Numerical Study of Instability Mechanisms Leading to Transition in Separation Bubbles

Author(s):  
B. R. McAuliffe ◽  
M. I. Yaras

In this paper, transition in a separation bubble is examined through numerical simulation. The flow Reynolds number and streamwise pressure distribution are typical of the conditions encountered on the suction side of low-pressure turbine blades of gas-turbine engines. The spatial and temporal resolutions utilized in the present computations correspond to a coarse direct numerical simulation, wherein the majority of turbulence scales, including the inertial subrange, are adequately resolved. The accuracy of the simulation results is demonstrated through favorable comparisons with experimental data corresponding to the same flow conditions. The results of the simulation show linear Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) instability growth downstream of the point of separation, leading to the roll-up of spanwise vorticity into disctete vortical structures, characteristic of Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability growth. The extent of cross-stream momentum exchange associated with packets of amplified T-S waves is examined, along with details of the time-periodic breakdown into turbulence occurring upon the development of the K-H instability. Reynolds-averaged properties of the separation bubble are presented, and provide evidence of the strong three-dimensional nature of the reattachment process.

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian R. McAuliffe ◽  
Metin I. Yaras

In this paper, transition in a separation bubble is examined through numerical simulation. The flow Reynolds number and streamwise pressure distribution are typical of the conditions encountered on the suction side of low-pressure turbine blades of gas-turbine engines. The spatial and temporal resolutions utilized in the present computations correspond to a coarse direct numerical simulation, wherein the majority of turbulence scales, including the inertial subrange, are adequately resolved. The accuracy of the simulation results is demonstrated through favorable comparisons to experimental data corresponding to the same flow conditions. The results of the simulation show linear Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) instability growth downstream of the point of separation, leading to the roll up of spanwise vorticity into discrete vortical structures, characteristic of Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability growth. The extent of cross-stream momentum exchange associated with packets of amplified T-S waves is examined, along with details of the time-periodic breakdown into turbulence occurring upon the development of the K-H instability. Reynolds-averaged properties of the separation bubble are presented and provide evidence of the strong three-dimensional nature of the reattachment process.


Author(s):  
H. X. Liang ◽  
Q. W. Wang ◽  
L. Q. Luo ◽  
Z. P. Feng

Three-dimensional numerical simulation was conducted to investigate the flow field and heat transfer performance of the Cross-Wavy Primary Surface (CWPS) recuperators for microturbines. Using high-effective compact recuperators to achieve high thermal efficiency is one of the key techniques in the development of microturbine in recent years. Recuperators need to have minimum volume and weight, high reliability and durability. Most important of all, they need to have high thermal-effectiveness and low pressure-losses so that the gas turbine system can achieve high thermal performances. These requirements have attracted some research efforts in designing and implementing low-cost and compact recuperators for gas turbine engines recently. One of the promising techniques to achieve this goal is the so-called primary surface channels with small hydraulic dimensions. In this paper, we conducted a three-dimensional numerical study of flow and heat transfer for the Cross-Wavy Primary Surface (CWPS) channels with two different geometries. In the CWPS configurations the secondary flow is created by means of curved and interrupted surfaces, which may disturb the thermal boundary layers and thus improve the thermal performances of the channels. To facilitate comparison, we chose the identical hydraulic diameters for the above four CWPS channels. Since our experiments on real recuperators showed that the Reynolds number ranges from 150 to 500 under the operating conditions, we implemented all the simulations under laminar flow situations. By analyzing the correlations of Nusselt numbers and friction factors vs. Reynolds numbers of the four CWPS channels, we found that the CWPS channels have superior and comprehensive thermal performance with high compactness, i.e., high heat transfer area to volume ratio, indicating excellent commercialized application in the compact recuperators.


Author(s):  
H. Iacovides ◽  
D. C. Jackson ◽  
H. Ji ◽  
G. Kelemenis ◽  
B. E. Launder ◽  
...  

