Influence of Different Rim Widths on Leakage Flow

Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
M. Zeng ◽  
Q. W. Wang

Three-dimensional simulations of squealer tip on GE-E3 blade with eight film cooling holes were numerically studied. The effect of the rim width and the blowing ratio on the blade tip flow was revealed. Numerical simulations were performed to predict the leakage flow and the tip heat transfer with the k-ε model. For the squealer tip, the depth of the cavity is the same and the width of the shoulder varies to form a narrow rim and a wide cavity, which can decrease the coolant momentum and the tip leakage flow velocity. This cavity contributes to the improvement of the cooling effect in the tip zone. To investigate the leakage flow influenced by the rim width, numerical simulations were made at four different models which have different rim widths of 0.58%, 0.89%, 1.16% and 1.74% axial chord (0.5mm, 0.77mm, 1 mm and 1.5mm, respectively) on both the pressure side rim and the suction side rim. From the simulated results, mathematical equations of mass flow rate of the leakage flow and the blowing ratio were proposed. With different rim widths, the effect of different global blowing ratios of M = 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 is investigated. In addition, calculation results of squealer tip and flat tip were compared. The simulation results are validated with some limited experimental data in the open literatures.

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Bengt Sundén ◽  
Min Zeng ◽  
Qiu-wang Wang

Three-dimensional simulations of the squealer tip on the GE-E3 blade with eight film cooling holes were carried out. The effect of the rim width and the blowing ratio on the blade tip flow and cooling performance were revealed. Numerical simulations were performed to predict the leakage flow and the tip heat transfer with the k–ɛ model. For the squealer tip, the depth of the cavity is fixed but the rim width varies to form a wide cavity, which can decrease the coolant momentum and the tip leakage flow velocity. This cavity contributes to the improvement of the cooling effect in the tip zone. To investigate the influence on the tip heat transfer by the rim width, numerical simulations were performed as a two-part study: (1) unequal rim width study on the pressure side and the suction side and (2) equal rim width study with rim widths of 0.58%, 1.16%, and 1.74% of the axial chord (0.5 mm, 1 mm, and 1.5 mm, respectively) on both the pressure side rim and the suction side rim. With different rim widths, the effect of different global blowing ratios, i.e., M = 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5, was investigated. It is found that the total heat transfer rate is increasing and the heat transfer rates on the rim surface (RS) rapidly ascend with increasing rim width.


Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
D. H. Zhang ◽  
M. Zeng ◽  
Q. W. Wang

Three-dimensional simulations of squealer tip on GE-E3 blade with eight film cooling holes were numerically studied. Numerical simulations were performed to predict the leakage flow and the tip heat transfer in the tip-gap region with the κ-ε model. For the squealer tip, the depth of the cavity is 2.42 mm, and the width of the shoulder is 0.77 mm, which forms a narrow rim and a wide cavity, decreasing the coolant momentum and the tip leakage flow velocity. The cavity contributes to the improvement of the cooling effect. In view of the absence of detailed three-dimensional flow measurements in the tip region of the blade and current lack of related literatures, it is necessary to fix attention on the shoulder width. To investigate the leakage flow influenced by the rim width, the paper used the asymmetric structure. The rim width in pressure surface in the tip-gap region is different from the one in suction surface. Numerical simulations were made at three different models, which were 0.77 mm, 1.22 mm and 1.67 mm respectively on the pressure side rim, and which were 0.77 mm, 2.27 mm and 3.77 mm respectively on the suction side rim. The rim width has a significant influence on local tip heat transfer coefficient distribution and the tip leakage flow. The detailed information was obtained under global blowing ratios of M = 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. In addition, varying rim width models of squealer tip without film cooling holes were compared with those with film cooling holes.


Author(s):  
Qihe Huang ◽  
Jiao Wang ◽  
Lei He ◽  
Qiang Xu

A numerical study is performed to simulate the tip leakage flow and heat transfer on the first stage rotor blade tip of GE-E3 turbine, which represents a modern gas turbine blade geometry. Calculations consist of the flat blade tip without and with film cooling. For the flat tip without film cooling case, in order to investigate the effect of tip gap clearance on the leakage flow and heat transfer on the blade tip, three different tip gap clearances of 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.5% of the blade span are considered. And to assess the performance of the turbulence models in correctly predicting the blade tip heat transfer, the simulations have been performed by using four different models (the standard k-ε, the RNG k-ε, the standard k-ω and the SST models), and the comparison shows that the standard k-ω model provides the best results. All the calculations of the flat tip without film cooling have been compared and validated with the experimental data of Azad[1] and the predictions of Yang[2]. For the flat tip with film cooling case, three different blowing ratio (M = 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5) have been studied to the influence on the leakage flow in tip gap and the cooling effectiveness on the blade tip. Tip film cooling can largely reduce the overall heat transfer on the tip. And the blowing ratio M = 1.0, the cooling effect for the blade tip is the best.


Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Bengt Sundén ◽  
Min Zeng ◽  
Qiu-Wang Wang

Three-dimensional simulations of the squealer tip on the GE-E3 blade with eight film cooling holes were carried out. To form the wake by the trailing edges of the stator vanes, cylindrical rods and delta wings were placed upstream of the blades. The rods were placed according to three positions, and the influence on the film cooling effectiveness was calculated. Because delta wings were placed upstream of the blades to generate in the vane passage, the passage flow also was investigated. However, the passage vortex generated by the delta wings had a profound effect on the passage flow distribution. For the squealer tip, the cavity contributes to the improvement of the cooling effect in the tip zone. The passage flow and the tip leakage flow influenced by cylindrical rods and delta wings were analyzed using numerical simulations with the blowing ratio of M = 0.5. In addition, calculations with and without cylindrical rods and delta wings were performed and then comparisons were enabled. It was found that the vortex created by delta wings made the passage flow more turbulent and the result indicates a slight effect on the film cooling effectiveness in the tip gap.


Author(s):  
Jianhua Wang ◽  
Yalin Liu ◽  
Xiaochun Wang ◽  
Zhineng Du ◽  
Shijie Yang

Experimental and numerical investigations of the tip leakage flow characteristics between turbine blade tip and stator wall (shroud) were conducted by a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system and the commercially available software CFX 11.0. A three-time scaled profile of the GE-E3 blade was used as specimen. Two rows of cylindrical film-cooling holes with 1.5mm diameter were arranged in the blade tip. One row with 5 holes was placed in pressure side just below the groove floor, and the other with 11 holes was equidistantly arranged on the tip along the mid camber line. To exhibit the generation and movement of leakage vortex, and to compare the coolant injection effects from different rows, several typical velocity profiles were captured by the PIV system. The experimental results were used as a data source to validate the turbulence model and numerical program. To better understand the mixing characteristics of the coolant injected from different rows with the leakage flow, the fluid fields of the leakage vortex and coolant flow were simulated, and the leakage mass rates from the blade tip in different coolant injection cases and different gaps were quantitatively estimated by the validated numerical program.


Author(s):  
D. H. Zhang ◽  
M. Zeng ◽  
Q. W. Wang

The film cooling phenomenon of flat tip (with or without a trench) and squealer tip on GE-E3 blade in rotating state was numerically studied. The effect of tip configuration, rotating speed and blowing ratio on the blade tip flow and cooling performance was revealed. It was found that the squealer tip and the flat tip with trenched hole have comparability in configuration: both have a cavity at the end of the film hole. So the coolant momentum and the tip leakage flow velocity in the cavity are decreased, which contributes to the improvement of the cooling effect. Because of the bigger cavity of the squealer tip than that of the flat tip with trenched hole, the cooling air and the leakage flow mix adequately in the cavity, the squealer tip can get the highest cooling effectiveness and the lowest heat transfer coefficient value both in stationary and rotating state, and the flat tip with trenched hole follows. With the increase of rotating speed, for all the three configurations, the area-averaged cooling effectiveness decreases and the area-averaged heat transfer coefficient increases. At the same time, the tip leakage flow entraps the cooling air moving toward the leading edge. And with the increase of the blowing ratio, for all the configurations, the area-averaged cooling effectiveness increases while the area-averaged heat transfer coefficients decreases.


Author(s):  
E. M. Hohlfeld ◽  
J. R. Christophel ◽  
E. L. Couch ◽  
K. A. Thole

The clearance gap between the tip of a turbine blade and its associated shroud provides a flow path for leakage from the pressure side of the blade to the suction side. The tip region is one area that experiences high heat transfer and, as such, can be the determining factor for blade life. One method for reducing blade tip heat transfer is to use cooler fluid from the compressor, that exits from relatively large dirt purge holes placed in the tip, for cooling purposes. Dirt purge holes are typically manufactured in the blade tip to extract dirt from the coolant flow through centrifugal forces such that these dirt particles do not block smaller diameter film-cooling holes. This paper discusses the results of numerous computational simulations of cooling injection from dirt purge holes along the tip of a turbine blade. Some comparisons are also made to experimental results in which a properly scaled-up blade geometry (12X) was used to form a two-passage linear cascade. Computational results indicate that the cooling achieved through the dirt purge injection from the blade tip is dependent on the gap size as well as the blowing ratio. For a small tip gap (0.54% of the span) the flow exiting the dirt purge holes act as a blockage for the leakage flow across the gap. As the blowing ratio is increased for a large tip gap (1.63% of the span), the tip cooling increases only slightly while the cooling to the shroud increases significantly.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shantanu Mhetras ◽  
Diganta Narzary ◽  
Zhihong Gao ◽  
Je-Chin Han

