Three-Dimensional Inverse Method for Turbomachinery Blading Design

1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Demeulenaere ◽  
R. Van den Braembussche

An iterative procedure for three-dimensional blade design is presented, in which the three-dimensional blade shape is modified using a physical algorithm, based on the transpiration model. The transpiration flux is computed by means of a modified Euler solver, in which the target pressure distribution is imposed along the blade surfaces. Only a small number of modifications is needed to obtain the final geometry. The method is based on a high-resolution three-dimensional Euler solver. An upwind biased evaluation of the advective fluxes allows for a very low numerical entropy generation, and sharp shock capturing. Non-reflecting boundary conditions are applied along the inlet/outlet boundaries. The capabilities of the method are illustrated by redesigning a transonic compressor rotor blade, to achieve, for the same mass flow and outlet flow angle, a shock-free deceleration along the suction side. The second example concerns the design of a low aspect ratio turbine blade, with a positive compound lean to reduce the intensity of the passage vortices. The final blade is designed for an optimized pressure distribution, taking into account the forces resulting from the blade lean angle.

Author(s):  
Alain Demeulenaere ◽  
René Van den Braembussche

An iterative procedure for 3D blade design is presented. The three-dimensional blade shape is modified using a physical algorithm, based on the transpiration model. The transpiration flux is computed by means of a modified Euler solver, in which the target pressure distribution is imposed along the blade surfaces. Only a small number of modifications is needed to obtain the final geometry. The method is based on a high resolution three-dimensional Euler solver. An upwind biased evaluation of the advective fluxes allows for a very low numerical entropy generation, and sharp shock capturing. The method is first validated, by redesigning an existing geometry, starting from a different one. It is further used to redesign a transonic compressor blade, to achieve, for the same mass flow and outlet flow angle, a shock free deceleration along the suction side. The last example concerns the design of a low aspect ratio turbine blade, with a positive compound lean to reduce the intensity of the passage vortices. The final blade is designed for an optimized pressure distribution, taking into account the forces resulting from the blade lean angle.


Author(s):  
C. Xu ◽  
R. S. Amano

To meet the needs of efficient compressor airfoil designs, a CFD prediction of complex 3D flow fields in turbine blade passages has been incorporated in the design process. Owing to the numerous advantages of 3-D CFD technology, a number of compressor manufacturers already adopt a 3D blading technique. In addition, blade lean and sweep have been implemented to increase the blade row efficiency. Experimental studies have shown the advantages of these features. However, most of the experimental results showed other combined features, which makes it difficult to determine the effects of individual features. The development of CFD techniques has made it possible to do three-dimensional turbulent flow analyses in a very short time. In this study, numerical studies are presented to investigate the sweep effects on a transonic compressor airfoil. The focus of this study is to investigate the sweep effects without changing other compressor blade features; i.e. keeping the blade out flow angle and section shape to be the same for all cases. The purpose of the study is to enhance the understanding of the sweep effect in a transonic compressor rotor blade. The results showed that the sweeps redistribute the flow reducing the secondary flow loss, depending on the baseline. It was shown that a forward sweep reduces the tip loading in terms of the static pressure coefficient.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Hah ◽  
J. Loellbach

A detailed investigation has been performed to study hub corner stall phenomena in compressor blade rows. Three-dimensional flows in a subsonic annular compressor stator and in a transonic compressor rotor have been analyzed numerically by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. The numerical results and the existing experimental data are interrogated to understand the mechanism of compressor hub corner stall. Both the measurements and the numerical solutions for the stator indicate that a strong twisterlike vortex is formed near the rear part of the blade suction surface. Low-momentum fluid inside the hub boundary layer is transported toward the suction side of the blade by this vortex. On the blade suction surface near the hub, this vortex forces fluid to move against the main flow direction and a limiting stream surface is formed near the hub. The formation of this vortex is the main mechanism of hub corner stall. When the aerodynamic loading is increased, the vortex initiates further upstream, which results in a larger corner stall region. For the transonic compressor rotor studied in this paper, the numerical solution indicates that a mild hub corner stall exists at 100 percent rotor speed. The hub corner stall, however, disappears at the reduced blade loading, which occurs at 60 percent rotor design speed. The present study demonstrates that hub corner stall is caused by a three-dimensional vortex system and that it does not seem to be correlated with a simple diffusion factor for the blade row.


