Investigation of the effects of main geometric parameters and flow characteristics on secondary flow losses in a turbine cascade

This paper presents numerical simulation results of a three-dimensional (3D) transitional flow in a stator cascade of an axial turbine. The influences of the main geometric parameters and flow characteristics including, the blade aspect ratio, pitch-to-chord ratio, inlet flow angle, and exit Mach number, on secondary flows development and end-wall losses, were studied. The numerical results were validated by the results of experiments conducted in the laboratory of the steam and gas turbine faculty of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute. The maximum difference between computed and experimental results was 2.4 %. The total energy losses decrease by 20 % when the exit Mach number changes from 0.38 to 0.8. Numerical results indicated that the blade aspect ratio had the most effect on secondary flow losses. The total energy losses increase by 46.6 % when the aspect ratio decreases from 1 to 0.25. The total loss of energy by 13.2 % decreases by increasing the inlet flow angle from 60 degrees to 90 degrees. Then by increasing the inlet flow angle from 90 to 110 degrees, the total loss rises by 3.6%. As the pitch-to-chord ratio increases from 0.7 to 0.75, the total energy losses are reduced by 12.2 %. Then by increasing the pitch-to-chord ratio from 0.75 to 0.8, the total energy losses increase by 6 %. As with experimental data, the numerical results showed that the optimal inlet flow angle and relative pitch for the cascade are 90 degrees and 0.75, respectively.

ANALYSIS OF AVERAGING METHODS FOR NON-UNIFORM TOTAL PRESSURE FIELDS

A common objective in the analysis of turbomachinery components (nozzle guide vanes or rotor blades, for example) is to calculate performance parameters, such as total pressure or kinetic energy loss coefficients, from measurements in a non-uniform flow-field. These performance parameters can be represented in a range of ways. For example: line-averages used to compare performance between different radial sections of a 3D component; plane-averages used to assess flow (perhaps loss coefficient) development between different axial planes; and fully mixed-out values used to determine the total loss associated with a component. In this paper, we compare a range of methods for calculating aerodynamic performance parameters including plane-average methods with different weighting schemes and several mixed-out methods. We analyse the sensitivities of the different methods to the axial location of the measurement plane, the radial averaging range, and the exit Mach number. We use high-fidelity experimental data taken in several axial planes downstream of a cascade of engine parts: high pressure (HP) turbine nozzle guide vanes (NGVs) operating at transonic Mach number. The experimental data is complemented by CFD. We discuss the underlying physical mechanisms which give rise to the observed sensitivities. The objective is to provide guidance on the accuracy of each method in a relevant, practical application.

EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF LOSS CHARACTERISTICS OF COOLED TRANSONIC NOZZLE GUIDE VANES

This paper presents high-fidelity experimental traverse measurements downstream of an annular cascade of transonic nozzle guide vanes (NGVs) from a high-pressure (HP) turbine stage. The components are heavily-cooled real engine components from a modern civil gas turbine engine, operated at scaled engine conditions. Tests were conducted in the high technology readiness level (TRL) Engine Component Aerothermal (ECAT) facility at the University of Oxford. High resolution full-area traverse measurements of local kinetic energy (KE) loss coefficient are presented in several axial planes. In particular, we present: circumferential loss coefficient profiles at several radial heights; full-area traverses at three axial planes; and fully mixed-out loss calculations. Analysis of these data gives insight into particular loss structures, overall aerodynamic performance, and wake mixing rates. The effect of exit Mach number on performance is also considered. The data address a gap in the literature for detailed analysis of traverse measurements downstream of HP NGV engine components. Experimental data are compared with steady and unsteady RANS simulations, allowing benchmarking of typical CFD methods for absolute loss prediction of cooled components. There is relatively limited aerodynamic performance data in the literature for heavily cooled NGVs, and this study represents one of the most comprehensive of its type.

Endwall Heat Transfer and Cooling Performance of a Transonic Turbine Vane with Upstream Injection Flow

Detailed experimental and numerical studies on endwall heat transfer and cooling performance with coolant injection flow through upstream discrete holes is presented in this paper. High resolution heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness values were measured using a transient infrared thermography technique on an axisymmetric contoured endwall. The tests were performed in a transonic linear cascade blow-down wind tunnel facility. Conditions were representative of a land-based power generation turbine with exit Mach number of 0.85 corresponding to exit Reynolds number of 1.5 × 106, based on exit condition and axial chord length. A high turbulence level of 16% with an integral length scale of 3.6%P was generated using inlet turbulence grid to reproduce the typical turbulence conditions in real turbine. Low temperature air was used to simulate the typical coolant-to-mainstream condition by controlling two parameters of the upstream coolant injection flow: mass flow rate to determine the coolant-to-mainstream blowing ratio (BR = 2.5, 3.5), and gas temperature to determine the density ratio (DR = 1.2). To highlight the interactions between the upstream coolant flow and the passage secondary flow combined with the influence on the endwall heat transfer and cooling performance, a comparison of CFD predictions to experimental results was performed by solving steady-state Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS Fluent V.15.

