Impact of Severe Temperature Distortion on Turbine Efficiency

2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Beard ◽  
Andy Smith ◽  
Thomas Povey

This paper presents an experimental and computational study of the effect of severe inlet temperature distortion (hot streaks) on the efficiency of the MT1 HP turbine, which is a highly-loaded unshrouded transonic design. The experiments were performed in the Oxford Turbine Research Facility (OTRF) (formerly the TTF at QinetiQ Farnborough): an engine scale, short duration, rotating transonic facility, in which M, Re, Tgas/Twall and N/T01 are matched to engine conditions. The research formed part of the EU Turbine Aero-Thermal External Flows (TATEF II) program. An advanced second generation temperature distortion simulator was developed for this investigation, which allows both radial and circumferential temperature profiles to be simulated. A pronounced profile was used for this study. The system was novel in that it was designed to be compatible with an efficiency measurement system which was also developed for this study. To achieve low uncertainty (bias and precision errors of approximately 1.5% and 0.2% respectively, to 95% confidence), the mass flow rate of the hot and cold streams used to simulate temperature distortion were independently metered upstream of the turbine nozzle using traceable measurement techniques. Turbine power was measured directly with an accurate torque transducer. The efficiency of the test turbine was evaluated experimentally for a uniform inlet temperature condition, and with pronounced temperature distortion. Mechanisms for observed changes in the turbine exit flow field and efficiency are discussed. The data are compared in terms of flow structure to full stage computational fluid dynamics (CFD) performed using the Rolls Royce Hydra code.

Author(s):  
Paul F. Beard ◽  
Andy Smith ◽  
Thomas Povey

This paper presents an experimental and computational study of the effect of severe inlet temperature distortion (hot streaks) on the efficiency of the MT1 HP turbine, which is a highly-loaded unshrouded transonic design. The experiments were performed in the Oxford Turbine Research Facility (OTRF) (formerly the TTF at QinetiQ Farnborough): an engine scale, short duration, rotating transonic facility, in which M, Re, and Tgas/Twall and N/T01 are matched to engine conditions. The research formed part of the EU Turbine Aero-Thermal External Flows (TATEF II) programme. An advanced second generation temperature distortion simulator was developed for this investigation, which allows both radial and circumferential temperature profiles to be simulated. A pronounced profile was used for this study. The system was novel in that it was designed to be compatible with an efficiency measurement system which was also developed for this study. To achieve low uncertainty (bias and precision errors of approximately 1.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively, to 95 per cent confidence), the mass flow rate of the hot and cold streams used to simulate temperature distortion were independently metered upstream of the turbine nozzle using traceable measurement techniques. Turbine power was measured directly with an accurate torque transducer. The efficiency of the test turbine was evaluated experimentally for a uniform inlet temperature condition, and with pronounced temperature distortion. Mechanisms for observed changes in the turbine exit flow field and efficiency are discussed. The data are compared in terms of flow structure to full stage CFD performed using the Rolls Royce Hydra code.


2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Beard ◽  
Andy D. Smith ◽  
Thomas Povey

This paper presents an experimental and computational study of the effect of inlet swirl on the efficiency of a transonic turbine stage. The efficiency penalty is approximately 1%, but it is argued that this could be recovered by correct design. There are attendant changes in capacity, work function, and stage total-to-total pressure ratio, which are discussed in detail. Experiments were performed using the unshrouded MT1 high-pressure turbine installed in the Oxford Turbine Research Facility (OTRF) (formerly at QinetiQ Farnborough): an engine scale, short duration, rotating transonic facility, in which M, Re, Tgas/Twall, and N/T01 are matched to engine conditions. The research was conducted under the EU Turbine Aero-Thermal External Flows (TATEF II) program. Turbine efficiency was experimentally determined to within bias and precision uncertainties of approximately ±1.4% and ±0.2%, respectively, to 95% confidence. The stage mass flow rate was metered upstream of the turbine nozzle, and the turbine power was measured directly using an accurate strain-gauge based torque measurement system. The turbine efficiency was measured experimentally for a condition with uniform inlet flow and a condition with pronounced inlet swirl. Full stage computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was performed using the Rolls-Royce Hydra solver. Steady and unsteady solutions were conducted for both the uniform inlet baseline case and a case with inlet swirl. The simulations are largely in agreement with the experimental results. A discussion of discrepancies is given.


