Impact of Additive Manufacturing Surface Roughness on the Aerodynamic Performance of Axial Compressor Blades

This paper investigates the influence of additive manufacturing (AM) surface roughness on the aerodynamic performance of axial compressor blades. Though the AM offers advantages such as complex geometry fabrication and reduced material waste, its inherent surface roughness presents challenges in meeting compressor performance requirements. Previous studies have explored the implications of surface roughness on compressor performance. However, the existing literature on surface roughness does not sufficiently address the effects of AM surface roughness on the aerodynamic performance of compressor blades. Hence, in this paper, a linear compressor cascade experiment has been conducted at a Reynolds number \({Re}_{C}\) ${\mathit{Re}}_C$ = 300,000. Three different roughness Reynold numbers, \({k}_{s}^{+}\) $k_s^{+}$ , have been examined—1.64 for the smooth blade, 24.5 and 43.8 for the rough 1 and rough 2 blades, respectively. Compared to the smooth blade, the pitchwise mass-averaged deviation and loss of the Rough 1 blade increase by 6.3% and 39.6%, respectively. For the Rough 2 blade, there is an increase of 18.4% and 98.8% in deviation and loss compared to the smooth blade, indicating a non-linear relationship between the deviation and loss, and \({k}_{s}^{+}\) $k_s^{+}$ .