The compressor is composed of several rows of airfoil cascades. Some of the rows, called rotors, are connected to the central shaft and rotate at high speed. Other rows, called stators, are fixed and do not rotate. The job of the stators is to increase pressure and keep the flow from spiraling around the axis by bringing the flow back parallel to the axis.The axial compressor is a major component of gas turbines, and therefore the overall gas turbine performance depends strongly on the axial compressor performance.