Common Design Method and Performance Prediction for Near-Critical Region Compressors

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  • 1. Hebei Key Laboratory of Low Carbon and High Efficiency Power Generation Technology, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071003, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Power Station Energy Transfer Conversion and System, North China Electric Power University, Ministry of Education, Beijing 102206, China

Online published: 2026-01-05

Supported by

The research is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2023YFB4102504) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52206010, No. 52130608).

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025

Abstract

The compression power consumption of the working fluids in the near-critical region is low. However, there is currently no research on the common characteristics of near-critical region compression for different types of working fluids. This paper takes H2O, CO2, and R134a as research subjects, and based on the common characteristics of the physical properties of working fluids in the near-critical region, a 1D common design method and performance prediction model for near-critical compressors are proposed. Meanwhile, 3D models of centrifugal compressors are established based on the 1D design results. The 3D numerical simulations results show that there is about a 4% error between the numerical simulation results and the 1D performance prediction. Therefore, a slip factor model and a flow correction coefficient are introduced to account for the impact of rotating speed and mass flow rate changes on the loss models. At the same time, the friction loss coefficient and through-flow loss coefficient are corrected based on the viscosity of different working fluids. After optimization, the error under off-design conditions between the numerical simulation results and the 1D performance prediction results is maintained within 1.2%, demonstrating the advantage of the new model in predicting the near-critical compression performance of different working fluids.

Cite this article

SUN Enhui, LIAO Kailong, ZHANG Lei, CHEN Feng, ZHANG Qiukai, LIU Yanfeng . Common Design Method and Performance Prediction for Near-Critical Region Compressors[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2026 , 35(1) : 35 -49 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-025-2203-5

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