Numerical Predication of Swept Blade Aerodynamic Effects

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):  
C. Xu ◽  
R. S. Amano

To meet the needs of efficient turbine blade designs, CFD predictions of a complex 3D flow field in turbine blade passages have been incorporated in the design process during the last decade. Owing to the numerous advantages possessed by a 3-D CFD technology many industries already use a 3D blading technique in the design process of turbomachines. In addition, blade lean and sweep have been implemented to increase the blade row efficiency. Experimental studies have shown some advantages of these features. However, most of the experimental results were combined with other features together as well; thus making it difficult to determine the effects of individual superior 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 demonstrate the sweep effects on a transonic compressor airfoil. The purpose of this study is to investigate the sweep effects without changing other compressor blade features; i.e. keeping the blade outflow angles and section shapes to be the same at design sections for all cases. Through this study the sweep effect in a transonic compressor rotor blade was tested. The results showed that the sweeps redistribute the flow reducing the secondary flow loss, depending on the baseline. It was shown that the forward sweep reduces the tip loading in terms of the static pressure coefficient.


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.


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):  
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.


Author(s):  
Ranjan Saha ◽  
Jens Fridh ◽  
Torsten Fransson ◽  
Boris I. Mamaev ◽  
Mats Annerfeldt

An experimental study of the hub leading edge contouring using fillets is performed in an annular sector cascade to observe the influence of secondary flows and aerodynamic losses. The investigated vane is a three dimensional gas turbine guide vane (geometrically similar) with a mid-span aspect ratio of 0.46. The measurements are carried out on the leading edge fillet and baseline cases using pneumatic probes. Significant precautions have been taken to increase the accuracy of the measurements. The investigations are performed for a wide range of operating exit Mach numbers from 0.5 to 0.9 at a design inlet flow angle of 90°. Data presented include the loading, fields of total pressures, exit flow angles, radial flow angles, as well as profile and secondary losses. The vane has a small profile loss of approximately 2.5% and secondary loss of about 1.1%. Contour plots of vorticity distributions and velocity vectors indicate there is a small influence of the vortex-structure in endwall regions when the leading edge fillet is used. Compared to the baseline case the loss for the filleted case is lower up to 13% of span and higher from 13% to 20% of the span for a reference condition with Mach no. of 0.9. For the filleted case, there is a small increase of turning up to 15% of the span and then a small decrease up to 35% of the span. Hence, there are no significant influences on the losses and turning for the filleted case. Results lead to the conclusion that one cannot expect a noticeable effect of leading edge contouring on the aerodynamic efficiency for the investigated 1st stage vane of a modern gas turbine.


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):  
Xi Nan ◽  
Feng Lin ◽  
Takehiro Himeno ◽  
Toshinori Watanabe

Casing boundary layer effectively places a limit on the pressure rise capability achievable by the compressor. The separation of the casing boundary layer not only produce flow loss but also closely related to the compressor rotating stall. The motivation of this paper is to present a viewpoint that the casing boundary layer should be paid attention to in parallel with other flow factors on rotating stall trigger. This paper illustrates the casing boundary layer behavior by displaying its separation phenomena with the presence of tip leakage vortex at different flow conditions. Skin friction lines and the corresponding absolute streamlines are used to demonstrate the three-dimensional flow patterns on and near the casing. The results depict a Saddle, a Node and several tufts of skin friction lines dividing the passage into four zones. The tip leakage vortex is enfolded within one of the zones by the separated flows. All the flows in each blade passage are confined within the passage as long as the compressor is stable. The casing boundary layer of a transonic compressor is also examined in the same way, which results in qualitatively similar zonal flows that enfolds the tip leakage vortex. This research develops a new way to study the casing boundary layer in rotating compressors. The results may provide a first-principle based explanation to stalling mechanisms for compressors that are casing sensitive.


1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Lakshminarayana ◽  
P. Popovski

A comprehensive study of the three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer on a compressor rotor blade at peak pressure rise coefficient is reported in this paper. The measurements were carried out at various chordwise and radial locations on a compressor rotor blade using a rotating miniature “V” configuration hot-wire probe. The data are compared with the measurement at the design condition. Substantial changes in the blade boundary layer characteristics are observed, especially in the outer sixteen percent of the blade span. The increased chordwise pressure gradient and the leakage flow at the peak pressure coefficient have a cumulative effect in increasing the boundary layer growth on the suction surface. The leakage flow has a beneficial effect on the pressure surface. The momentum and boundary layer thicknesses increase substantially from those at the design condition, especially near the outer radii of the suction surface.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document