A New Alternative for Reduction of Secondary Flows in Low Pressure Turbines

Author(s):  
Diego Torre ◽  
Rau´l Va´zquez ◽  
Elena de la Rosa Blanco ◽  
Howard P. Hodson

This paper describes a new flow mechanism for the reduction of secondary flows in Low Pressure Turbines using the benefit of contoured endwalls. The extensive application of contoured endwalls in recent years has provided a deeper understanding of the physical phenomenon that governs the reduction of secondary flows. Based on this understanding, the endwall geometry of a linear cascade of solid-thin profiles typical of Low Pressure Turbines has been redesigned. Experimental data are presented for the validation of this new solution. Based on these data, a reduction of 72% in the SKEH and 20% in the mixed-out endwall losses can be obtained. CFD simulations are also presented to illustrate the effect of the new endwall on the secondary flows. Furthermore, an explanation of the flow mechanism that governs the reduction of the SKEH and the losses is given.

2010 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Torre ◽  
Raúl Vázquez ◽  
Elena de la Rosa Blanco ◽  
Howard P. Hodson

This paper describes a new flow mechanism for the reduction in secondary flows in low pressure turbines using the benefit of contoured endwalls. The extensive application of contoured endwalls in recent years has provided a deeper understanding of the physical phenomenon that governs the reduction in secondary flows. Based on this understanding, the endwall geometry of a linear cascade of solid-thin profiles typical of low pressure turbines has been redesigned. Experimental data are presented for the validation of this new solution. Based on these data, a reduction of 72% in the secondary kinetic energy helicity (SKEH) and 20% in the mixed-out endwall losses can be obtained. Computational fluid dynamics simulations are also presented to illustrate the effect of the new endwall on the secondary flows. Furthermore, an explanation of the flow mechanism that governs the reduction in the SKEH, and the losses is given.


Author(s):  
Michael J. Brear ◽  
Howard P. Hodson ◽  
Paloma Gonzalez ◽  
Neil W. Harvey

This paper describes a study of the interaction between the pressure surface separation and the secondary flow on low pressure turbine blades. It is found that this interaction can significantly affect the strength of the secondary flow and the loss that it creates. Experimental and numerical techniques are used to study the secondary flow in a family of four low pressure turbine blades in linear cascade. These blades are typical of current designs, share the same suction surface and pitch, but have differing pressure surfaces. A mechanism for the interaction between the pressure surface separation and the secondary flow is proposed and is used to explain the variations in the secondary flows of the four blades. This mechanism is based on simple dynamical secondary flow concepts and is similar to the aft-loading argument commonly used in modern turbine design.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 402-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Brear ◽  
Howard P. Hodson ◽  
Paloma Gonzalez ◽  
Neil W. Harvey

This paper describes a study of the interaction between the pressure surface separation and the secondary flow on low-pressure turbine blades. It is found that this interaction can significantly affect the strength of the secondary flow and the loss that it creates. Experimental and numerical techniques are used to study the secondary flow in a family of four low-pressure turbine blades in linear cascade. These blades are typical of current designs, share the same suction surface and pitch, but have differing pressure surfaces. A mechanism for the interaction between the pressure surface separation and the secondary flow is proposed and is used to explain the variations in the secondary flows of the four blades. This mechanism is based on simple dynamical secondary flow concepts and is similar to the aft-loading argument commonly used in modern turbine design.


Author(s):  
Yongli Zhang ◽  
Brenton S. McLaury ◽  
Siamack A. Shirzai

Erosion equations are usually obtained from experiments by impacting solid particles entrained in a gas or liquid on a target material. The erosion equations are utilized in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) models to predict erosion damage caused by solid particle impingements. Many erosion equations are provided in terms of an erosion ratio. By definition, the erosion ratio is the mass loss of target material divided by the mass of impacting particles. The mass of impacting particles is the summation of (particle mass × number of impacts) of each particle. In erosion experiments conducted to determine erosion equations, some particles may impact the target wall many times and some other particles may not impact the target at all. Therefore, the experimental data may not reflect the actual erosion ratio because the mass of the sand that is used to run the experiments is assumed to be the mass of the impacting particles. CFD and particle trajectory simulations are applied in the present work to study effects of multiple impacts on developing erosion ratio equations. The erosion equation as well as the CFD-based erosion modeling procedure is validated against a variety of experimental data. The results show that the effect of multiple impacts is negligible in air cases. In water cases, however, this effect needs to be accounted for especially for small particles. This makes it impractical to develop erosion ratio equations from experimental data obtained for tests with sand in water or dense gases. Many factors affecting erosion damage are accounted for in various erosion equations. In addition to some well-studied parameters such as particle impacting speed and impacting angle, particle size also plays a significant role in the erosion process. An average particle size is usually used in analyzing experimental data or estimating erosion damage cases of practical interest. In petroleum production applications, however, the size of sand particles that are entrained in produced fluids can vary over a fairly broad range. CFD simulations are also performed to study the effect of particle size distribution. In CFD simulations, particle sizes are normally distributed with the mean equaling the average size of interest and the standard deviation varying over a wide range. Based on CFD simulations, an equation is developed and can be applied to account for the effect of the particle size distribution on erosion prediction for gases and liquids.


