Experimental study on the plasma actuators for the tip leakage flow control in a turbine cascade

2021 ◽  
pp. 107195
Author(s):  
Jianyang Yu ◽  
Yuhang Lu ◽  
Yabo Wang ◽  
Fu Chen ◽  
Yanping Song
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Flow Control ◽  
Plasma Actuators ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Turbine Cascade ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage

Tip Leakage Flow Reduction of a Linear Turbine Cascade Using String-Type DBD Plasma Actuators

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takayuki Matsunuma ◽  
Takehiko Segawa
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Plasma Actuators ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Turbine Cascade ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Dbd Plasma ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
String Type ◽  
Displacement Thickness ◽  
Blade Tip

Tip leakage flow through the small gap between the blade tip of a turbine and the casing endwall reduces the aerodynamic performance. String-type dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators made of silicone printed-circuit board were used for the active control of the tip leakage flow of a linear turbine cascade. Sinusoidal voltage excitation with amplitude varying from 4 kV to 6 kV (peak-to-peak voltage: 8 kVp-p to 12 kVp-p) and fixed frequency of 10 kHz was applied to the plasma actuators. The two-dimensional velocity field in the blade passage was estimated by particle image velocimetry (PIV) under the very low Reynolds number conditions of Re = 7.1 × 103 and 1.42 × 104. The tip leakage flow was reduced by the flow control using plasma actuators. The high turbulence intensity region caused by the tip leakage flow was also reduced. For the quantitative comparisons, the displacement thickness of the absolute velocity distributions was examined. By the flow control of the plasma actuators, the displacement thickness at tip-side gradually decreased as the input voltage increased. Although three types of plasma actuators were used, with thin, thick, and flat electrodes and different ratios of discharge area, the differences in their effect were negligible. The reason for these very small differences in effect is the wide spread of the plasma discharge from the encapsulated electrode in the plasma actuator to the exposed electrode of the blade tip. At the relatively high Reynolds number condition of Re = 1.42 × 104, the effect of the plasma actuator was smaller than that at the lower Reynolds number condition of Re = 7.1 × 103.

Optimization and Evaluation of Multiple DBD Plasma Actuators Applied in the Tip Leakage Control for Turbine Cascade

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianyang Yu ◽  
Wenchun Bao ◽  
Fu Chen ◽  
Yanping Song ◽  
Cong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Flow Control ◽  
Mass Flow ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Plasma Actuator ◽  
Plasma Actuators ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Dbd Plasma ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Leakage Control

Abstract The dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator, in which electrodes are asymmetric arranged, has already demonstrated its ability in flow control. In the present work, the configuration of multiple plasma actuators is placed at the suction side of the cascade top to realize the tip leakage control. However, massive configurations appear when the number of plasma actuators increases, resulting in the investigation of actuator configuration for tip leakage flow control becomes a challenge. The surrogate modelling approach provides a cheap and efficient method to investigate the effect of multiple plasma actuators on the tip leakage flow control. By constructing an approximation model, tip leakage mass flow rates of all configuration are obtained in the present work. What’s more, the flow structures in the tip clearance controlled by the plasma actuators are explained in the process of topological analysis. The results show that the tip leakage mass flow rate is decreasing with the number of active plasma actuators increasing. However, the decreasing would reach its limits in the process of adding plasma actuators. In the analysis of flow topology, single actuator would generate a small vortex at the suction side to cause an obstacle in the tip leakage flow. While the continuous arrangements of plasma actuator is beneficial to generate an induced vortex to diminish the tip leakage flow.

Numerical Simulation of Tip Clearance Control in Axial Turbine Rotor: Part 2—Passive Control of Five Different Tip Platforms

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Wei-Yang Qiao ◽  
Kai-Fu Xu ◽  
Hua-Ling Luo
Keyword(s):  
Flow Control ◽  
Passive Control ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Clearance Flow

The tip leakage flow has significant effects on turbine in loss production, aerodynamic efficiency, etc. Then it’s important to minimize these effects for a better performance by adopting corresponding flow control. The active turbine tip clearance flow control with injection from the tip platform is given in Part-1 of this paper. This paper is Part-2 of the two-part papers focusing on the effect of five different passive turbine tip clearance flow control methods on the tip clearance flow physics, which consists of a partial suction side squealer tip (Partial SS Squealer), a double squealer tip (Double Side Squealer), a pressure side tip shelf with inclined squealer tip on a double squealer tip (Improved PS Squealer), a tip platform extension edge in pressure side (PS Extension) and in suction side (SS Extension) respectively. Combined with the turbine rotor and the numerical method mentioned in Part 1, the effects of passive turbine tip clearance flow controls on the tip clearance flow were sequentially simulated. The detailed tip clearance flow fields with different squealer rims were described with the streamline and the velocity vector in various planes parallel to the tip platform or normal to the tip leakage vortex core. Accordingly, the mechanisms of five passive controls were put in evidence; the effects of the passive controls on the turbine efficiency and the tip clearance flow field were highlighted. The results show that the secondary flow loss near the outer casing including the tip leakage flow and the casing boundary layer can be reduced in all the five passive control methods. Comparing the active control with the passive control, the effect brought by the active injection control on the tip leakage flow is evident. The turbine rotor efficiency could be increased via the rational passive turbine tip clearance flow control. The Improved PS Squealer had the best effect on turbine rotor efficiency, and it increased by 0.215%.

