The performance of a single-stage low-speed compressor has been measur
ed both before and after the introduction of certain features of the m
ultistage flow environment. The aim is to make the single-stage rig mo
re appropriate for developing design rules for multistage compressors.
End-wall blockage was generated by teeth on the hub and casing upstre
am of the rotor. A grid fitted upstream produced free-stream turbulenc
e at rotor inlet typical of multistage machines and raised stage effic
iency by 1.8 percent at the design point. The potential field that wou
ld be generated by blade rows downstream of an embedded stage was repl
icated by introducing a pressure loss screen at stage exit. This reduc
ed the stator hub corner separation and increased the rotor pressure r
ise at flow rates below design, changing the shape of the pressure-ris
e characteristic markedly. These results highlight the importance of f
eatures of the flow environment that are often omitted from single-sta
ge experiments and offer improved understanding of stage aerodynamics.