Author(s):  
P F Beard ◽  
A D Smith ◽  
T Povey

This article presents an experimental and computational study of the efficiency of an unshrouded transonic turbine. This research formed part of the EU Turbine Aero-Thermal External Flows II programme. The experiments were performed in the Oxford Turbine Research Facility (previously the Turbine Test Facility at QinetiQ, Farnborough). This facility is an engine scale, short duration, rotating transonic facility, in which M, Re, [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] are matched to engine conditions. For these experiments, the MT1 turbine stage was installed. Historically, turbine efficiency measurements are conducted in steady state adiabatic facilities. However, short-duration facilities allow simultaneous aerodynamic and heat transfer measurements with a significant reduction in cost. An efficiency measurement system was developed for this investigation, and this is briefly described. The system allows efficiency to be evaluated to bias and precision errors of approximately ±1.45 per cent and ±0.16 per cent, respectively, to 95 per cent confidence. The results of accurate area surveys of the turbine inlet and exit flows are presented and discussed. At the turbine exit, data were taken at two traverse planes, approximately 0.5 and 4.5 rotor axial chords downstream of the rotor. The turbine efficiency was experimentally evaluated based on the data at both planes, using a number of mixing models, which are discussed and compared. The experimental result of turbine efficiency is also compared to that estimated from a mean-line prediction. Full-stage steady and unsteady computational fluid dynamics of the experiment using the Rolls-Royce HYDRA code was conducted and is also presented. The predicted and measured rotor exit flow-fields are compared at both downstream traverse planes.


2012 ◽  
Vol 226-228 ◽  
pp. 788-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Guo ◽  
Min Xu ◽  
Shi Lu Chen

This paper describes a multidisciplinary computational study undertaken to compute the flight trajectories and simultaneously predict the unsteady free flight aerodynamics of aircraft in time domain using an advanced coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD)/rigid body dynamics (RBD) technique. This incorporation of the flight mechanics equations and controller into the CFD solver loop and the treatment of the mesh, which must move with both the control surface deflections and the rigid motion of the aircraft, are illustrated. This work is a contribution to a wider effort towards the simulation of aeroelastic and flight stability in regions where nonlinear aerodynamics, and hence potentially CFD, can play a key role. Results demonstrating the coupled solution are presented.


Author(s):  
MA Chao ◽  
LU Kangbo ◽  
LI Wenjiao

Radial turbines used in turbochargers and micro-turbines are subjected to high inlet temperature. This creates high thermal stress in the turbines, and possible creep of turbine inducer blades, and can reduce turbines’ reliability. With the ever-stringent engine emission regulations and the continuous drive for engine power density, turbine inlet temperature is significantly increased recently and the risk of thermo-mechanical failure of turbine rotor is heightened. To solve this problem, an innovative turbine cooling method is proposed by injecting a small amount of compressor or intercooler discharge air onto the upper backdisc region of turbine rotor to cool the disc and the inducer blades. A conjugate heat transfer simulation was carried out to investigate the effects of this cooling method with a turbocharger turbine. Flow conditions and geometric configurations were investigated for their influences on the cooling effectiveness of the method. The results show that using the compressor discharger air after intercooler with only 0.5–2.0% of turbine mass flow, the averaged cooling efficiency of the turbine backdisc is promoted by 23–43%; only four to six jets may be needed to cool the entire backdisc; and turbine efficiency is reduced by less than 1% point.