Experimental and Numerical Study of Honeycomb Tip on Suppressing Tip Leakage Flow in Turbine Cascade

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunfeng Fu ◽  
Fu Chen ◽  
Huaping Liu ◽  
Yanping Song
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Study ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Exit Section ◽  
Turbine Cascade ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Gap Height ◽  
Positive Effect

In this paper, the effect of a novel honeycomb tip on suppressing tip leakage flow in a highly-loaded turbine cascade has been experimentally and numerically studied. The research focuses on the mechanisms of honeycomb tip on suppressing tip leakage flow and affecting the secondary flow in the cascade, as well as the influences of different clearance heights on leakage flow characteristics. In addition, two kinds of local honeycomb tip structures are pro-posed to explore the positive effect on suppressing leakage flow in simpler tip honeycomb structures. Based on the experimental and numerical results, the physical processes of tip leakage flow and its interaction with main flow are analyzed, the following conclusions can be obtained. Honeycomb tip rolls up a number of small vortices and radial jets in regular hexagonal honeycomb cavities, increasing the flow resistance in the clearance and reducing the velocity of leakage flow. As a result, the structure of honeycomb tip not only suppresses the leakage flow effectively, but also has positive effect on reducing the associated losses in cascade by reducing the strength of leakage vortex. Compare to the flat tip cascade at 1%H gap height, the relative leakage flow in honeycomb tip cascade reduces from 3.05% to 2.73%, and the loss at exit section is also decreased by 10.63%. With the increase of the gap height, the tip leakage flow and loss have variations of direct proportion with it, but their growth rates in the honeycomb tip cascade are smaller. Consider the abradable property of the honeycomb seal, a smaller gap height is allowed in the cascade with honeycomb tip, and that means honeycomb tip has better effect on suppressing leakage flow. Two various local honeycomb tip structures has also been discussed. It shows that local raised honeycomb tip has better suppressing leakage flow effect than honeycomb tip, while local concave honeycomb tip has no more effect than honeycomb tip. Compare to flat tip cascade, the leakage flow in honeycomb tip cascade, local concave tip cascade and local raised honeycomb tip cascade decrease by nearly 17.33%, 15.51% and 30.86% respectively, the losses at exit section is reduced by 13.38%, 12% and 28.17% respectively.

Aerodynamic Interaction Between Incoming Vortex and Tip Leakage Flow in a Turbine Cascade

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Zhou ◽  
Chao Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Study ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Turbine Cascade ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Vortex ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Swirl Generator ◽  
Swirling Vortex

In turbines, secondary vortices and tip leakage vortices develop and interact with each other. In order to understand the flow physics of vortices interaction, the effects of incoming vortex on the downstream tip leakage flow are investigated in terms of the aerodynamic performance in a turbine cascade. Experimental, numerical and analytical methods are used. In the experiment, a swirl generator was used upstream near the casing to generate the incoming vortex, which interacted with the tip leakage vortex in the turbine cascade. The swirl generator was located at ten different pitchwise locations to simulate the quasi-steady effects. In the numerical study, a Rankine-like vortex was defined at the inlet of the computational domain to simulate the incoming swirling vortex. Incoming vortices with opposite directions were investigated. The vorticity of the positive incoming swirling vortex has a large vector in the same direction as that of the tip leakage vortex. In the case of the positive incoming swirling vortex, the vortex mixes with the tip leakage vortex to form one vortex near the tip as it transports downstream. The vortices interaction reduces the vorticity of the flow near the tip, as well as the loss by making up for the streamwise momentum within the tip leakage vortex core. In contrast, the negative incoming swirling vortex has little effects on the tip leakage vortex and the loss. As the negative incoming swirling vortex transports downstream, it is separated from the tip leakage vortex and forms two vortices. A triple-vortices-interaction kinetic analytical model and one-dimensional mixing model are proposed to explain the mechanism of vortex interaction on the aerodynamic performance.

Experimental and Numerical Study of Honeycomb Tip on Suppressing Tip Leakage Flow in Turbine Cascade

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunfeng Fu ◽  
Fu Chen ◽  
Huaping Liu ◽  
Yanping Song
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Study ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Turbine Cascade ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Honeycomb Seal ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Flow Part ◽  
Gap Height ◽  
Locally Convex

In this paper, the effect of a novel honeycomb tip on suppressing tip leakage flow in turbine cascade has been experimentally and numerically studied. Compared to the flat tip cascade with 1%H blade height, the relative leakage flow in honeycomb tip cascade reduces from 3.05% to 2.73%, and the loss also decreases by 8.24%. For honeycomb tip, a number of small vortices are rolled up in the regular hexagonal honeycomb cavities to dissipate the kinetic energy of the clearance flow, and the fluid flowing into and out the cavities create aerodynamic interceptions to the upper clearance flow. As a result, the flow resistance in the clearance increased and the velocity of leakage flow reduced. As the gap height increases, the tip leakage flow and loss changes proportionally, but the growth rate in the honeycomb tip cascade is smaller. Considering its wear resistance of the honeycomb seal, a smaller gap height is allowed in the cascade with honeycomb tip, and that means honeycomb tip has better effect on suppressing leakage flow. Part honeycomb tip structure also retains the effect of suppressing leakage flow. It shows that locally convex honeycomb tip has better suppressing leakage flow effect than the whole honeycomb tip, but locally concave honeycomb tip is slightly less effective.

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