Numerical Investigation on Unsteady Effects of Hot Streak on Flow and Heat Transfer in a Turbine Stage

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bai-Tao An ◽  
Jian-Jun Liu ◽  
Hong-De Jiang

This paper presents a detailed flow and heat transfer characteristic analysis on gas turbine first-stage turbine under hot streak inlet conditions. Two kinds of inlet total temperature conditions are specified at the turbine stage inlet. The first is uniform inlet total temperature, and the second is hot streak 2D total temperature contour. The two kinds of inlet conditions have the same mass-averaged total temperature and the same uniform inlet total pressure. The hot streak total temperature contours are obtained according to the exit shape of an annular-can combustor. The ratio of the highest total temperature in the hot streak to the mass-averaged total temperature is about 1.23, and one hot streak corresponds to two vane passages and four blade passages. Six hot streak circumferential positions relative to the Vane 1 leading edge varied from −2% to 81% pitch are computed and analyzed. The results show that hot streak obviously increases the nonuniform degree of vane heat load in comparison with the uniform total temperature inlet condition. The change in hot streak circumferential position leads to the circumferential parameter variation at stator exit and also leads to different transient periodic fluctuating characteristics of heat load and pressure on the rotor blade surface. The hot streak of relative pitch at 65% obtains a similar heat load for the two vanes corresponding to one hot streak and small fluctuation in the averaged heat load on the rotor blade.

Author(s):  
Bai-Tao An ◽  
Jian-Jun Liu ◽  
Hong-De Jiang

This paper presents a detailed flow and heat transfer characteristic analysis on gas turbine first stage turbine under hot streak inlet conditions. Two kinds of inlet total temperature conditions are specified at the turbine stage inlet. The first is uniform inlet total temperature, and the second is hot streak 2D total temperature contour. The two kinds of inlet conditions have the same mass-averaged total temperature, and the same uniform inlet total pressure. The hot streak total temperature contours are obtained according to the exit shape of an annular-can combustor. The ratio of the highest total temperature in the hot streak to the mass-averaged total temperature is about 1.23, and one hot streak corresponds to two vane passages and four blade passages. Six hot streak circumferential positions relative to the vane 1 leading edge varied from −2% to 81% pitch are computed and analyzed. Results show that hot streak obviously increases the non-uniform degree of vane heat load in comparison with the uniform total temperature inlet condition. The change of hot streak circumferential position leads to the circumferential parameter variation at stator exit, and also leads to different transient periodic fluctuating characteristics of heat load and pressure on rotor blade surface. The hot streak of relative pitch at 65% obtains similar heat load for the two vanes corresponding to one hot streak and small fluctuation of the averaged heat load on rotor blade.


Author(s):  
Zhaofang Liu ◽  
Zhiduo Wang ◽  
Zhenping Feng

This paper presents an investigation on the hot streak migration across tip clearance and heat transfer on blade tip in a high pressure (HP) gas turbine with different inlet swirl directions and clocking positions. The geometry is taken from the first stage of GE-E3 turbine engine. Two swirl directions (positive and negative) and two circumferential clocking positions (aligning with S1 nozzle leading edge and mid passage) for inlet hot streak and swirl have been employed and investigated, respectively. Two cases with only hot streak at different inlet circumferential positions are adopted as the baseline in this study. By solving the unsteady compressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, the time dependent solutions were obtained. The results indicate that the influence of inlet swirl on pressure distribution focuses on the suction side. Positive swirl attracts more hot fluid to the upper endwall, when it aligns with nozzle stator leading edge. Because of the squeezing mechanism between positive swirl and leakage flow, the heat transfer on rotor blade tip is more uniform. While negative swirl increases tip leakage flow and the heat load at the first half on tip surface. In all cases with swirl, the heat load at the second half on blade tip is effectively reduced, which is good for cooling rotor blade tip. If the stator is cooled effectively, inlet positive swirl aligning with nozzle vane leading edge will be the best choice for protecting rotor blade tip. By comparing with the results of previous literature, it is concluded that whatever arrangement the blade rows locate, the swirl direction which is opposite to the leakage flow should be chosen for protecting not only blade surface but also blade tip when the inlet swirl exists.


Author(s):  
Vikram Shyam ◽  
Ali Ameri ◽  
Daniel F. Luk ◽  
Jen-Ping Chen

Unsteady 3-D RANS simulations have been performed on a highly loaded transonic turbine stage and results are compared to steady calculations as well as experiment. A low Reynolds number k-ε turbulence model is employed to provide closure for the RANS system. A phase-lag boundary condition is used in the periodic direction. This allows the unsteady simulation to be performed by using only one blade from each of the two rows. The objective of this paper is to study the effect of unsteadiness on rotor heat transfer and to glean any insight into unsteady flow physics. The role of the stator wake passing on the pressure distribution at the leading edge is also studied. The simulated heat transfer and pressure results agreed favorably with experiment. The time-averaged heat transfer predicted by the unsteady simulation is higher than the heat transfer predicted by the steady simulation everywhere except at the leading edge. The shock structure formed due to stator-rotor interaction was analyzed. Heat transfer and pressure at the hub and casing were also studied. Thermal segregation was observed that leads to the heat transfer patterns predicted by steady and unsteady simulations to be different.


