Unsteady Effects due to Rotor Purge Flow Variations in a Dual-Spool Turbine Setup

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Merli ◽  
Patrick Zeno Sterzinger ◽  
Matteo Dellacasagrande ◽  
Lukas Wiesinger ◽  
Andreas Peters ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 106805
Author(s):  
Zhi Tao ◽  
Fengchao Li ◽  
Boyang Yu ◽  
Peiyuan Zhu ◽  
Liming Song ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Marios Patinios ◽  
James A. Scobie ◽  
Carl M. Sangan ◽  
J. Michael Owen ◽  
Gary D. Lock

In gas turbines, hot mainstream flow can be ingested into the wheel-space formed between stator and rotor disks as a result of the circumferential pressure asymmetry in the annulus; this ingress can significantly affect the operating life, performance, and integrity of highly stressed, vulnerable engine components. Rim seals, fitted at the periphery of the disks, are used to minimize ingress and therefore reduce the amount of purge flow required to seal the wheel-space and cool the disks. This paper presents experimental results from a new 1.5-stage test facility designed to investigate ingress into the wheel-spaces upstream and downstream of a rotor disk. The fluid-dynamically scaled rig operates at incompressible flow conditions, far removed from the harsh environment of the engine which is not conducive to experimental measurements. The test facility features interchangeable rim-seal components, offering significant flexibility and expediency in terms of data collection over a wide range of sealing flow rates. The rig was specifically designed to enable an efficient method of ranking and quantifying the performance of generic and engine-specific seal geometries. The radial variation of CO2 gas concentration, pressure, and swirl is measured to explore, for the first time, the flow structure in both the upstream and downstream wheel-spaces. The measurements show that the concentration in the core is equal to that on the stator walls and that both distributions are virtually invariant with radius. These measurements confirm that mixing between ingress and egress is essentially complete immediately after the ingested fluid enters the wheel-space and that the fluid from the boundary layer on the stator is the source of that in the core. The swirl in the core is shown to determine the radial distribution of pressure in the wheel-space. The performance of a double radial-clearance seal is evaluated in terms of the variation of effectiveness with sealing flow rate for both the upstream and the downstream wheel-spaces and is found to be independent of rotational Reynolds number. A simple theoretical orifice model was fitted to the experimental data showing good agreement between theory and experiment for all cases. This observation is of great significance as it demonstrates that the theoretical model can accurately predict ingress even when it is driven by the complex unsteady pressure field in the annulus upstream and downstream of the rotor. The combination of the theoretical model and the new test rig with its flexibility and capability for detailed measurements provides a powerful tool for the engine rim-seal designer.


1976 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. H. Kemp ◽  
H. Ohashi

Incompressible flow through an unstaggered cascade in general, unsteady, in-phase motion is considered. By methods of thin-airfoil theory, using the assumptions of wakes trailing back at the through-flow velocity, and the Kutta condition, exact analytical expressions are derived for loading, lift and moment. As application, harmonic motion is considered for plunging, pitching, and sinusoidal gusts. Numerical values of lift and moment for these three cases are given graphically (tables are available from the authors). The results show strong analogies with isolated unsteady thin-airfoil theory. They should prove useful as simple examples of unsteady effects in cascades, and as check cases for other approximate or purely numerical analyses.


2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
E von Lavante ◽  
A Zachcial ◽  
B Nath ◽  
H Dietrich

Author(s):  
Johan Dahlqvist ◽  
Jens Fridh

The aspect of hub cavity purge has been investigated in a high-pressure axial low-reaction turbine stage. The cavity purge is an important part of the secondary air system, used to isolate the hot main annulus flow from cavities below the hub level. A full-scale cold-flow experimental rig featuring a rotating stage was used in the investigation, quantifying main annulus flow field impact with respect to purge flow rate as it was injected upstream of the rotor. Five operating speeds were investigated of which three with respect to purge flow, namely a high loading case, the peak efficiency, and a high speed case. At each of these operating speeds, the amount of purge flow was varied across a very wide range of ejection rates. Observing the effect of the purge rate on measurement plane averaged parameters, a minor outlet swirl decrease is seen with increasing purge flow for each of the operating speeds while the Mach number is constant. The prominent effect due to purge is seen in the efficiency, showing a similar linear sensitivity to purge for the investigated speeds. An attempt is made to predict the efficiency loss with control volume analysis and entropy production. While spatial average values of swirl and Mach number are essentially unaffected by purge injection, important spanwise variations are observed and highlighted. The secondary flow structure is strengthened in the hub region, leading to a generally increased over-turning and lowered flow velocity. Meanwhile, the added volume flow through the rotor leads to higher outlet flow velocities visible in the tip region, and an associated decreased turning. A radial efficiency distribution is utilized, showing increased impact with increasing rotor speed.


