Performance Prediction for High Turning Low Aspect Ratio Stator Cascades in the Transonic Regime

1970 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 390-398
Author(s):  
H. F. L. Griepentrog

This paper describes a method for the prediction of the transonic flow field in a high solidity, high turning cascade, suitable for use as stator of a shock-in-rotor supersonic compressor stage. Effects of shock boundary layer interaction is taken into account by empirical correlation, valid for blade aspect ratios below unity. Use of partial slots for reduction of the secondary flows is briefly discussed and a correlation on slot efficiency is presented.

Author(s):  
Nishit J. Mehta ◽  
Dilipkumar Bhanudasji Alone ◽  
Harish S. Choksi

While the effects of axisymmetric casing treatment on performance of an axial compressor stage have been extensively studied numerically as well as experimentally, the major geometrical parameters which govern these effects have been identified. Studies are now focused on understanding how each of these parameters individually impacts the performance of a casing treatment. The present work aims to study the impact on performance of casing treatment geometry when aspect ratio of the grooves is varied in a circumferential groove casing treatment. The compressor geometry chosen for this study has design characteristics of a transonic compressor stage. Flow field solutions were derived for baseline model by solving steady state 3-D Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for three grid densities and the grid independence was proved. The basic casing treatment geometry has 10 circumferential grooves of width 4mm and axial spacing of 2mm between each groove. The aspect ratio was varied by changing the depth of the grooves in each case. These casing treatment geometries were superimposed over the rotor domain with the grooves extending over the entire blade tip chord and flow field solutions were again obtained for various aspect ratios of grooves. These results depict improvement in the range of operation in terms of mass flow rate. Results also show that the aspect ratio of the grooves significantly influences the overall effectiveness of casing treatment on the performance of compressor stage. Improvement in overall compressor efficiency is noted with lower aspect ratio casing treatments when compared to those with higher aspect ratios, however, the range improvement is higher with higher aspect ratios. It is also observed that, after a certain depth of grooves is reached, there is no significant improvement in performance on further increasing the depth and hence the aspect ratio. Post processing results of the flow solutions are presented which confirm the trends and show that the flow behavior near rotor tip governs this effect.


Aerospace ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Kalyani Bhide ◽  
Kiran Siddappaji ◽  
Shaaban Abdallah

This work attempts to connect internal flow to the exit flow and supersonic jet mixing in rectangular nozzles with low to high aspect ratios (AR). A series of low and high aspect ratio rectangular nozzles (design Mach number = 1.5) with sharp throats are numerically investigated using steady state Reynolds-averaged Navier−Stokes (RANS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with k-omega shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model. The numerical shadowgraph reveals stronger shocks at low ARs which become weaker with increasing AR due to less flow turning at the throat. Stronger shocks cause more aggressive gradients in the boundary layer resulting in higher wall shear stresses at the throat for low ARs. The boundary layer becomes thick at low ARs creating more aerodynamic blockage. The boundary layer exiting the nozzle transforms into a shear layer and grows thicker in the high AR nozzle with a smaller potential core length. The variation in the boundary layer growth on the minor and major axis is explained and its growth downstream the throat has a significant role in nozzle exit flow characteristics. The loss mechanism throughout the flow is shown as the entropy generated due to viscous dissipation and accounts for supersonic jet mixing. Axis switching phenomenon is also addressed by analyzing the streamwise vorticity fields at various locations downstream from the nozzle exit.


Author(s):  
Christopher Clark ◽  
Graham Pullan ◽  
Eric Curtis ◽  
Frederic Goenaga

Low aspect ratio vanes, often the result of overall engine architecture constraints, create strong secondary flows and high endwall loss. In this paper, a splitter concept is demonstrated that reduces secondary flow strength and improves stage performance. An analytic conceptual study, corroborated by inviscid computations, shows that the total secondary kinetic energy of the secondary flow vortices is reduced when the number of passages is increased and, for a given number of vanes, when the inlet endwall boundary layer is evenly distributed between the passages. Viscous computations show that, for this to be achieved in a splitter configuration, the pressure-side leg of the low aspect ratio vane horseshoe vortex, must enter the adjacent passage (and not “jump” in front of the splitter leading edge). For a target turbine application, four vane designs were produced using a multi-objective optimization approach. These designs represent: current practice for a low aspect ratio vane; a design exempt from thickness constraints; and two designs incorporating splitter vanes. Each geometry is tested experimentally, as a sector, within a low-speed turbine stage. The vane designs with splitters geometries were found to reduce the measured secondary kinetic energy, by up to 85%, to a value similar to the design exempt from thickness constraints. The resulting flowfield was also more uniform in both the circumferential and radial directions. One splitter design was selected for a full annulus test where a mixed-out loss reduction, compared to the current practice design, of 15.3% was measured and the stage efficiency increased by 0.88%.


Author(s):  
Steven W. Burd ◽  
Terrence W. Simon

The vast number of turbine cascade studies in the literature has been performed in straight-endwall, high-aspect-ratio, linear cascades. As a result, there has been little appreciation for the role of, and added complexity imposed by, reduced aspect ratios. There also has been little documentation of endwall profiling at these reduced spans. To examine the role of these factors on cascade hydrodynamics, a large-scale nozzle guide vane simulator was constructed at the Heat Transfer Laboratory of the University of Minnesota. This cascade is comprised of three airfoils between one contoured and one flat endwall. The geometries of the airfoils and endwalls, as well as the experimental conditions in the simulator, are representative of those in commercial operation. Measurements with hot-wire anemometry were taken to characterize the flow approaching the cascade. These measurements show that the flow field in this cascade is highly elliptic and influenced by pressure gradients that are established within the cascade. Exit flow field measurements with triple-sensor anemometry and pressure measurements within the cascade indicate that the acceleration imposed by endwall contouring and airfoil turning is able to suppress the size and strength of key secondary flow features. In addition, the flow field near the contoured endwall differs significantly from that adjacent to the straight endwall.


1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-274
Author(s):  
R. G. Williamson ◽  
S. H. Moustapha ◽  
J. P. Huot

Two nozzle designs, involving the same low aspect ratio, high turning angle vanes, and differing in outer wall contour, were tested over a range of exit Mach numbers up to supersonic values. The experiments were conducted on a large-scale, full annular configuration with and without a representative rotor downstream. Nozzle performance was found to be significantly affected by rotor operation, the influence depending on the detailed characteristics of the nozzle flow field, as well as on the design and operation of the rotor itself. It is suggested that performance evaluation of low aspect ratio nozzles of high turning angle may require appropriate testing with a rotor.


2004 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 492-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Pullan ◽  
John Denton ◽  
Eric Curtis

Experimental data and numerical simulations are presented from a research turbine with low aspect ratio nozzle guide vanes (NGVs). The combined effects of mechanical and aerodynamic constraints on the NGV create very strong secondary flows. This paper describes three designs of NGV that have been tested in the turbine, using the same rotor row in each case. NGV 2 used three-dimensional design techniques in an attempt to improve the performance of the datum NGV 1 blade, but succeeded only in creating an intense vortex shed from the trailing edge (as previously reported) and lowering the measured stage efficiency by 1.1% points. NGV 3 was produced to avoid the “shed vortex” while adopting a highly aft-loaded surface pressure distribution to reduce the influence of the secondary flows. The stage with NGV 3 had an efficiency 0.5% points greater than that with NGV 1. Detailed comparisons between experiment and computations, including predicted entropy generation rates, are used to highlight the areas where the loss reduction has occurred and hence to quantify the effects of employing highly aft-loaded NGVs.


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