Blade–Row Interactions in a Low Pressure Turbine at Design and Strong Off-Design Operation

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lipfert ◽  
Jan Habermann ◽  
Martin G. Rose ◽  
Stephan Staudacher ◽  
Yavuz Guendogdu
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Joint Project ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Blade Row

In a joint project between the Institute of Aircraft Propulsion Systems (ILA) and MTU Aero Engines, a two-stage low pressure turbine is tested at design and strong off-design conditions. The experimental data taken in the Altitude Test Facility (ATF) aims to study the effect of positive and negative incidence of the second stator vane. A detailed insight and understanding of the blade row interactions at these regimes is sought. Steady and time-resolved pressure measurements on the airfoil as well as inlet and outlet hot-film traverses at identical Reynolds number are performed for the midspan streamline. The results are compared with unsteady multistage computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions. Simulations agree well with the experimental data and allow detailed insights in the time-resolved flow-field. Airfoil pressure field responses are found to increase with positive incidence whereas at negative incidence the magnitude remains unchanged. Different pressure to suction side (SS) phasing is observed for the studied regimes. The assessment of unsteady blade forces reveals that changes in unsteady lift are minor compared to changes in axial force components. These increase with increasing positive incidence. The wake-interactions are predominating the blade responses in all regimes. For the positive incidence conditions, vane 1 passage vortex fluid is involved in the midspan passage interaction, leading to a more distorted three-dimensional (3D) flow field.

Blade-Row Interactions in an LP Turbine at Design and Strong Off-Design Operation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lipfert ◽  
Jan Habermann ◽  
Martin G. Rose ◽  
Stephan Staudacher ◽  
Yavuz Guendogdu
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Joint Project ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Wake Interactions

In a joint project between the Institute of Aircraft Propulsion Systems (ILA) and MTU Aero Engines a two-stage low pressure turbine is tested at design and strong off-design conditions. The experimental data taken in the altitude test-facility aims to study the effect of positive and negative incidence of the second stator vane. A detailed insight and understanding of the blade row interactions at these regimes is sought. Steady and time-resolved pressure measurements on the airfoil as well as inlet and outlet hot-film traverses at identical Reynolds number are performed for the midspan streamline. The results are compared with unsteady multi-stage CFD predictions. Simulations agree well with the experimental data and allow detailed insights in the time-resolved flow-field. Airfoil pressure field responses are found to increase with positve incidence whereas at negative incidence the magnitude remains unchanged. Different pressure to suction side phasing is observed for the studied regimes. The assessment of unsteady blade forces reveals that changes in unsteady lift are minor compared to changes in axial force components. These increase with increasing positive incidence. The wake-interactions are predominating the blade responses in all regimes. For the positive incidence conditions vane 1 passage vortex fluid is involved in the midspan passage interaction leading to a more distorted three-dimensional flow field.

scholarly journals Large-Eddy Simulation of Low-Pressure Turbine Cascade with Unsteady Wakes

Aerospace ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 184
Author(s):  
Zachary Robison ◽  
Andreas Gross
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Flow Structure ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Flow Fields ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Reaction Stage ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Large Eddy

To better understand the wake effects at low Reynolds numbers, large-eddy simulations of a 50% reaction low-pressure turbine stage and a linear cascade with two different bar wake generators were carried out for a chord Reynolds number of 50,000. For the chosen front-loaded high-lift airfoil, the endwall structures are stronger than for more traditional mid-loaded moderate-lift airfoils. By comparing the 50% reaction stage results with the bar wake generator results, insight is gained into the effect of the three-dimensional wake components on the downstream flow field.For the cases with bar wake generator, the endwall boundary layer is growing faster because of the relative motion of the endwall with respect to the freestream. The half-width of the wake is approximately matched for the larger one of the two considered bar wake generators. To improve the quality of the phase-averaged flow fields, the proper orthogonal decomposition was employed as a filter to remove the low-energy unsteady flow field content. Both the mean flow and filtered phase-averaged flow fields were analyzed in detail. Visualizations of the phase-averaged flow field reveal a periodic suppression of the laminar suction side separation from the downstream airfoil even for the smaller bar wake generator. The passage vortex is entirely suppressed for the 50% reaction stage and for the larger bar wake generator. Furthermore, the phase-averaged data for the 50% reaction stage reveal a new longitudinal flow structure that is traced back to near-wall wake vorticity. This flow structure is missing for the bar wake generator cases.

