Influence of Clocking and Vane/Blade Spacing on the Unsteady Surface Pressure Loading for a Modern Stage and One-Half Transonic Turbine

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 743-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. W. Haldeman ◽  
M. L. Krumanaker ◽  
M. G. Dunn

This paper describes pressure measurements obtained for a modern one and one-half stage turbine. As part of the experimental effort, the position of the high-pressure turbine (HPT) vane was clocked relative to the downstream low-pressure turbine (LPT) vane to determine the influence of vane clocking on both the steady and unsteady pressure loadings on the LPT vane and the HPT blade. In addition, the axial location of the HPT vane relative to the HPT blade was changed to investigate the combined influence of vane/blade spacing and clocking on the unsteady pressure loading. Time-averaged and time-accurate surface-pressure results are presented for several spanwise locations on the vanes and blade. Results were obtained at four different HPT vane-clocking positions and at two different vane/blade axial spacings for three (of the four) clocking positions. For time-averaged results, the effect of clocking is small on the HPT blade and vane. The influence of clocking on the transition ducts and the LPT vane is slightly greater (on the order of ±1%). Reduced HPT vane/blade spacing has a larger effect than clocking on the HPT vanes and blades ±3% depending upon the particular surface. Examining the data at blade passing and the first fundamental frequency, the effect of spacing does not produce a dramatic influence on the relative changes that occur between clocking positions. The results demonstrate that clocking and spacing effects on the surface pressure loading are very complex and may introduce problems if the results of measurements or analysis made at one span or location in the machine are extrapolated to other sections.

Author(s):  
C. W. Haldeman ◽  
M. L. Krumanaker ◽  
M. G. Dunn

This paper describes pressure measurements obtained for a modern one and one-half stage turbine. As part of the experimental effort, the position of the HPT vane was clocked relative to the downstream LPT vane to determine the influence of vane clocking on both the steady and unsteady pressure loadings on the LPT vane and the HPT blade. In addition, the axial location of the HPT vane relative to the HPT blade was changed to investigate the combined influence of vane/blade spacing and clocking on the unsteady pressure loading. Time-averaged and time-accurate surface-pressure results are presented for several spanwise locations on the vanes and blade. Results were obtained at four different HPT vane-clocking positions and at two different vane/blade axial spacings for three (of the four) clocking positions. For time-averaged results, the effect of clocking is small on the HPT blade and vane. The influence of clocking on the transition ducts and the LPT vane is slightly greater (on the order of ±1%). Reduced HPT vane/blade spacing has a larger effect than clocking on the HPT vanes and blades (±3%) depending upon the particular surface. Examining the data at blade passing and the first fundamental frequency, the effect of spacing does not produce a dramatic influence on the relative changes that occur between clocking positions. The results demonstrate that clocking and spacing effects on the surface pressure loading are very complex and may introduce problems if the results of measurements or analysis made at one span or location in the machine are extrapolated to other sections.


2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 495-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger L. Davis ◽  
Jixian Yao ◽  
John P. Clark ◽  
Gary Stetson ◽  
Juan J. Alonso ◽  
...  

Results from a numerical simulation of the unsteady flow through one quarter of the circumference of a transonic high-pressure turbine stage, transition duct, and low-pressure turbine first vane are presented and compared with experimental data. Analysis of the unsteady pressure field resulting from the simulation shows the effects of not only the rotor/stator interaction of the high-pressure turbine stage but also new details of the interaction between the blade and the downstream transition duct and low-pressure turbine vane. Blade trailing edge shocks propagate downstream, strike, and reflect off of the transition duct hub and/or downstream vane leading to high unsteady pressure on these downstreamcomponents. The reflection of these shocks from the downstream components back into the blade itself has also been found to increase the level of unsteady pressure fluctuations on the uncovered portion of the blade suction surface. In addition, the blade tip vortex has been found to have a moderately strong interaction with the downstream vane even with the considerable axial spacing between the two blade-rows. Fourier decomposition of the unsteady surface pressure of the blade and downstream low-pressure turbine vane shows the magnitude of the various frequencies contributing to the unsteady loads. Detailed comparisons between the computed unsteady surface pressure spectrum and the experimental data are shown along with a discussion of the various interaction mechanisms between the blade, transition duct, and downstream vane. These comparisons show-overall good agreement between the simulation and experimental data and identify areas where further improvements in modeling are needed.


Author(s):  
Roger L. Davis ◽  
Jixian Yao ◽  
John P. Clark ◽  
Gary Stetson ◽  
Juan J. Alonso ◽  
...  