Author(s):  
C. Xu ◽  
R. S. Amano

Three-dimensional blading has been used in the process of turbomachine designs. To meet the need for efficient turbine blade designs, CFD predictions of a complex 3D flow field in turbine blade passages had been used. Because the numerous advantages of 3-D CFD have been reported in the open literature, many industries already use 3D blading in their turbomachines. In addition, blade lean and sweep have been implemented to increase the blade row efficiency. Experimental studies have shown the advantages of these features. However, most of the experimental results combined other features together, making it difficult to determine the effects of individual features. The development of CFD techniques has made it possible to do three-dimensional turbulent flow analyses in a very short time. In this study, numerical studies are presented to study the sweep effects on a transonic compressor airfoil. The focus of the paper is to investigate the sweep effects without changing other compressor blade features i.e. keeping the blade out flow angle the same for all cases. The purpose of the study is to enhance the understanding of the sweep in a transonic compressor rotor blade. The results showed that the sweeps redistributes the flow reducing the secondary flow loss, depending on the baseline. It was shown that forward sweep reduces the tip loading in terms of the static pressure coefficient.


Author(s):  
Chunill Hah ◽  
James Loellbach

A detailed investigation has been performed to study hub corner stall phenomena in compressor blade rows. Three-dimensional flows in a subsonic annular compressor stator and in a transonic compressor rotor have been analyzed numerically by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The numerical results and the existing experimental data are interrogated to understand the mechanism of compressor hub corner stall. Both the measurements and the numerical solutions indicate that a strong twister-like vortex is formed near the rear part of the blade suction surface. Low momentum fluid inside the hub boundary layer is transported toward the suction side of the blade by this vortex. On the blade suction surface near the hub, this vortex forces fluid to move against the main flow direction and a limiting stream surface is formed near the hub. The formation of this vortex is the main mechanism of hub corner stall. When the aerodynamic loading is increased, the vortex initiates further upstream, which results in a larger corner stall region. For the transonic compressor rotor studied in this paper, the numerical solution and the measured data indicate that a mild hub corner stall exists at 100 percent rotor speed. The hub corner stall, however, disappears at the reduced blade loading which occurs at 60 percent rotor design speed. The present study demonstrates that hub corner stall is caused by a three-dimensional vortex system and that it does not seem to be correlated with a simple diffusion factor for the blade row.


Author(s):  
Chunill Hah ◽  
Douglas C. Rabe ◽  
Thomas J. Sullivan ◽  
Aspi R. Wadia

The effects of circumferential distortions in inlet total pressure on the flow field in a low-aspect-ratio, high-speed, high-pressure-ratio, transonic compressor rotor are investigated in this paper. The flow field was studied experimentally and numerically with and without inlet total pressure distortion. Total pressure distortion was created by screens mounted upstream from the rotor inlet. Circumferential distortions of 8 periods per revolution were investigated at two different rotor speeds. The unsteady blade surface pressures were measured with miniature pressure transducers mounted in the blade. The flow fields with and without inlet total pressure distortion were analyzed numerically by solving steady and unsteady forms of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. Steady three-dimensional viscous flow calculations were performed for the flow without inlet distortion while unsteady three-dimensional viscous flow calculations were used for the flow with inlet distortion. For the time-accurate calculation, circumferential and radial variations of the inlet total pressure were used as a time-dependent inflow boundary condition. A second-order implicit scheme was used for the time integration. The experimental measurements and the numerical analysis are highly complementary for this study because of the extreme complexity of the flow field. The current investigation shows that inlet flow distortions travel through the rotor blade passage and are convected into the following stator. At a high rotor speed where the flow is transonic, the passage shock was found to oscillate by as much as 20% of the blade chord, and very strong interactions between the unsteady passage shock and the blade boundary layer were observed. This interaction increases the effective blockage of the passage, resulting in an increased aerodynamic loss and a reduced stall margin. The strong interaction between the passage shock and the blade boundary layer increases the peak aerodynamic loss by about one percent.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Puterbaugh ◽  
W. W. Copenhaver