This paper reports laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) and wall pressure measurements of turbulent flow in a square-sectioned, rotating U-bend typical of coolant passages employed in modern gas turbine blades. In the upstream and downstream tangents, the pressure and suction (inner and outer) surfaces are roughened with discrete square-sectioned ribs in a staggered arrangement for a rib-height to duct-diameter ratio of 0.1. Three cases have been examined at a passage Reynolds number of 105: a stationary case; a case of positive rotation (the pressure side coinciding with the outer side of the U-bend) at a rotation number (Ro=ΩD/Um) of 0.2; and a case of negative rotation at Ro=−0.2. Measurements have been obtained along the symmetry plane of the duct. In the upstream section, the separation bubble behind each rib is about 2.5 rib-heights long. Rotation displaces the high momentum fluid towards the pressure side, enhances turbulence along the pressure side and suppresses turbulence along the suction side. The introduction of ribs in the straight sections reduces the size of the separation bubble along the inner wall of the U-bend, by raising turbulence levels at the bend entry; it also causes the formation of an additional separation bubble over the first rib interval along the outer wall, downstream of the bend exit. Rotation also modifies the mean flow development within the U-bend, with negative rotation speeding up the flow along the inner wall and causing a wider inner-wall separation bubble at exit. Turbulence levels within the bend are generally increased by rotation and, over the first two diameters downstream of the bend, negative rotation increases turbulence while positive rotation on the whole has the opposite effect.


2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Singh ◽  
P. K. Panigrahi ◽  
G. Biswas

Abstract A numerical study of rib augmented cooling of turbine blades is reported in this paper. The time-dependent velocity field around a pair of symmetrically placed ribs on the walls of a three-dimensional rectangular channel was studied by use of a modified version of Marker-And-Cell algorithm to solve the unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes and energy equations. The flow structures are presented with the help of instantaneous velocity vector and vorticity fields, FFT and time averaged and rms values of components of velocity. The spanwise averaged Nusselt number is found to increase at the locations of reattachment. The numerical results are compared with available numerical and experimental results. The presence of ribs leads to complex flow fields with regions of flow separation before and after the ribs. Each interruption in the flow field due to the surface mounted rib enables the velocity distribution to be more homogeneous and a new boundary layer starts developing downstream of the rib. The heat transfer is primarily enhanced due to the decrease in the thermal resistance owing to the thinner boundary layers on the interrupted surfaces. Another reason for heat transfer enhancement can be attributed to the mixing induced by large-scale structures present downstream of the separation point.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Derrar ◽  
J. Nagler ◽  
W. W. Koschel

Abstract This paper presents experiments on the cooling effectiveness obtained for two different injection locations on the suction side of a turbine blade at transonic flow conditions. Previous results of a computational analysis and flow visualization indicated that a separation bubble is present on the suction side at a location x/L = 0.43 and the location x/L = 0.575 corresponds to a shock-boundary interaction zone [9]. The scientific interest is primarily focused on the realization of high film cooling efficiencies and its relevant parameters under these flow conditions. Streamwise aligned as well as inclined angled film coolant hole configurations have been investigated for each location. Due to the high number of interacting parameters the experimental simulation of turbine blade film cooling is extremely complex, which can only be solved by a simultaneous modeling using the experimentally measured results. Test rig, instrumentation and data analysis are described in detail. The goal of the investigations is to determine the optimum location of the film coolant injection.


