Abstract: The present paper proposed a method of pridiction of the propagation of the downstream distortion through an axial compressor. The distortion of consine wave type is produced by a downstream distoring component. Various factors are shown to have influence on the propagation. The variation of the distortion indexs with the spacing between the compressor and the downstream component can be correlated as a parabo-la; the distortion index varies linearly with the distortion coefficient; the steeper characteristic of the compressor attenuates the propagation more strongly, and so does the multistage compressor. The above main points were verified by the experimental results from a low speed compressor rig.