A Low Pressure Turbine at Extreme Off-Design Operation

2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lipfert ◽  
Martin Marx ◽  
Martin G. Rose ◽  
Stephan Staudacher ◽  
Inga Mahle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
High Incidence

In a cooperative project between the Institute of Aircraft Propulsion Systems and MTU Aero Engines GmbH, a two-stage low pressure turbine with integrated 3D airfoil and endwall contouring is tested. The experimental data taken in the altitude test-facility study the effect of high incidence in off-design operation. Steady measurements are covering a wide range of Reynolds numbers between 40,000 and 180,000. The results are compared with steady multistage CFD predictions with a focus on the stator rows. A first unsteady simulation is taken into account as well. The CFD simulations include leakage flow paths with disk cavities modeled. Compared to design operation the extreme off-design high-incidence conditions lead to a different flow-field Reynolds number sensitivity. Airfoil lift data reveals changing incidence with Reynolds number of the second stage. Increased leading edge loading of the second vane indicates a strong cross channel pressure gradient in the second stage leading to larger secondary flow regions and a more three-dimensional flow-field. Global characteristics and area traverse data of the second vane are discussed. The unsteady CFD approach indicates improvement in the numerical prediction of the predominating flow-field.

Experimental Study on the Effect of Clocking on the Propagation of Inflow Pressure Distortions in a Low Pressure Turbine Stage

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Simonassi ◽  
M. Zenz ◽  
P. Bruckner ◽  
S. Pramstrahler ◽  
F. Heitmeir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Total Pressure ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Vibration Characteristics ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Turbine Stage ◽  
Rotor Vibration ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The design of modern aero engines enhances the interaction between components and facilitates the propagation of circumferential distortions of total pressure and temperature. As a consequence, the inlet conditions of a real turbine have significant spatial non-uniformities, which have direct consequences on both its aerodynamic and vibration characteristics. This work presents the results of an experimental study on the effects of different inlet total pressure distortion-stator clocking positions on the propagation of total pressure inflow disturbances through a low pressure turbine stage, with a particular focus on both the aerodynamic and aeroelastic performance. Measurements at a stable engine relevant operating condition and during transient operation were carried out in a one and a half stage subsonic turbine test facility at the Institute of Thermal Turbomachinery and Machine Dynamics at Graz University of Technology. A localised total pressure distortion was generated upstream of the stage in three different azimuthal positions relative to the stator vanes. The locations were chosen in order to align the distortion directly with a vane leading edge, suction side and pressure side. Additionally, a setup with clean inflow was used as reference. Steady and unsteady aerodynamic measurements were taken downstream of the investigated stage by means of a five-hole-probe (5HP) and a fast response aerodynamic pressure probe (FRAPP) respectively. Strain gauges applied on different blades were used in combination with a telemetry system to acquire the rotor vibration data. The aerodynamic interactions between the stator and rotor rows and the circumferential perturbation were studied through the identification of the main structures constituting the flow field. This showed that the steady and unsteady alterations created by the distortion in the flow field lead to modifications of the rotor vibration characteristics. Moreover, the importance of the impact that the pressure distortion azimuthal position has on the LPT stage aerodynamics and vibrations was highlighted.

Experimental Investigation of Vane Clocking in a One and 1/2 Stage High Pressure Turbine

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles W. Haldeman ◽  
Michael G. Dunn ◽  
John W. Barter ◽  
Brian R. Green ◽  
Robert F. Bergholz
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Turbine Vane ◽  
Vane Clocking

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.

Recognition of Structures Leading to Transition in a Low Pressure Turbine Cascade: Effect of Reduced Frequency

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Lengani ◽  
D. Simoni ◽  
M. Ubaldi ◽  
P. Zunino ◽  
F. Bertini
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Turbine Cascade ◽  
Turbulent Structures ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Reduced Frequency ◽  
Displacement Thickness ◽  
Wake Passing

Abstract The boundary layer developing over the suction side of a low pressure turbine cascade operating under unsteady inflow conditions has been experimentally investigated. Time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements have been performed in two orthogonal planes, the blade to blade and a wall parallel plane embedded within the boundary layer, for two different wake reduced frequencies. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) has been used to analyze the data and to provide an interpretation of the most significant flow structures for each phase of the wake passing cycle. To this purpose, a POD based procedure that sorts the data synchronizing the measurements of the two planes has been developed. Phase averaged data are then obtained for both cases. Moreover, once properly sorted, POD has been applied to sub-ensembles of data at the same relative phase within the wake passing cycle. Detailed information on the most energetic turbulent structures at a particular phase are obtained with this procedure (called phased POD), overcoming the limit of classical phase average that just provides a statistical representation of the turbulence field. Furthermore, the synchronization of the measurements in the two planes allows the computation of the characteristic dimension of boundary layer structures that are responsible for transition. These structures are often identified as vortical filaments parallel to the wall, typically referred to as boundary layer streaks. The largest and most energetic structures are observed when the wake centerline passes over the rear part of the suction side, and they appear practically the same for both reduced frequencies. The passing wake forces transition leading to the breakdown of the boundary layer streaks. Otherwise, the largest differences between the low and high reduced frequency are observed in the calmed region. The post-processing of these two planes further allowed us to compute the spacing of the streaks and make it non-dimensional by the boundary layer displacement thickness observed for each phase. The non-dimensional value of the streaks spacing is about constant, irrespective of the reduced frequency.