Results from a numerical simulation of the unsteady flow through one quarter of the circumference of a transonic high-pressure turbine stage, transition duct, and low-pressure turbine first vane are presented and compared with experimental data. Analysis of the unsteady pressure field resulting from the simulation shows the effects of not only the rotor/stator interaction of the high-pressure turbine stage but also new details of the interaction between the blade and the downstream transition duct and low-pressure turbine vane. Blade trailing edge shocks propagate downstream, strike, and reflect off of the transition duct hub and/or downstream vane leading to high unsteady pressure on these downstream components. The reflection of these shocks from the downstream components back into the blade itself has also been found to increase the level of unsteady pressure fluctuations on the uncovered portion of the blade suction surface. In addition, the blade tip vortex has been found to have a moderately strong interaction with the downstream vane even with the considerable axial spacing between the two blade-rows. Fourier decomposition of the unsteady surface pressure of the blade and downstream low-pressure turbine vane shows the magnitude of the various frequencies contributing to the unsteady loads. Detailed comparisons between the computed unsteady surface pressure spectrum and the experimental data are shown along with a discussion of the various interaction mechanisms between the blade, transition duct, and downstream vane. These comparisons show overall good agreement between the simulation and experimental data and identify areas where further improvements in modeling are needed.


Author(s):  
Eric A. Crosh ◽  
Charles W. Haldeman ◽  
Michael G. Dunn ◽  
D. Graham Holmes ◽  
Brian E. Mitchell

As part of a proactive effort to investigate the ability of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools to predict time-accurate surface-pressure histories, a combined experimental/computational investigation was performed examining the effect of rotor shroud (casing) out-of-roundness on the unsteady pressure loading for the blade row of a full-stage turbine. The casing out-of-roundness was idealized by designing a casing ring with a sinusoidal variation. This casing ring was used to replace a flat casing for an existing turbine and direct comparisons were made between the time-accurate pressure measurements and predictions obtained using the flat and “wavy” casings. For both casing configurations, predictions of the unsteady pressure loading for many locations on the blade and vane were obtained using Numeca’s FINE/Turbo code and the General Electric TACOMA code. This paper will concentrate on the results obtained for the “wavy” casing, but the results for the flat casing are presented as a baseline case. The time-accurate surface-pressure measurements were acquired for the vane and blade of a modern, 3-D, stage and 1/2 high-pressure turbine operating at the design corrected speed and stage pressure ratio. The research program utilized an un-cooled turbine stage for which all three airfoil rows are heavily instrumented at multiple spans to develop a full dataset. The vane-blade-vane count for this machine is 38-72-38. The number of waves in the distorted shroud “wavy wall” is approximately 1.5-times the number of vanes. The resulting changes in aerodynamic surface-pressure measurements were measurable at all blade span wise locations. Variations in time-average surface pressure of up to 5% of the flat casing values were observed. In addition, the frequency content of the time-resolved blade data for the “wavy” casing changed substantially from that measured using the flat casing, with changes in both amplitudes and frequencies. Imposing the casing irregularity changed the fundamental physics of the problem from a single frequency and its harmonics to a multi-frequency problem with mixed harmonics. The unsteady effects of this type of problem can be addressed using the harmonic method within Numeca’s FINE/Turbo code, which is designed to handle multiple blade passing frequencies and harmonics for one blade row. A more traditional approach is included in the paper by employing the TACOMA code in a linearized mode that produces results for a single frequency. These results show that casing irregularity can have a significant influence on the blade surface-pressure characteristics. Further, it is demonstrated that the FINE/Turbo code experienced difficulty predicting the unsteady pressure signal attributed to the “wavy” casing configuration, while at the same time capturing the unsteady signal attributed to the vane passing due to limitations in the current methodology.


2010 ◽  
Vol 133 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A. Crosh ◽  
Charles W. Haldeman ◽  
Michael G. Dunn ◽  
D. Graham Holmes ◽  
Brian E. Mitchell

