systems during the last decade. 

Existing models of unstable compression systems are in most cases restricted to constant speed compressors. Here, two models are derived that take time varying rotational speed into account - one for centrifugal compressors and one for axial compressors.

  • The main focus of the modeling element is the inclusion of non-constant speed in existing dynamic models of unstable compression systems, and the study of surge and rotating stall in connection with this.
  • The focus of the control element is the use of a close coupled valve as a means of stabilizing surge and rotating stall. Little work has yet been published on this.