Experimental and Numerical Verification of the Core-Flow in a New Low-Pressure Turbine

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Henke ◽  
Lars Wein ◽  
Tim Kluge ◽  
Yavuz Guendogdu ◽  
Marc Heinz-Otto Biester ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Numerical Verification ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Core Flow ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
The Core ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Unsteady Effects ◽  
Blade Row Interaction

The flow field in modern axial turbines is non-trivial and highly unsteady due to secondary flow and blade row interaction. In recent years, existing design-tools like two-dimensional flow solvers as well as fully three-dimensional CFD methods have been validated for the assumption of a quasi-steady flow field. Since the inevitable unsteadiness of the flow field has a direct impact on unsteady loss generation and work transfer, existing design methods stand in need of validation for local unsteady effects within the flow field. In order to clearly separate end-wall losses from those generated by blade row interaction within the blade passage, a two-dimensional core-flow is essential for the investigation. Hence, a new 1.5-stage high aspect ratio low pressure turbine has been designed to determine the intensity of core-flow blade row interaction for different axial gaps. First, inlet and outlet conditions of the test rig are evaluated with regard to homogeneity of the flow parameters in their radial and circumferential distributions. Secondly, the measurement data gained from rig tests have been applied as boundary conditions to time-averaged numerical computations. The flow field analysis for two different axial gaps focuses on the verification of the core flow. The authors show that the new turbine has been successfully verified using both test data and the numerical predictions, serving as a precondition for the validation of the numerical model for unsteady effects within the core-flow.

On the Influence of an Acoustically Optimized Turbine Exit Casing Onto the Unsteady Flow Field Downstream of a Low Pressure Turbine Rotor

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Simonassi ◽  
M. Zenz ◽  
S. Zerobin ◽  
F. Heitmeir ◽  
A. Marn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Unsteady Flow ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Low Noise ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Pressure Probe ◽  
Guide Vanes ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Aerodynamic Pressure

Modern low pressure turbines (LPT) are designed in order to fulfil a various number of requirements such as high endurance, low noise, high efficiency, low weight and low fuel consumption. Regarding the reduction of the emitted noise, different designs of low pressure turbine exit guide vanes (aerodynamically and/or acoustically optimized) of the turbine exit casing (TEC) were tested and their noise reduction capabilities and aerodynamic performance were evaluated. In particular, measurements of TEC-losses were performed and differences in the losses were reported. Measurements were carried out in a one and a half stage subsonic turbine test facility at the engine relevant operating point approach. This work focuses on the study of the unsteady flow field downstream of an unshrouded low pressure turbine rotor. The influence on the upstream flow field of a TEC design including acoustically optimized vanes (Inverse cut-off TEC) is investigated and compared with a second TEC configuration without vanes (Vaneless TEC), by means of fast response aerodynamic pressure probe measurements. The second configuration served as a reference concerning the influence of TEGVs onto the upstream located LPT rotor. The interactions between the stator and rotor wakes, secondary flows and the turbine exit guide vanes potential effect are identified via modal decomposition according to the theory of Tyler and Sofrin. The main structures constituting the unsteady flow field are detected and the role of the major interaction effects in the loss generation mechanism and in the acoustic emission is analysed. This study based on the modal analysis of the unsteady flow field offers new insight into the main interaction mechanisms and their importance in the assessment of the aerodynamic and aeroelastic performance of modern low pressure turbine exit casings.

Experimental Investigation of Vane Clocking in a One and One-Half Stage High Pressure Turbine

2004 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 512-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles W. Haldeman ◽  
Michael Dunn ◽  
John W. Barter ◽  
Brian R. Green ◽  
Robert F. Bergholz
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Turbine Vane ◽  
Vane Clocking

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.

Recognition of Structures Leading to Transition in a Low-Pressure Turbine Cascade: Effect of Reduced Frequency

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Lengani ◽  
D. Simoni ◽  
M. Ubaldi ◽  
P. Zunino ◽  
F. Bertini
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Turbine Cascade ◽  
Turbulent Structures ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Streaky Structures ◽  
Reduced Frequency ◽  
Displacement Thickness

Abstract The boundary layer developing over the suction side of a low-pressure turbine cascade operating under unsteady inflow conditions has been experimentally investigated. Time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements have been performed in two orthogonal planes, the blade-to-blade and a wall-parallel plane embedded within the boundary layer, for two different wake-reduced frequencies. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) has been used to analyze the data and to provide an interpretation of the most significant flow structures for each phase of the wake passing cycle. Detailed information on the most energetic turbulent structures at a particular phase is obtained with a newly developed procedure that overcomes the limit of classical phase average. The synchronization of the measurements in the two planes allows the computation of the characteristic dimension of boundary layer streaky structures that are responsible for transition. The largest and most energetic structures are observed when the wake centerline passes over the rear part of the suction side, and they appear practically the same for both reduced frequencies. The passing wake forces transition leading to the breakdown of the boundary layer streaks. Otherwise, the largest differences between the low and high reduced frequency are observed in the calmed region. The postprocessing of these two planes allowed computing the spacing of the streaky structures and making it nondimensional by the boundary layer displacement thickness observed for each phase. The nondimensional value of the streaks spacing is about constant, irrespective of the reduced frequency.

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