Effect of orifice spacing on twin circular parallel compressible jets

The interaction of Mach 0.5, 0.8, and 1.0, parallel, twin circular jets issuing from orifices with center-to-center spacing S/D, where S is the center-to-center distance and D is orifice diameter, 2, 4 and 6 has been investigated experimentally. The characteristics of twinjets are analyzed based on the centerline Mach number decay, exit Mach number and ratio of orifice spacing. As the spacing between the orifice increases, the maximum Mach number point of the combined jet moves downstream. For the Mach numbers studied it is found that as the S/D increases the effect of the counter-rotating vortices on jet mixing decreases. The rate of the twinjet interaction also decreases with S/D increase. As the jets propagate downstream their center-to-center distance decreases continuously and the jets merge to become single jet, for all S/D studied.

High-Fidelity Simulations of a High-Pressure Turbine Vane Subject to Large Disturbances: Effect of Exit Mach Number on Losses

We report on a series of highly resolved large-eddy simulations of the LS89 high-pressure turbine (HPT) vane, varying the exit Mach number between Ma=0.7 and 1.1. In order to accurately resolve the blade boundary layers and enforce pitchwise periodicity, we for the first time use an overset mesh method, which consists of an O-type grid around the blade overlapping with a background H-type grid. The simulations were conducted either with a synthetic inlet turbulence condition or including upstream bars. A quantitative comparison shows that the computationally more efficient synthetic method is able to reproduce the turbulence characterictics of the upstream bars. We further perform a detailed analysis of the flow fields, showing that the varying exit Mach number significantly changes the turbine efficiency by affecting the suction-side transition, blade boundary layer profiles, and wake mixing. In particular, the Ma=1.1 case includes a strong shock that interacts with the trailing edge, causing an increased complexity of the flow field. We use our recently developed entropy loss analysis (Zhao and Sandberg, GT2019-90126) to decompose the overall loss into different source terms and identify the regions that dominate the loss generation. Comparing the different Ma cases, we conclude that the main mechanism for the extra loss generation in the Ma=1.1 case is the shock-related strong pressure gradient interacting with the turbulent boundary layer and the wake, resulting in significant turbulence production and extensive viscous dissipation.

A linear cascade tunnel for flow investigations of steam turbine rotor tip blades in subsonic nucleating flows

The paper presents details of a unique experimental facility along with necessary accessories and instrumentation for testing steam turbine cascade blades in wet and nucleating steam. A steam turbine rotor tip cascade is chosen for flow investigations. Cascade inlet flow measurements show uniform conditions with dry air and steam and dry air mixture of different ratios. Exit flow surveys indicate that excellent flow periodicity is obtained. Blade surface static pressure and exit total pressure distributions are also presented with dry air and with steam and dry air mixture of different ratios as the working medium at an exit Mach number of 0.52.

Effects of Shock Wave Development on Secondary Flow Behavior in Linear Turbine Cascade at Transonic Condition

Gas turbines widely applied to power generation and aerospace propulsion systems are continuously enhanced in efficiency for the reduction of environmental load. The energy recovery efficiency from working fluid in a turbine component constituting gas turbines can be enhanced by the increase of turbine blade loading. However, the increase of turbine blade loading inevitably intensifies the secondary flows, and consequently increases the associated loss generation. The development of the passage vortex is strongly influenced by the pitchwise pressure gradient on the endwall in the cascade passage. In addition, a practical high pressure turbine stage is generally driven under transonic flow conditions where the shock wave strongly influences the pressure distribution on the endwall. Therefore, it becomes very important to clarify the effects of the shock wave formation on the secondary flow behavior in order to increase the turbine blade loading without the deterioration of efficiency. In this study, the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional transonic flows in the HS1A linear turbine cascade at the design incidence angle were analyzed numerically by using the commercial CFD code with the assumption of steady compressible flow. The isentropic exit Mach number was varied from the subsonic to the supersonic conditions in order to examine the effects of development of shock wave caused by the increase of exit Mach number on the secondary flow behavior. The increase of exit Mach number induced the shock across the passage and increased its obliqueness. The increase of obliqueness reduced the cross flow on the endwall by moving the local minimum point of static pressure along the suction surface toward the trailing edge. As a consequence, the increase of exit Mach number attenuated the passage vortex.