Author(s):  
Pedro J. Sousa ◽  
Francisco Barros ◽  
Paulo J. Tavares ◽  
Pedro M. G. P. Moreira

Rotating structures are important and commonly used in the transportation and energy generation fields, where a better understanding of the deformations these structures endure is essential for both the design and maintenance phases. This work presents a novel image sensing methodology for measuring the displacements of rotating parts in operation due to dynamic loading. This methodology employs 3D digital image correlation combined with a custom stroboscopic lighting solution to achieve apparent stillness of the target while it rotates and then processes the acquired data to remove small imprecisions and align it to the rotor’s intrinsic coordinate system. It was applied to an RC helicopter, whose blade deformation was measured and compared with a computational model, using fluid–structure interaction between computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA). Using live measurement techniques, it was possible to obtain the actual behaviour of the blades, which can be used to validate and tune computational models. The proposed methodology complements the methods available in the literature, which were centred around relative out-of-plane displacements, by enabling the comparison of absolute out-of-plane and in-plane ones.


Fluids ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Alobaid ◽  
Ben Hughes ◽  
Andrew Heyes ◽  
Dominic O’Connor

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of inlet temperature (Tin) and flowrate ( m ˙ ) on thermal efficiency ( η t h ) of flat plate collectors (FPC). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was employed to simulate a FPC and the results were validated with experimental data from literature. The FPC was examined for high and low level flowrates and for inlet temperatures which varied from 298 to 373 K. Thermal efficiency of 93% and 65% was achieved at 298 K and 370 K inlet temperature’s respectively. A maximum temperature increase of 62 K in the inlet temperature was achieved at a flowrate of 5 × 10−4 kg/s inside the riser pipe. Tin and m ˙ were optimised in order to achieve the minimum required feed temperature for a 10 kW absorption chiller.


2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Grates ◽  
Peter Jeschke ◽  
Reinhard Niehuis

The subject of this paper is the investigation of unsteady flow inside a transonic centrifugal compressor stage with a pipe-diffuser by utilizing unsteady 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations (unsteady 3D URANS). The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results obtained are compared with detailed experimental data gathered using various steady and unsteady measurement techniques. The basic phenomena and mechanisms of the complex and highly unsteady flow inside the compressor with a pipe-diffuser are presented and analyzed in detail.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjiao Jin ◽  
Jianfeng Pan ◽  
Zhigang Lu ◽  
Qingrui Wu ◽  
Lizhong Xu ◽  
...  

Abstract In this paper, a novel one-dimensional matching method of an asymmetric twin-scroll turbine (ATST) with a small scroll bypass wastegate is initially presented for energy improvement. The developed method presents further insights into efficiency prediction of the ATST and the small scroll exhaust bypass in the matching process of model characterization. The efficiency of the small and large scroll turbines was approximately assessed with two times flow parameters of the small and large scroll turbines, respectively, as well as according to turbine efficiency prediction curves. Subsequently, given the matching results of a 9-L engine, a targeted ATST was developed; its effectiveness was verified by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the performance tests of a turbine and an engine. As revealed from the results, the prediction efficiency of the ATST well complies with that of the numerical calculation and performance tests of turbines and engines. Compared with the common large scroll exhaust bypass wastegate, the small one exhibits better engine performance and can save nearly 0.5–1.5% fuel consumption at middle and high engine speeds. Moreover, the reasons of which were explored for better understanding of the mechanism accordingly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benarfaoui Arfaoui ◽  
Mohamed Taher Bouzaher ◽  
Belhi Guerira ◽  
Charaf-Eddine Bensaci

Abstract This study investigates the energy extraction mechanism by means of swing arm turbine. The swing arm turbines have a particular motion pattern. The pure translation motion in the conventional flapping turbine changes based on the swing arm rotation. The laminar flow around a NACA0015 is resolved using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The turbine blades are equipped with an oscillating gurney flap for trying to boost the system efficiency. The connected gurney flap oscillates with a given pitching angle. A user-defined function and the sliding dynamic mesh technique available in ansys fluent version 15 are used to adjust both the blade and the flap positions during the turbine flapping cycle. The effects of the swing factor and the flap length on the system performance are provided. It is shown that the suggested strategy of control is able to alter the pressure distribution during both the up stroke and down stroke phases, which changes the blade aerodynamic forces during all the flapping cycle portions and therefore improving the turbine efficiency.


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