Pressure pulsations passive damping in compressors manifolds: experimental and numerical approach development

Pressure pulsations in volumetric compressor manifolds have a high impact on compression power requirement and the reliability of manifold operation. These pulsations induce vibrations, noise, and in some cases, mechanical failure of piping or compressor valves. For pressure pulsation attenuation, different types of mufflers are applied using a design based upon the Helmholtz resonator approach. This design is particularly effective for constant revolution speed compressors. For contemporary applications of variable revolution speed compressors, other pressure pulsation attenuation methods are needed. Experimental investigations of the passive damping, using specially shaped nozzles, shows that nozzles when properly optimized can attenuate a wide range of frequencies, with minimal influence on the compression power. To obtain minimal influence on the compression power and to maximize pulsations damping, numerical simulations of the impulse flow damping combined with the standard steady-flow simulations are proposed as a nozzle geometry optimization tool.