Author(s):  
A. Rahim ◽  
L. He

A key consideration in high pressure (HP) turbine designs is the heat load experienced by rotor blades. Impact of turbine inlet nonuniformity of combined temperature and velocity traverses, typical for a lean-burn combustor exit, has rarely been studied. For general turbine aerothermal designs, it is also of interest to understand how the behavior of lean-burn combustor traverses (with both hot-streak and swirl) might contrast with those for a rich-burn combustor (largely hot-streak only). In the present work, a computational study has been carried out on the aerothermal performance of a HP turbine stage under nonuniform temperature and velocity inlet profiles. The analyses are primarily conducted for two combined hot-streak and swirl inlets, with opposite swirl directions. In addition, comparisons are made against a hot-streak only case and a uniform inlet. The effects of three nozzle guide vane (NGV) shape configurations are investigated: straight, compound lean (CL) and reverse CL (RCL). The present results reveal a qualitative change in the roles played by heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and fluid driving (“adiabatic wall”) temperature, Taw. It has been shown that the blade heat load for a uniform inlet is dominated by HTC, whilst a hot-streak only case is largely influenced by Taw. However, in contrast to the hot-streak only case, a combined hot-streak and swirl case shows a role reversal with the HTC being a dominant factor. Additionally, it is seen that the swirling flow redistributes radially the hot fluid within the NGV passage considerably, leading to a much ‘flatter’ rotor inlet temperature profile compared to its hot-streak only counterpart. Furthermore, the rotor heat transfer characteristics for the combined traverses are shown to be strongly dependent on the NGV shaping and the inlet swirl direction, indicating a potential for further design space exploration. The present findings underline the need to clearly define relevant combustor exit temperature and velocity profiles when designing and optimizing NGVs for HP turbine aerothermal performance.


Author(s):  
Sridhar Murari ◽  
Sunnam Sathish ◽  
Ramakumar Bommisetty ◽  
Jong S. Liu

This paper presents a detailed flow and heat transfer characteristic analysis on a gas turbine first stage under hot-streak inlet conditions. Simulations were performed for two locations of hot-streak at turbine inlet with respect to the first stage vane, i.e. i) passage center and ii) blade center. The two kinds of inlet conditions have the same mass-averaged total temperature and total pressure. The passage center hot-streak total pressure and total temperature contours are obtained from the rig data published by Butler. Linear interpolation technique is used to move the hot-streak location from passage center to blade center. The ratio of highest temperature in hot-streak to free stream temperature is 2.0. Mixing plane (MP) and Non-linear harmonic (NLH) approaches are used to address the data transport across the rotor-stator station interface. The numerical solution is validated with the test data obtained from the published rig tests. NLH approach predicted the rotor blade surface temperature distributions close to rig data with a percentage deviation of 3%. The change in hot-streak circumferential position from blade center to passage center lead to decreased attenuation of hot-streak due to pronounced cross momentum transport of fluid across the viscous layers. Turbine flow with blade center hot-streak experiences transient periodic fluctuation of heat load on rotor surface. High temperature gradients are observed at turbine exit station with passage center hot-streak.


Author(s):  
A. Rahim ◽  
L. He ◽  
E. Romero

One of the key considerations in high pressure (HP) turbine design is the heat load experienced by rotor blades. The impact of turbine inlet non-uniformities on the blades in the form of combined temperature and velocity traverses, typical for a lean burn combustor exit, has rarely been studied. For general HP turbine aerothermal designs, it is also of interest to understand how the behavior of a lean burn combustor traverses (hot streak and swirl) might contrast with those for rich burn combustion (largely hot streak only). In the present work, a computational study has been carried out on the aerothermal performance of a HP turbine stage under non-uniform temperature and velocity inlet profiles. The analyses are primarily conducted for two combined hot streak and swirl inlets, with opposite swirl directions. In addition, comparisons are made against a hot streak only case and a uniform inlet. The effects of three NGV shape configurations are investigated; namely, straight, compound lean (CL) and reverse compound lean (RCL). The present results show that there is a qualitative change in the roles played by heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and fluid driving (‘adiabatic wall’) temperature, Taw. It has been shown that the blade heat load distribution for a uniform inlet is dominated by HTC, whilst for a hot streak only case it is wholly influenced by Taw. However, in contrast to the hot streak only case, the case with a combined hot streak and swirl shows a role reversal with the HTC being dominant in determining the heat load. Additionally, it is seen that the swirling flow radially redistributes the hot fluid within the NGV passage considerably, leading to a much ‘flatter’ rotor inlet temperature profile compared to its hot streak only counterpart. Further, the rotor heat transfer characteristics for the cases with the combined traverses are shown to be strongly dependent on the NGV shaping and the inlet swirl direction, indicating the potential for future design space exploration. The present findings underline the need to clearly define relevant combustor exit temperature and velocity profiles when designing and optimizing NGVs for HP turbine aerothermal performance.