Author(s):  
Kevin Liu ◽  
Shang-Feng Yang ◽  
Je-Chin Han

A detailed parametric study of film-cooling effectiveness was carried out on a turbine blade platform. The platform was cooled by purge flow from a simulated stator–rotor seal combined with discrete hole film-cooling. The cylindrical holes and laidback fan-shaped holes were accessed in terms of film-cooling effectiveness. This paper focuses on the effect of coolant-to-mainstream density ratio on platform film-cooling (DR = 1 to 2). Other fundamental parameters were also examined in this study—a fixed purge flow of 0.5%, three discrete-hole film-cooling blowing ratios between 1.0 and 2.0, and two freestream turbulence intensities of 4.2% and 10.5%. Experiments were done in a five-blade linear cascade with inlet and exit Mach number of 0.27 and 0.44, respectively. Reynolds number of the mainstream flow was 750,000 and was based on the exit velocity and chord length of the blade. The measurement technique adopted was the conduction-free pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Results indicated that with the same density ratio, shaped holes present higher film-cooling effectiveness and wider film coverage than the cylindrical holes, particularly at higher blowing ratios. The optimum blowing ratio of 1.5 exists for the cylindrical holes, whereas the effectiveness for the shaped holes increases with an increase of blowing ratio. Results also indicate that the platform film-cooling effectiveness increases with density ratio but decreases with turbulence intensity.


2010 ◽  
Vol 54 (02) ◽  
pp. 120-132
Author(s):  
Lawrence J. Doctors ◽  
Alexander H. Day ◽  
David Clelland

In this paper, we describe extensions to the research of Doctors et al. (Doctors, L. J., Day, A. H., and Clelland, D., 2008, Unsteady effects during resistance tests on a ship model in a towing tank, Journal of Ship Research, 52, 4, 263–273) and Day et al. (Day, A. H., Clelland, D., and Doctors, L. J., 2009, Unsteady finite-depth effects during resistance tests in a towing tank, Journal of Marine Science and Technology, 14, 3, 387–397) in which the oscillations in the wave resistance during the constant-velocity phase of a towing-tank resistance test on a ship model were measured and predicted, in the cases of relatively deep and relatively shallow water. In the current study, the ship model was towed with a harmonic velocity component superimposed on the usual constant forward velocity. This work constitutes a first step in the understanding of the unsteady hydrodynamics of a racing shell (rowing boat). We show here that the unsteady wave resistance varies considerably from the traditional (steady) average value. Indeed, the wave resistance is frequently negative during part of the oscillatory cycle. However, the general effect is an increase in the temporal mean value of the wave resistance; this suggests that every effort should be made to reduce the unsteadiness of the motion. We also demonstrate that the unsteady wave-resistance theory provides an excellent prediction of the measured effects summarized here. These predictions are often within a few percent of the measured values of the resistance.


Author(s):  
S. Zerobin ◽  
C. Aldrian ◽  
A. Peters ◽  
F. Heitmeir ◽  
E. Göttlich

This paper presents an experimental study of the impact of individual high-pressure turbine purge flows on the main flow in a downstream turbine center frame duct. Measurements were carried out in a product-representative one and a half stage turbine test setup, installed in the Transonic Test Turbine Facility at Graz University of Technology. The rig allows testing at engine-relevant flow conditions, matching Mach, Reynolds, and Strouhal number at the inlet of the turbine center frame. The reference case features four purge flows differing in flow rate, pressure, and temperature, injected through the hub and tip, forward and aft cavities of the high-pressure turbine rotor. To investigate the impact of each individual cooling flow on the flow evolution in the turbine center frame, the different purge flows were switched off one-by-one while holding the other three purge flow conditions. In total, this approach led to six different test conditions when including the reference case and the case without any purge flow ejection. Detailed measurements were carried out at the turbine center frame duct inlet and outlet for all six conditions and the post-processed results show that switching off one of the rotor case purge flows leads to an improved duct performance. In contrast, the duct exit flow is dominated by high pressure loss regions if the forward rotor hub purge flow is turned off. Without the aft rotor hub purge flow, a reduction in duct pressure loss is determined. The purge flows from the rotor aft cavities are demonstrated to play a particularly important role for the turbine center frame aerodynamic performance. In summary, this paper provides a first-time assessment of the impact of four different purge flows on the flow field and loss generation mechanisms in a state-of-the-art turbine center frame configuration. The outcomes of this work indicate that a high-pressure turbine purge flow reduction generally benefits turbine center frame performance. However, the forward rotor hub purge flow actually stabilizes the flow in the turbine center frame duct and reducing this purge flow can penalize turbine center frame performance. These particular high-pressure turbine/turbine center frame interactions should be taken into account whenever high-pressure turbine purge flow reductions are pursued.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document