Boundary Layer Transition on a Low Pressure Turbine Blade due to Downstream Potential Interaction

Author(s):  
Véronique Penin ◽  
Pascale Kulisa ◽  
François Bario

Engine manufacturers wish to reduce the size and weight of their engines, and one way of achieving this is by reducing the rotor-stator gap. It follows that rotor-stator interactions become stronger, especially the influence of the pressure potential, which, despite its rapid spatial decay, becomes significant as the inter-row gap is reduced. Here we examine the upstream potential effect generated by downstream moving cylindrical rods on an upstream turbine blade. A large scale rectilinear blade cascade was constructed to improve access to the boundary layer. The Reynolds number was 1.6 × 105. Pressure measurements and two-dimensional Laser Doppler Anemometry around the blade were performed to study the boundary layer behavior. At low turbulence intensity (Tu−in = 1.8%), the laminar boundary layer experiences separation once per rod period. There are two transition modes which alternate during a rod period: separation transition mode and bypass mode. At high turbulence intensity (Tu−in = 4.0%), no boundary layer separation occurs. The boundary layer follows a bypass transition mode during an entire rod period.

Author(s):  
Heinz-Adolf Schreiber ◽  
Wolfgang Steinert ◽  
Bernhard Küsters

An experimental and analytical study has been performed on the effect of Reynolds number and free-stream turbulence on boundary layer transition location on the suction surface of a controlled diffusion airfoil (CDA). The experiments were conducted in a rectilinear cascade facility at Reynolds numbers between 0.7 and 3.0×106 and turbulence intensities from about 0.7 to 4%. An oil streak technique and liquid crystal coatings were used to visualize the boundary layer state. For small turbulence levels and all Reynolds numbers tested the accelerated front portion of the blade is laminar and transition occurs within a laminar separation bubble shortly after the maximum velocity near 35–40% of chord. For high turbulence levels (Tu > 3%) and high Reynolds numbers transition propagates upstream into the accelerated front portion of the CDA blade. For those conditions, the sensitivity to surface roughness increases considerably and at Tu = 4% bypass transition is observed near 7–10% of chord. Experimental results are compared to theoretical predictions using the transition model which is implemented in the MISES code of Youngren and Drela. Overall the results indicate that early bypass transition at high turbulence levels must alter the profile velocity distribution for compressor blades that are designed and optimized for high Reynolds numbers.


Author(s):  
Ashley D. Scillitoe ◽  
Paul G. Tucker ◽  
Paolo Adami

Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is used to explore the boundary layer transition mechanisms in two rectilinear compressor cascades. To reduce numerical dissipation, a novel locally adaptive smoothing scheme is added to an unstructured finite-volume solver. The performance of a number of Sub-Grid Scale (SGS) models is explored. With the first cascade, numerical results at two different freestream turbulence intensities (Ti’s), 3.25% and 10%, are compared. At both Ti’s, time-averaged skin-friction and pressure coefficient distributions agree well with previous Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS). At Ti = 3.25%, separation induced transition occurs on the suction surface, whilst it is bypassed on the pressure surface. The pressure surface transition is dominated by modes originating from the convection of Tollmien-Schlichting waves by Klebanoff streaks. However, they do not resembled a classical bypass transition. Instead, they display characteristics of the “overlap” and “inner” transition modes observed in the previous DNS. At Ti = 10%, classical bypass transition occurs, with Klebanoff streaks incepting turbulent spots. With the second cascade, the influence of unsteady wakes on transition is examined. Wake-amplified Klebanoff streaks were found to instigate turbulent spots, which periodically shorten the suction surface separation bubble. The celerity line corresponding to 70% of the free-stream velocity, which is associated with the convection speed of the amplified Klebanoff streaks, was found to be important.


Author(s):  
S. Fan ◽  
B. Lakshminarayana

The unsteady pressure and boundary layers on a turbomachinery blade row arising from periodic wakes due to upstream blade rows are investigated in this paper. Numerical simulations are carried out to understand the effects of the wake velocity defect and the wake turbulence intensity on the development of unsteady blade boundary layers. The boundary layer transition on the blade is found to be strongly influenced by the unsteady wake passing. Periodic transitional patches are generated by the high turbulence intensity in the passing wakes and transported downstream. The time dependent transition results in large unsteadiness in the instantaneous local skin friction coefficient and a smoother time averaged transition curve than the one observed in the steady boundary layer. A parametric study is then carried out to determine the influence of wake parameters on the development of the unsteady blade boundary layers. It is shown that the unsteadiness in the blade boundary layer increases with a decrease in the axial gap, an increase in wake/blade count ratio or an increase in the wake traverse speed. The time averaged boundary layer momentum thickness at the trailing edge of the blade is found to increase significantly for higher wake/blade count ratio and larger wake traverse speed. Increase of the wake/blade count ratio also results in higher frictional drag of the blade.


