Effects of Width Variation of Pressure-Side Winglet on Tip Flow Structure in a Transonic Rotor

Abstract Heat transfer characteristics in a latticework duct with various sidewalls are numerically investigated. The crossing angle is 90 deg and the number of subchannels is eleven on both the pressure side and suction side for each latticework duct. The thickness of the ribs is 8 mm and the distance between adjacent ribs is 24 mm. The investigation is conducted for various Reynolds numbers (11,000 to 55,000) and six different sidewalls. Flow structure, pressure drop, and heat transfer characteristics are analyzed. Results revealed that the sidewall has significant effects on heat transfer and flow structure. The triangle-shaped sidewall provides the highest Nusselt number accompanied by the highest friction factor. The sidewall with a slot shows the lowest friction factor and Nusselt number. An increased slot width decreased the Nusselt number and friction factor simultaneously.

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Flow Nonuniformities and Turbulent “Hot Spots” Due to Wake-Blade and Wake-Wake Interactions in a Multi-Stage Turbomachine

Journal of Turbomachinery ◽

10.1115/1.1509078 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 124 (4) ◽

pp. 553-563 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Yi-Chih Chow ◽

Oguz Uzol ◽

Joseph Katz

Keyword(s):

Flow Structure ◽

Hot Spots ◽

Rotor Blade ◽

Suction Side ◽

Direct Result ◽

Shear Stresses ◽

Pressure Side ◽

Rotor Wake ◽

Multi Stage ◽

Wake Interactions

This experimental study provides striking examples of the complex flow and turbulence structure resulting from blade-wake and wake-wake interactions in a multi-stage turbomachine. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed within the entire 2nd stage of a two-stage turbomachine. The experiments are performed in a facility that allows unobstructed view of the entire flow field, facilitated using transparent rotor and stator and a fluid that has the same optical index of refraction as the blades. This paper contains data on the phase-averaged flow structure including velocity, vorticity and strain-rate, as well as the turbulent kinetic energy and shear stress, at mid span, for several orientation of the rotor relative to the stator. Two different test setups with different blade geometries are used in order to highlight and elucidate complex phenomena involved, as well as to demonstrate that some of the interactions are characteristic to turbomachines and can be found in a variety of geometries. The first part of the paper deals with the interaction of a 2nd-stage rotor with the wakes of both the rotor and the stator of the 1st stage. Even before interacting with the blade, localized regions with concentrated mean vorticity and elevated turbulence levels form at the intersection of the rotor and stator wakes of the 1st stage. These phenomena persist even after being ingested by the rotor blade of the 2nd stage. As the wake segment of the 1st-stage rotor blade arrives to the 2nd stage, the rotor blades become submerged in its elevated turbulence levels, and separate the region with negative vorticity that travels along the pressure side of the blade, from the region with positive vorticity that remains on the suction side. The 1st-stage stator wake is chopped-off by the blades. Due to difference in mean lateral velocity, the stator wake segment on the pressure side is advected faster than the segment on the suction side (in the absolute frame of reference), creating discontinuities in the stator wake trajectory. The nonuniformities in phase-averaged velocity distributions generated by the wakes of the 1st stage persist while passing through the 2nd-stage rotor. The combined effects of the 1st-stage blade rows cause 10–12 deg variations of flow angle along the pressure side of the blade. Thus, in spite of the large gap between the 1st and 2nd rotors (compared to typical rotor-stator spacings in axial compressors), 6.5 rotor axial chords, the wake-blade interactions are substantial. The second part focuses on the flow structure at the intersection of the wakes generated by a rotor and a stator located upstream of it. In both test setups the rotor wake is sheared by the nonuniformities in the axial velocity distributions, which are a direct result of the “discontinuities” in the trajectories of the stator wake. This shearing creates a kink in the trajectory of the rotor wake, a quadruple structure in the distribution of strain, regions with concentrated vorticity, high turbulence levels and high shear stresses, the latter with a complex structure that resembles the mean strain. Although the “hot spots” diffuse as they are advected downstream, they still have elevated turbulence levels compared to the local levels around them. In fact, every region of wake intersection has an elevated turbulence level.

