In order to investigate the evolutionary tendency of the compressor rotor's real rotating environment and explain its associated flow mechanism

the filament traces method was used for flow field visualization in a low-speed axial compressor rotor. And the unsteady multiblade-passage numerical simulations were also carried out to study the flow field characteristic of the blade tip region and its formation mechanism. Based on experimental results

the evolution processes of the complex flow inside the rotor passages were seen clearly as the compressor was throttled towards the stability limit. The results show that as the rotor's mass flow is reduced

the trajectory of blade tip leakage flow moves upstream towards the leading edge of the blade tip. When the compressor is operating near stall condition

the interface between the main flow and the tip leakage flow is nearly parallel to the rotor leading edge plane at the blade tip. Meanwhile the large backflow region appears on the suction side of the blade tip

and the backflow is found to be collected at the leading edge near the blade tip. And the further research shows that the axial momentum ratio of the tip leakage flow to the main flow in the clearance region increases as the flow coefficient decreases

serving as a mechanism for the forward movement of the tip leakage flow and the growth of the backflow region.