Abstract
The object of this paper is to describe a general method of design and analysis which has been developed for, and applied primarily to, the design of supercharger centrifugal impellers. The method has also been used as a systematic means for the analysis of such impellers as well as for the design of the corresponding diffusers and of gas-turbine compressors and turbines. The development was undertaken with the idea of obtaining, as nearly as possible, a self-sufficient and self-contained rational design method which would be influenced as little as possible by preconceived notions of what the impeller blades should look like. The method is also complete in the sense that it is not used merely as a guide to the character of the blade shape, e.g., to determine limiting curvatures. Instead, one starts from and uses the basic laws of the fluid motion to determine the required flow path and thus the complete blade shape. On the other hand, the fullest use has been made of available experience and test results as checks of the theory.