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Computational Study on Pressure Side Film Cooling and Flow Structure

ASME 2013 Gas Turbine India Conference ◽

10.1115/gtindia2013-3696 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Radheesh Dhanasegaran ◽

Girish Venkatachalapathy ◽

Nagarajan Gnanasekaran

Keyword(s):

Flow Structure ◽

Film Cooling ◽

Computational Study ◽

Pressure Side ◽

Cooling Performance ◽

Pressure Surface ◽

Blowing Ratio ◽

Commercial Code ◽

Cylindrical Holes ◽

Specific Geometry

A computational investigation is carried out to understand the film cooling performance and flow phenomenon on a pressure side of gas turbine airfoil. A specific geometry with multiple rows of cylindrical holes is considered on the pressure surface and opposite to which a flat surface is kept so as to avoid effect of imposed flow conditions. Meshing of the present model is done by using GAMBIT. Computations are carried out with K-epsilon Realizable model available in the commercial code FLUENT. The film cooling performance is discussed with flow structure followed by the effectiveness distribution on the pressure surface. The blowing ratio is varied from 0.4–2.4 and it is found that, at very low blowing ratio cases in the initial part of the pressure surface higher effectiveness values are observed but at higher blowing ratio these values become very low whereas close to the trailing edge side the effectiveness distribution is just the reverse. It was found that the optimum blowing ratio was close to unity where better flow and temperature distribution were observed.

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Effect of the Unsteadiness on the Diffuser Flow in a Transonic Centrifugal Compressor Stage

International Journal of Rotating Machinery ◽

10.1155/2009/932593 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2009 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

N. Bulot ◽

I. Trébinjac

Keyword(s):

Flow Field ◽

Flow Structure ◽

Centrifugal Compressor ◽

Wake Flow ◽

Pressure Waves ◽

Pressure Side ◽

Compressor Stage ◽

Impeller Blade ◽

Centrifugal Compressor Stage ◽

Diffuser Flow

The study is focused on the analysis of the flow structure within the vaned diffuser of a transonic high-pressure centrifugal compressor stage. The analyzed time-dependent flow field comes from unsteady computations of the stage using a 3D Navier-Stokes code with a phase-lagged technique, at an operating point close to the design point. A good comparison with available experimental data allowed the use of CFD for investigating the details of the flow in order to assess the effect of the unsteadiness in the diffuser flow development. Applying various data processing techniques, it is shown that the unsteadiness is due to the jet and wake flow structure emerging from the radial impeller and to the pressure waves brought about by the interaction between the vane bow shock wave and the impeller blade. The interaction between the pressure waves and the vane pressure side boundary layer leads to a pulsating behavior of separated bubbles within the diffuser. The pressure waves are similar in shape and strength whatever the blade height. The observed change in the flow field from hub to tip is due to migration of the low momentum fluid contained in the wake toward the pressure side/hub corner.

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Numerical investigation of blade tip winglet on flow structure in a high loading transonic rotor

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part G Journal of Aerospace Engineering ◽

10.1177/09544100211008093 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095441002110080

Author(s):

Qingjun Zhao ◽

Weiwei Cui ◽

Xiaorong Xiang ◽

Qiangren Xu ◽

Jianzhong Xu

Keyword(s):