2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (8) ◽  
pp. 763-778
Author(s):  
Sanjay Kumar Pandey ◽  
Jagdish Prasad Maurya

AbstractIt is intended to model mathematically an ideal whirlwind which characterises this geo-physical phenomenon and eventually helps us decode the inherent dynamics. A dense cylindrical aerial mass is taken into consideration surrounding a rarer aerial region in order to keep a radial favourable gradient of pressure to sustain a rotational motion. It has been concluded that the whirlwind will survive as long as the low pressure region exists. The vertical pressure gradient also plays an equally important role. Since it is not connected to any cloud and the axial velocity is in the vertically upward direction, the momentary vertical gradient of pressure is required for its growth and survival. Horizontal ambient winds that rush towards low pressure zone, crush the air in the buffer zone, and turn vertically upward may also take the dust carried with them visibly to some height. It is considered that the angular azimuthal velocity varies within the annulus. An inference is that no whirlwind without a low pressure region within it can survive. This may be termed as the fundamental characteristic of whirlwind. It is further concluded that if the radial pressure difference between the outermost and innermost layers is larger, the whirlwind is thicker and consequently, it will last longer. Moreover, another conclusion arrived at is that the angular velocity will vanish if the inner radius is zero.


2008 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Vera ◽  
Elena de la Rosa Blanco ◽  
Howard Hodson ◽  
Raul Vazquez

Research by de la Rosa Blanco et al. (“Influence of the State of the Inlet Endwall Boundary Layer on the Interaction Between the Pressure Surface Separation and the Endwall Flows,” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., Part A, 217, pp. 433–441) in a linear cascade of low pressure turbine (LPT) blades has shown that the position and strength of the vortices forming the endwall flows depend on the state of the inlet endwall boundary layer, i.e., whether it is laminar or turbulent. This determines, amongst other effects, the location where the inlet boundary layer rolls up into a passage vortex, the amount of fluid that is entrained into the passage vortex, and the interaction of the vortex with the pressure side separation bubble. As a consequence, the mass-averaged stagnation pressure loss and therefore the design of a LPT depend on the state of the inlet endwall boundary layer. Unfortunately, the state of the boundary layer along the hub and casing under realistic engine conditions is not known. The results presented in this paper are taken from hot-film measurements performed on the casing of the fourth stage of the nozzle guide vanes of the cold flow affordable near term low emission (ANTLE) LPT rig. These results are compared with those from a low speed linear cascade of similar LPT blades. In the four-stage LPT rig, a transitional boundary layer has been found on the platforms upstream of the leading edge of the blades. The boundary layer is more turbulent near the leading edge of the blade and for higher Reynolds numbers. Within the passage, for both the cold flow four-stage rig and the low speed linear cascade, the new inlet boundary layer formed behind the pressure leg of the horseshoe vortex is a transitional boundary layer. The transition process progresses from the pressure to the suction surface of the passage in the direction of the secondary flow.


Author(s):  
Fanny M. Besem ◽  
Robert E. Kielb ◽  
Nicole L. Key

The frequency mistuning that occurs due to manufacturing variations and wear and tear of the blades can have a significant effect on the flutter and forced response behavior of a blade row. Similarly, asymmetries in the aerodynamic or excitation forces can tremendously affect the blade responses. When conducting CFD simulations, all blades are assumed to be tuned (i.e. to have the same natural frequency) and the aerodynamic forces are assumed to be the same on each blade except for a shift in interblade phase angle. The blades are thus predicted to vibrate at the same amplitude. However, when the system is mistuned or when asymmetries are present, some blades can vibrate with a much higher amplitude than the tuned, symmetric system. In this research, we first conduct a deterministic forced response analysis of a mistuned rotor and compare the results to experimental data from a compressor rig. It is shown that tuned CFD results cannot be compared directly with experimental data because of the impact of frequency mistuning on forced response predictions. Moreover, the individual impact of frequency, aerodynamic, and forcing function perturbations on the predictions is assessed, leading to the conclusion that a mistuned system has to be studied probabilistically. Finally, all perturbations are combined and Monte-Carlo simulations are conducted to obtain the range of blade response amplitudes that a designer could expect.


Water SA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3 July) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed M Helmi

Floodways, where a road embankment is permitted to be overtopped by flood water, are usually designed as broad-crested weirs. Determination of the water level above the floodway is crucial and related to road safety. Hydraulic performance of floodways can be assessed numerically using 1-D modelling or 3-D simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) packages. Turbulence modelling is one of the key elements in CFD simulations. A wide variety of turbulence models are utilized in CFD packages; in order to identify the most relevant turbulence model for the case in question, 96 3-D CFD simulations were conducted using Flow-3D package, for 24 broad-crested weir configurations selected based on experimental data from a previous study. Four turbulence models (one-equation, k-ε, RNG k-ε, and k-ω) ere examined for each configuration. The volume of fluid (VOF) algorithm was adopted for free water surface determination. In addition, 24 1-D simulations using HEC-RAS-1-D were conducted for comparison with CFD results and experimental data. Validation of the simulated water free surface profiles versus the experimental measurements was carried out by the evaluation of the mean absolute error, the mean relative error percentage, and the root mean square error. It was concluded that the minimum error in simulating the full upstream to downstream free surface profile is achieved by using one-equation turbulence model with mixing length equal to 7% of the smallest domain dimension. Nevertheless, for the broad-crested weir upstream section, no significant difference in accuracy was found between all turbulence models and the one-dimensional analysis results, due to the low turbulence intensity at this part. For engineering design purposes, in which the water level is the main concern at the location of the flood way, the one-dimensional analysis has sufficient accuracy to determine the water level.


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