1. Presentation

1.1 General information on turbomachinery

A turbomachine (from the Latin turbo, turbinis = whirlpool, spinning top) is a rotating machine whose role is to exchange mechanical energy between a rotor, fitted with blades, rotating at constant speed around an axis, and a fluid flowing almost continuously in its stator. The body, or stator, is connected to the inlet pipe by its inlet flange, and to the discharge pipe by its outlet flange.

A turbomachine can extract and discharge a fluid into the same medium, but is often interposed between two or more enclosures containing the same fluid at different pressure and temperature levels. Its function is to borrow or supply energy to this fluid. Depending on the direction of this transfer, the turbomachine is said to...