Author(s):  
M. T. Schobeiri ◽  
R. E. Radke

Boundary layer transition and development on a turbomachinery blade is subjected to highly periodic unsteady turbulent flow, pressure gradient in longitudinal as well as lateral direction, and surface curvature. To study the effects of periodic unsteady wakes on the concave surface of a turbine blade, a curved plate was utilized. On the concave surface of this plate, detailed experimental investigations were carried out under zero and negative pressure gradient. The measurements were performed on an unsteady flow research facility using a rotating cascade of rods positioned upstream of the curved plate. Boundary layer measurements using a hot-wire probe were analyzed by the ensemble-averaging technique. The results presented in the temporal-spatial domain display the transition and further development of the boundary layer, specifically the ensemble-averaged velocity and turbulence intensity. As the results show, the turbulent patches generated by the wakes have different leading and trailing edge velocities and merge with the boundary layer resulting in a strong deformation and generation of a high turbulence intensity core. After the turbulent patch has totally penetrated into the boundary layer, pronounced becalmed regions were formed behind the turbulent patch and were extended far beyond the point they would occur in the corresponding undisturbed steady boundary layer.


1988 ◽  
Vol 92 (916) ◽  
pp. 224-229
Author(s):  
P. E. Roach

Summary The procedures employed for the design of a closed-circuit, boundary layer wind tunnel are described. The tunnel was designed for the generation of relatively large-scale, two-dimensional boundary layers with Reynolds numbers, pressure gradients and free-stream turbulence levels typical of the turbomachinery environment. The results of a series of tests to evaluate the tunnel performance are also described. The flow in the test section is shown to be highly uniform and steady, with very low (natural) free-stream turbulence intensities. Measured boundary layer mean and fluctuating velocity profiles were found to be in good agreement with classical correlations. Test-section free-stream turbulence intensities are presented for grid-generated turbulence: agreement with expectation is again found to be good. Immediate applications to the tunnel include friction drag reduction and boundary layer transition studies, with future possibilities including flow separation and other complex flows typical of those found in gas turbines.


Author(s):  
Mark W. Johnson ◽  
Ali H. Ercan

A boundary layer transition model is presented which relates the near wall velocity fluctuations to the formation of turbulent spots. This model is used to determine the turbulent intermittency within a boundary layer integral code. Comparisons are made between the code predictions and established empirical correlations for the adverse pressure gradient transition experiments performed by Gostelow and co-workers. Similarly good accuracy was achieved by both the model and empirical correlation for start of transition. However, empirical correlations were less reliable than the model for predicting end of transition. The model was also able to predict the evolution of the measured intermittency considerably more accurately than the Narasimha empirical correlation. The current modelling approach is thus demonstrated to be more reliable than empirical correlation for the modelling of transitional boundary layers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 875 ◽  
pp. 1175-1203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjie Zheng ◽  
Shanxin Ruan ◽  
Yue Yang ◽  
Lin He ◽  
Shiyi Chen

We develop a model of the skin-friction coefficient based on scalar images in the compressible, spatially evolving boundary-layer transition. The images are extracted from a passive scalar field by a sliding window filter on the streamwise and wall-normal plane. The multi-scale and multi-directional geometric analysis is applied to characterize the averaged inclination angle of spatially evolving filtered component fields at different scales ranging from a boundary-layer thickness to several viscous length scales. In general, the averaged inclination angles increase along the streamwise direction, and the variation of the angles for large-scale structures is smaller than that for small-scale structures. Inspired by the coincidence of the increasing averaged inclination angle and the rise of the skin-friction coefficient, we propose a simple image-based model of the skin-friction coefficient. The model blends empirical formulae of the skin-friction coefficient in laminar and fully developed turbulent regions using the normalized averaged inclination angle of scalar structures at intermediate and small scales. The model prediction calculated from scalar images is validated by the results from the direct numerical simulation at two Mach numbers, 2.25 and 6, and the relative error can be less than 15 %.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Winhart ◽  
Martin Sinkwitz ◽  
Andreas Schramm ◽  
Pascal Post ◽  
Francesca di Mare

Abstract In the proposed paper the transient interaction between periodic incoming wakes and the laminar separation bubble located on the rear suction surface of a typical, highly loaded LPT blade is investigated by means of highly resolved large-eddy simulations. An annular, large scale, 1.5-stage LPT test-rig, equipped with a modified T106 turbine blading and an upstream rotating vortex generator is considered and the numerical predictions are compared against hot film array measurements. In order to accurately assess both baseline transition and wake impact, simulations were conducted with unperturbed and periodically perturbed inflow conditions. Main mechanisms of transition and wake-boundary layer interaction are investigated utilizing a frequency-time domain analysis. Finally visualizations of the main flow structures and shear layer instabilities are provided utilizing the q-criterion as well as the finite-time Lyapunov exponent.


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