An experimental investigation concerning tip flow field unsteadiness was performed for a high-performance, state-of-the-art transonic compressor rotor. Casing-mounted high frequency response pressure transducers were used to indicate both the ensemble averaged and time varying flow structure present in the tip region of the rotor at four different operating points at design speed. The ensemble averaged information revealed the shock structure as it evolved from a dual shock system at open throttle to an attached shock at peak efficiency to a detached orientation at near stall. Steady three-dimensional Navier Stokes analysis reveals the dominant flow structures in the tip region in support of the ensemble averaged measurements. A tip leakage vortex is evident at all operating points as regions of low static pressure and appears in the same location as the vortex found in the numerical solution. An unsteadiness parameter was calculated to quantify the unsteadiness in the tip cascade plane. In general, regions of peak unsteadiness appear near shocks and in the area interpreted as the shock-tip leakage vortex interaction. Local peaks of unsteadiness appear in mid-passage downstream of the shock-vortex interaction. Flow field features not evident in the ensemble averaged data are examined via a Navier-Stokes solution obtained at the near stall operating point.


1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Puterbaugh ◽  
William W. Copenhaver ◽  
Chunill Hah ◽  
Arthur J. Wennerstrom

An analysis of the effectiveness of a three-dimensional shock loss model used in transonic compressor rotor design is presented. The model was used during the design of an aft-swept, transonic compressor rotor. The demonstrated performance of the swept rotor, in combination with numerical results, is used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the model. The numerical results were obtained from a fully three-dimensional Navier-Stokes solver. The shock loss model was developed to account for the benefit gained with three-dimensional shock sweep. Comparisons with the experimental and numerical results demonstrated that shock loss reductions predicted by the model due to the swept shock induced by the swept leading edge of the rotor were exceeded. However, near the tip the loss model under-predicts the loss because the shock geometry assumed by the model remains swept in this region while the numerical results show a more normal shock orientation. The design methods and the demonstrated performance of the swept rotor is also presented. Comparisons are made between the design intent and measured performance parameters. The aft-swept rotor was designed using an inviscid axisymmetric streamline curvature design system utilizing arbitrary airfoil blading geometry. The design goal specific flow rate was 214.7 kg/sec/m2 (43.98 lbm/sec/ft2), the design pressure ratio goal was 2.042, and the predicted design point efficiency was 94.0. The rotor tip sped was 457.2 m/sec (1500 ft/sec). The design flow rate was achieved while the pressure ratio fell short by 0.07. Efficiency was 3 points below prediction, though at a very high 91 percent. At this operating condition the stall margin was 11 percent.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. N. Dawes

This paper describes recent developments to a three-dimensional, unstructured mesh, solution-adaptive Navier–Stokes solver. By adopting a simple, pragmatic but systematic approach to mesh generation, the range of simulations that can be attempted is extended toward arbitrary geometries. The combined benefits of the approach result in a powerful analytical ability. Solutions for a wide range of flows are presented, including a transonic compressor rotor, a centrifugal impeller, a steam turbine nozzle guide vane with casing extraction belt, the internal coolant passage of a radial inflow turbine, and a turbine disk cavity flow.


Author(s):  
Chan-Sol Ahn ◽  
Kwang-Yong Kim

Design optimization of a transonic compressor rotor (NASA rotor 37) using the response surface method and three-dimensional Navier-Stokes analysis has been carried out in this work. The Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model was used in the flow analysis. Three design variables were selected to optimize the stacking line of the blade. Data points for response evaluations were selected by D-optimal design, and linear programming method was used for the optimization on the response surface. As a main result of the optimization, adiabatic efficiency was successfully improved. It was found that the optimization process provides reliable design of a turbomachinery blade with reasonable computing time.


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