Author(s):  
Sarwesh Parbat ◽  
Li Yang ◽  
Minking Chyu ◽  
Sin Chien Siw ◽  
Ching-Pang Lee

Abstract The strive to achieve increasingly higher efficiencies in gas turbine power generation has led to a continued rise in the turbine inlet temperature. As a result, novel cooling approaches for gas turbine blades are necessary to maintain them within the material’s thermal mechanical performance envelope. Various internal and external cooling technologies are used in different parts of the blade airfoil to provide the desired levels of cooling. Among the different regions of the blade profile, the trailing edge (TE) presents additional cooling challenges due to the thin cross section and high thermal loads. In this study, a new wavy geometry for the TE has been proposed and analyzed using steady state numerical simulations. The wavy TE structure resembled a sinusoidal wave running along the span of the blade. The troughs on both pressure side and suction side contained the coolant exit slots. As a result, consecutive coolant exit slots provided an alternating discharge between the suction side and the pressure side of the blade. Steady state conjugate heat transfer simulations were carried out using CFX solver for four coolant to mainstream mass flow ratios of 0.45%, 1%, 1.5% and 3%. The temperature distribution and film cooling effectiveness in the TE region were compared to two conventional geometries, pressure side cutback and centerline ejection which are widely used in vanes and blades for both land-based and aviation gas turbine engines. Unstructured mesh was generated for both fluid and solid domains and interfaces were defined between the two domains. For turbulence closer, SST-kω model was used. The wall y+ was maintained < 1 by using inflation layers at all the solid fluid interfaces. The numerical results depicted that the alternating discharge from the wavy TE was able to form protective film coverage on both the pressure and suction side of the blade. As a result, significant reduction in the TE metal was observed which was up to 14% lower in volume averaged temperature in the TE region when compared to the two baseline conventional configurations.


1991 ◽  
Vol 225 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Vincent ◽  
M. Meneguzzi

A direct numerical simulation at resolution 2403 is used to obtain a statistically stationary three-dimensional homogeneous and isotropic turbulent field at a Reynolds number around 1000 (Rλ ≈ 150). The energy spectrum displays an inertial subrange. The velocity derivative distribution, known to be strongly non-Gaussian, is found to be close to, but not, exponential. The nth-order moments of this distribution, as well as the velocity structure functions, do not scale with n as predicted by intermittency models. Visualization of the flow confirms the previous finding that the strongest vorticity is organized in very elongated thin tubes. The width of these tubes is of the order of a few dissipation scales, while their length can reach the integral scale of the flow.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Corsini ◽  
Giovanni Delibra ◽  
Anthony G. Sheard

Taking a lead from the humpback whale flukes, characterized by a series of bumps that result in a sinusoidal-like leading edge, this paper reports on a three-dimensional numerical study of sinusoidal leading edges on cambered airfoil profiles. The turbulent flow around the cambered airfoil with the sinusoidal leading edge was computed at different angles of attack with the open source solver OpenFOAM, using two different eddy viscosity models integrated to the wall. The reported research focused on the effects of the modified leading edge in terms of lift-to-drag performance and the influence of camber on such parameters. For these reasons a comparison with a symmetric airfoil is provided. The research was primarily concerned with the elucidation of the fluid flow mechanisms induced by the bumps and the impact of those mechanisms on airfoil performance, on both symmetric and cambered profiles. The bumps on the leading edge influenced the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil, and the lift curves were found to feature an early recovery in post-stall for the symmetric profile with an additional gain in lift for the cambered profile. The bumps drove the fluid dynamic on the suction side of the airfoil, which in turn resulted in the capability to control the separation at the trailing edge in coincidence with the peak of the sinusoid at the leading edge.


1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Pouagare ◽  
R. A. Delaney

A multisweep space-marching solver based on a modified version of the SIMPLE algorithm was employed to study the three-dimensional flow field through a linear cascade. Three cases were tested: one with moderate loading, one with high loading, and one with high loading and tip clearance. The results of the numerical simulation were compared with available experimental measurements, and the agreement between the two was found satisfactory. The numerical simulation provided insight into several important endwall flow phenomena such as the interaction between the leakage and passage vortices, the interaction between the leakage vortex and the wake, the effect of leakage flow and loading on losses and secondary kinetic energy, the suction side corner separation, and the blowing of this separation by the leakage flow.


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