Film-cooling effectiveness from shaped holes on the near tip pressure side and cylindrical holes on the squealer cavity floor is investigated. The pressure side squealer rim wall is cut near the trailing edge to allow the accumulated coolant in the cavity to escape and cool the tip trailing edge. Effects of varying blowing ratios and squealer cavity depth are also examined on film-cooling effectiveness. The film-cooling effectiveness distributions are measured on the blade tip, near tip pressure side and the inner pressure side and suction side rim walls using pressure sensitive paint technique. The internal coolant-supply passages of the squealer tipped blade are modeled similar to those in the GE-E3 rotor blade with two separate serpentine loops supplying coolant to the film-cooling holes. Two rows of cylindrical film-cooling holes are arranged offset to the suction side profile and along the camber line on the tip. Another row of shaped film-cooling holes is arranged along the pressure side just below the tip. The average blowing ratio of the cooling gas is controlled to be 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0. A five-bladed linear cascade in a blow down facility with a tip gap clearance of 1.5% is used to perform the experiments. The free-stream Reynolds number, based on the axial chord length and the exit velocity, was 1,480,000 and the inlet and exit Mach numbers were 0.23 and 0.65, respectively. A blowing ratio of 1.0 is found to give best results on the pressure side, whereas the tip surfaces forming the squealer cavity give best results for M=2. Results show high film-cooling effectiveness magnitudes near the trailing edge of the blade tip due to coolant accumulation from upstream holes in the tip cavity. A squealer depth with a recess of 2.1mm causes the average effectiveness magnitudes to decrease slightly as compared to a squealer depth of 4.2mm.


Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Yong Yu ◽  
M. Zeng ◽  
Q. W. Wang

Three-dimensional simulations of the squealer tip on the GE-E3 blade with eight film cooling holes were carried out. The effect of different blade spans and different blowing ratios on the tip flow and cooling performance was revealed with the k-ε model. For the squealer tip, the depth of the cavity and the height of the tip clearance were fixed, the influence of different spans (10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% span) on the tip heat transfer was investigated. It was found that the velocity field above the blade tip and the heat transfer distribution on the groove floor for the 10% span (cut-back span) model had no difference from that for the 100% span (whole span) model obviously. However, the leakage flow for the 10% span model showed larger interaction with the passage flow. With different spans, the effect of different blowing ratios, i.e., M = 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2, was investigated. Increasing the blowing ratio (from M = 0.4 to 1.2) increased the film cooling effectiveness and made the heat transfer coefficients of all the models smaller. Because the cut-back model for the 10% span had similar tip flow field with the 100% span model, the simulation for the 10% span model could be used to find out the tip flow and heat transfer for the 100% span model.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Du ◽  
Feng Lin ◽  
Jingyi Chen ◽  
Chaoqun Nie ◽  
Christoph Biela

Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate flow structures in the tip region for an axial transonic rotor, with careful comparisons with the experimental results. The calculated performance curve and two-dimensional (2D) flow structures observed at casing, such as the shock wave, the expansion wave around the leading edge, and the tip leakage flow at peak efficiency and near-stall points, are all captured by simulation results, which agree with the experimental data well. An in-depth analysis of three-dimensional flow structures reveals three features: (1) there exists an interface between the incoming main flow and the tip leakage flow, (2) in this rotor the tip leakage flows along the blade chord can be divided into at least two parts according to the blade loading distribution, and (3) each part plays a different role on the stall inception mechanism in the leakage flow dominated region. A model of three-dimensional flow structures of tip leakage flow is thus proposed accordingly. In the second half of this paper, the unsteady features of the tip leakage flows, which emerge at the operating points close to stall, are presented and validated with experiment observations. The numerical results in the rotor relative reference frame are first converted to the casing absolute reference frame before compared with the measurements in experiments. It is found that the main frequency components of simulation at absolute reference frame match well with those measured in the experiments. The mechanism of the unsteadiness and its significance to stability enhancement design are then discussed based on the details of the flow field obtained through numerical simulations.


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