As part of a proactive effort to investigate the ability of computational fluid dynamics tools to predict time-accurate surface-pressure histories, a combined experimental/computational investigation was performed, examining the effect of rotor shroud (casing) out-of-roundness on the unsteady pressure loading for the blade row of a full-stage turbine. The casing out-of-roundness was idealized by designing a casing ring with a sinusoidal variation. This casing ring was used to replace a flat casing for an existing turbine, and direct comparisons were made between the time-accurate pressure measurements and predictions obtained using the flat and “wavy” casings. For both casing configurations, predictions of the unsteady pressure loading for many locations on the blade and vane were obtained using Numeca’s FINE/TURBO code and General Electric’s turbine and compressor analysis (TACOMA) code. This paper will concentrate on the results obtained for the wavy casing, but the results for the flat casing are presented as a baseline case. The time-accurate surface-pressure measurements were acquired for the vane and blade of a modern, 3D, 1 and 1/2 stage high-pressure turbine operating at the design corrected speed and stage pressure ratio. The research program utilized an uncooled turbine stage for which all three airfoil rows are heavily instrumented at multiple spans to develop a full data set. The vane-blade-vane count for this machine is 38-72-38. The number of waves in the distorted shroud “wavy wall” is approximately 1.5 times the number of vanes. The resulting changes in the aerodynamic surface-pressure measurements were measurable at all blade spanwise locations. Variations in the time-averaged surface pressure of up to 5% of the flat casing values were observed. In addition, the frequency content of the time-resolved blade data for the wavy casing changed substantially from that measured using the flat casing, with changes in both amplitudes and frequencies. Imposing the casing irregularity changed the fundamental physics of the problem from a single frequency and its harmonics to a multifrequency problem with mixed harmonics. The unsteady effects of this type of problem can be addressed using the harmonic method within Numeca’s FINE/TURBO code, which is designed to handle multiple blade passing frequencies and harmonics for one blade row. A more traditional approach is included in this paper by employing the TACOMA code in a linearized mode that produces results for a single frequency. These results show that casing irregularity can have a significant influence on the blade surface-pressure characteristics. Further, it is demonstrated that the FINE/TURBO code experienced difficulty in predicting the unsteady pressure signal attributed to the wavy casing configuration, while at the same time, in capturing the unsteady signal attributed to the vane passing due to limitations in the current methodology.


Author(s):  
Toshinori Watanabe ◽  
Toshihiko Azuma ◽  
Seiji Uzawa ◽  
Takehiro Himeno ◽  
Chihiro Inoue

A fast-response pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique was applied to the measurement of unsteady surface pressure of an oscillating cascade blade in a transonic flow. A linear cascade was used, and its central blade was oscillated in a translational manner. The unsteady pressure distributions of the oscillating blade and two stationary neighbors were measured using the fast-response PSP technique, and the unsteady aerodynamic force on the blade was obtained by integrating the data obtained on the pressures. The measurements made with the PSP technique were compared with those obtained by conventional methods for the purpose of validation. From the results, the PSP technique was revealed to be capable of measuring the unsteady surface pressure, which is used for flutter analysis in transonic conditions.


Author(s):  
Charles W. Haldeman ◽  
Michael G. Dunn ◽  
John W. Barter ◽  
Brian R. Green ◽  
Robert F. Bergholz

Aerodynamic measurements were acquired on a modern single-stage, transonic, high-pressure turbine with the adjacent low-pressure turbine vane row (a typical civilian one and one-half stage turbine rig) to observe the effects of low-pressure turbine vane clocking on overall turbine performance. The turbine rig (loosely referred to in this paper as the stage) was operated at design corrected conditions using the Ohio State University Gas Turbine Laboratory Turbine Test Facility (TTF). The research program utilized uncooled hardware in which all three airfoils were heavily instrumented at multiple spans to develop a full clocking dataset. The low-pressure turbine vane row (LPTV) was clocked relative to the high-pressure turbine vane row (HPTV). Various methods were used to evaluate the influence of clocking on the aeroperformance (efficiency) and the aerodynamics (pressure loading) of the LPTV, including time-resolved and time-averaged measurements. A change in overall efficiency of approximately 2–3% due to clocking effects is demonstrated and could be observed using a variety of independent methods. Maximum efficiency is obtained when the time-average surface pressures are highest on the LPTV and the time-resolved surface pressure (both in the time domain and frequency domain) show the least amount of variation. The overall effect is obtained by integrating over the entire airfoil, as the three-dimensional effects on the LPTV surface are significant. This experimental data set validates several computational research efforts that suggested wake migration is the primary reason for the perceived effectiveness of vane clocking. The suggestion that wake migration is the dominate mechanism in generating the clocking effect is also consistent with anecdotal evidence that fully cooled engine rigs do not see a great deal of clocking effect. This is consistent since the additional disturbances induced by the cooling flows and/or the combustor make it extremely difficult to find an alignment for the LPTV given the strong 3D nature of modern high-pressure turbine flows.