Flow Structure ◽

Flow Instability ◽

Rotating Stall ◽

High Loading ◽

Leakage Flow ◽

Pressure Side ◽

Tip Leakage Flow ◽

Stall Margin ◽

Blade Tip ◽

Flow Blockage

The interactions of tip leakage flow with mainstream and shock wave result in larger aerodynamic losses and blockage in high loading compressors and tend to be one of the triggers for flow instability. In order to attenuate the influence of leakage flow and improve the stall margin of highly loaded compressor, the new rotors surrounded by tip winglet are investigated by a numerical method. The tip winglet is designed by extending the flat blade tip section in outer 1.5% span of rotor blade. As the angle between the leakage flow and main flow decreases due to winglet, the losses and flow blockage have been weakened near stall condition, and the stall margin of new rotor with pressure-side winglet has an increase of over 10%. The migration and accumulation of low-energy fluids near the corner of casing endwall are affected significantly by tip winglet. As a result, the pressure-side winglet causes an increase of static pressure near the casing corner of pressure surface. Although the driving pressure difference near the leading edge of blade has increased slightly in the tip region, the strength and massflow rate of leakage flow appear to be decreased. As the leakage flow weakens in the new rotor with pressure-side winglet, its interaction with mainstream and shock has been suppressed obviously, and the delay of rotating stall occurs as well. Moreover, the flowfields of the new rotor with pressure-side winglet have been simulated at 40%, 60%, and 80% design speed. It is shown that the flow blockage and losses in the tip region have also reduced near stall point, and an improvement of overall performance is present in the new rotor with pressure-side winglet. All the changes of tip flow structure caused by winglet benefit to an increase of aerodynamic performance of new rotor at full rotational speed range.

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Flow Non-Uniformities and Turbulent “Hot Spots” Due to Wake-Blade and Wake-Wake Interactions in a Multistage Turbomachine

Volume 5: Turbo Expo 2002, Parts A and B ◽

10.1115/gt2002-30667 ◽

2002 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Yi-Chih Chow ◽

Oguz Uzol ◽

Joseph Katz

Keyword(s):

Flow Structure ◽

Hot Spots ◽

Rotor Blade ◽

Suction Side ◽

Direct Result ◽

Shear Stresses ◽

Pressure Side ◽

Rotor Wake ◽

Flow Angle ◽

Wake Interactions

This experimental study provides striking examples of the complex flow and turbulence structure resulting from blade-wake and wake-wake interactions in a multi-stage turbomachine. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed within the entire 2nd stage of a two-stage turbomachine. The experiments are performed in a facility that allows unobstructed view of the entire flow field, facilitated using transparent rotor and stator and a fluid that has the same optical index of refraction as the blades. This paper contains data on the phase-averaged flow structure including velocity, vorticity and strain-rate, as well as the turbulent kinetic energy and shear stress, at mid span, for several orientation of the rotor relative to the stator. Two different test setups with different blade geometries are used in order to highlight and elucidate complex phenomena involved, as well as to demonstrate that some of the interactions are characteristic to turbomachines and can be found in a variety of geometries. The first part of the paper deals with the interaction of a 2nd stage rotor with the wakes of both the rotor and the stator of the 1st stage. Even before interacting with the blade, localized regions with concentrated mean vorticity and elevated turbulence levels form at the intersection of the rotor and stator wakes of the 1st stage. These phenomena persist even after being ingested by the rotor blade of the 2nd stage. As the wake segment of the 1st stage rotor blade arrives to the 2nd stage, the rotor blades become submerged in its elevated turbulence levels, and separate the region with positive vorticity that travels along the pressure side of the blade, from the region with negative vorticity that remains on the suction side. The 1st stage stator wake is chopped-off by the blades. Due to difference in mean tangential velocity, the stator wake segment on the pressure side is advected faster than the segment on the suction side (in the absolute frame of reference), creating discontinuities in the stator wake trajectory. The non-uniformities in phase-averaged velocity distributions generated by the wakes of the 1st stage persist while passing through the 2nd stage rotor. The combined effects of the 1st stage blade rows cause 10°–12° variations of flow angle along the pressure side of the blade. Thus, in spite of the large gap between the 1st and 2nd rotors (compared to typical rotor-stator spacings in axial compressors), 6.5 rotor axial chords, the wake-blade interactions are substantial. The second part focuses on the flow structure at the intersection of the wakes generated by a rotor and a stator located upstream of it. In both test setups the rotor wake is sheared by the non-uniformities in the horizontal velocity distributions, which are a direct result of the “discontinuities” in the trajectories of the stator wake. This shearing creates a kink in the trajectory of the rotor wake, a quadruple structure in the distribution of strain, regions with concentrated vorticity, high turbulence levels and high shear stresses, the latter with a complex structure that resembles the mean strain. Although the “hot spots” diffuse as they are advected downstream, they still have elevated turbulence levels compared to the local levels around them. In fact, every region of wake intersection has an elevated turbulence level.

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