Author(s):  
Xin Zou ◽  
Xin Yuan ◽  
W. N. Dawes

Physical quantities at combustor exit, hence turbine inlet, are highly non-uniform not just due to spatially varying combustion but also due to the dilution air and film-cooling air used in the combustor design. The effects of inlet total pressure and temperature (“hot streak”) non-uniformity on the unsteady flow and heat transfer of turbine stages have been widely studied. However, few studies have considered the effects of inlet density non-uniformity derived from spatially varying species concentration (“species streak”). This “species streak” results in density gradients which, if not aligned with pressure gradients, will lead to the generation of baroclinic torque which will influence the generation, migration and evolution of vorticity within the turbine passages and hence the secondary flow structure and mixing within the blade row. This paper examines the “species streak” effects on the unsteady flow and heat transfer within a high-pressure axial flow turbine stage focusing on the flow through the rotor. First, a validation study was carried out to check the capability of the selected CFD in modeling unsteady turbine stage flows. Time-accurate solutions were achieved and the results agreed well with the available experimental measurements. Based on the validation, two expanded case studies were carried out to investigate the “species streak” effects on the secondary flow and heat transfer in turbine rotor passages. It was found that the “species streak” could generate “hot streak enhancement structure” as well as “baroclinic torque structure” in rotor passages, which would work with the inherent secondary flow structures in rotor to determine its heat transfer. It was also found that the contributions of the baroclinic torque source term could have magnitudes comparable to other effects, such as vortex stretching, in creating secondary flows. In some circumstances, however, the overall effects of the baroclinic torque could be partially reduced by opposite vortex stretching effects generated by the same density gradients.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
K. Xiao ◽  
J. He ◽  
Z. Feng

ABSTRACT This paper proposes an alternating elliptical impingement chamber in the leading edge of a gas turbine to restrain the cross flow and enhance the heat transfer, and investigates the detailed flow and heat transfer characteristics. The chamber consists of straight sections and transition sections. Numerical simulations are performed by solving the three-dimensional (3D) steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with the Shear Stress Transport (SST) k– $\omega$ turbulence model. The influences of alternating the cross section on the impingement flow and heat transfer of the chamber are studied by comparison with a smooth semi-elliptical impingement chamber at a cross-flow Velocity Ratio (VR) of 0.2 and Temperature Ratio (TR) of 1.00 in the primary study. Then, the effects of the cross-flow VR and TR are further investigated. The results reveal that, in the semi-elliptical impingement chamber, the impingement jet is deflected by the cross flow and the heat transfer performance is degraded. However, in the alternating elliptical chamber, the cross flow is transformed to a pair of longitudinal vortices, and the flow direction at the centre of the cross section is parallel to the impingement jet, thus improving the jet penetration ability and enhancing the impingement heat transfer. In addition, the heat transfer in the semi-elliptical chamber degrades rapidly away from the stagnation region, while the longitudinal vortices enhance the heat transfer further, making the heat transfer coefficient distribution more uniform. The Nusselt number decreases with increase of VR and TR for both the semi-elliptical chamber and the alternating elliptical chamber. The alternating elliptical chamber enhances the heat transfer and moves the stagnation point up for all VR and TR, and the heat transfer enhancement is more obvious at high cross-flow velocity ratio.


Author(s):  
Fusheng Meng ◽  
Jie Gao ◽  
Weiliang Fu ◽  
Xuezheng Liu ◽  
Qun Zheng

In a high endwall angle turbine, large meridional expansion can cause the strong secondary flow at the endwall, which results in a larger endwall flow loss than the small meridional expansion turbine. The endwall heat transfer is strongly affected by secondary flow effect. In order to optimize the endwall flow to reduce the flow loss and optimize the distribution of heat load, the swept-curved method was used in this study. The swept-curved method was investigated on a transonic second stator (S2) with large meridional expansion in a Low-Pressure (LP) Turbine. Validation studies were performed to investigate the aerodynamic and the heat transfer prediction ability of shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model. The influence of different shapes of the stacking line, including forward-swept, backward-swept, positive-curved and negative-curved, were investigated through numerical simulation. The parameterized control of swept-curved height and angle were adopted to optimize the performance of the aerodynamic and heat transfer. 3D flow field calculation captured the relatively accurate flow structures in the parts of endwall and near endwall. Heat transfer behaviors were explored by means of isothermal wall temperature and Nusselt number (Nu) distribution. The results show that the maximal heat transfer coefficient at the leading edge, for the formation of horseshoe vortexes that cause the high velocity towards the endwall. The swept vane can improve the static pressure and heat load distribution at the endwall region, which decreases the area-averaged shroud heat flux by 2.6 percent and the loss coefficient 1.3 percent.


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