2004 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen E. Kachel ◽  
John D. Denton

This paper presents the results of a numerical and experimental investigation of the unsteady pressure field in a three-stage model of a high pressure steam turbine. Unsteady surface pressure measurements were taken on a first and second stage stator blade, respectively. The measurements in the blade passage were supplemented by time resolved measurements between the blade rows. The explanation of the origin of the unsteady pressure fluctuations was supported by unsteady three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic calculations of which the most extensive calculation was performed over two stages. The mechanisms affecting the unsteady pressure field were: the potential field frozen to the upstream blade row, the pressure waves originating from changes in the potential pressure field, the convected unsteady velocity field, and the passage vortex of the upstream blade row. One-dimensional pressure waves and the unsteady variation of the pitchwise pressure gradient due to the changing velocity field were the dominant mechanisms influencing the magnitude of the surface pressure fluctuations. The magnitude of these effects had not been previously anticipated to be more important than other recognized effects.


2004 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 512-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles W. Haldeman ◽  
Michael Dunn ◽  
John W. Barter ◽  
Brian R. Green ◽  
Robert F. Bergholz

Aerodynamic measurements were acquired on a modern single-stage, transonic, high-pressure turbine with the adjacent low-pressure turbine vane row (a typical civilian one and one-half stage turbine rig) to observe the effects of low-pressure turbine vane clocking on overall turbine performance. The turbine rig (loosely referred to in this paper as the stage) was operated at design corrected conditions using the Ohio State University Gas Turbine Laboratory Turbine Test Facility. The research program utilized uncooled hardware in which all three airfoils were heavily instrumented at multiple spans to develop a full clocking dataset. The low-pressure turbine vane row (LPTV) was clocked relative to the high-pressure turbine vane row (HPTV). Various methods were used to evaluate the influence of clocking on the aeroperformance (efficiency) and the aerodynamics (pressure loading) of the LPTV, including time-resolved and time-averaged measurements. A change in overall efficiency of approximately 2–3% due to clocking effects is demonstrated and could be observed using a variety of independent methods. Maximum efficiency is obtained when the time-average surface pressures are highest on the LPTV and the time-resolved surface pressure (both in the time domain and frequency domain) show the least amount of variation. The overall effect is obtained by integrating over the entire airfoil, as the three-dimensional (3D) effects on the LPTV surface are significant. This experimental data set validates several computational research efforts that suggested wake migration is the primary reason for the perceived effectiveness of vane clocking. The suggestion that wake migration is the dominate mechanism in generating the clocking effect is also consistent with anecdotal evidence that fully cooled engine rigs do not see a great deal of clocking effect. This is consistent since the additional disturbances induced by the cooling flows and∕or the combustor make it extremely difficult to find an alignment for the LPTV given the strong 3D nature of modern high-pressure turbine flows.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Praisner ◽  
E. A. Grover ◽  
R. Mocanu ◽  
R. J. Jurek ◽  
R. E. Gacek

Here, we report on an analytical study of the unsteady aerodynamic interactions of a closely coupled, corotating, high- and low-pressure turbine configuration. The effort was focused on the prediction of unsteady surface pressures imparted on the first blade of the low-pressure turbine (LPT). As a first step, a baseline three-row time-accurate prediction was carried out for the first three rows of the low-pressure turbine (vane-blade-vane). In contrast to the three-row results, a four-row analysis, which included the blade of the high-pressure turbine, revealed that the temporally varying tangential load on the LPT blade was increased in amplitude by a factor of five compared to the three-row case with a shift in primary unsteady energy to unexpected frequencies. In the four-row analysis, a region of unusually high unsteadiness near the tip of the LPT blade was also characterized by an increase in the amplitude of the fluctuating surface pressure by a factor of nearly seven, again, with unexpected attendant frequencies. A model is presented which explains the unexpected frequencies realized in the four-row results and allows the predetermination of these frequencies without the use of computational fluid dynamics. In an effort to better understand the complex interactions between the high- and low-pressure turbines, the first vane of the low-pressure turbine was redesigned, and the remaining airfoils were reoriented, to establish a counterrotating turbine configuration. While substantial reductions in unsteady surface-pressure amplitudes were realized near the tip of the LPT blade with the switch to counterrotation, the amplitude of the temporally varying tangential load on the blade remained notably higher than that from the three-row analysis. The precise physical cause for the high levels of local unsteadiness near the tip of the first LPT blade in the corotating configuration remains unclear.


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