Feasibility Study of Incorporating Flow Unsteadiness in Control of Secondary Flows in Shrouded Turbines

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Gao ◽  
Qun Zheng ◽  
Xiaoquan Jia
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Internal Flow ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Numerical Investigations ◽  
Flow Interactions ◽  
Turbine Cascades ◽  
Flow Effects

The internal flow in turbomachinery is inherently unsteady, and the endwall losses are major sources of lost efficiency in high-pressure turbine cascades. Therefore, the investigation of the unsteady endwall flow interactions is valuable to improve the performance of high-pressure turbines. Unsteady and steady numerical investigations of endwall flow interactions of 1.5-stage shrouded turbines with straight and bowed vanes are performed using a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes viscous solver. Emphasis is placed on how unsteady stator-rotor interactions affect shrouded turbine endwall secondary flows, on the basis of which the feasibility of incorporating the unsteady endwall flow effects in the control of secondary flows is discussed in detail. Results from this investigation are well presented and discussed in this paper.

Design Optimization of Profiled Endwall With Consideration of Cooling and Rim Seal Flow Effects

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huimin Tang ◽  
Shuaiqiang Liu ◽  
Hualing Luo
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Secondary Flow ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Optimization Procedure ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Operation Condition ◽  
Turbine Performance

Profiled endwall is an effective method to improve aerodynamic performance of turbine. This approach has been widely studied in the past decade on many engines. When automatic design optimisation is considered, most of the researches are usually based on the assumption of a simplified simulation model without considering cooling and rim seal flows. However, many researchers find out that some of the benefits achieved by optimization procedure are lost when applying the high-fidelity geometry configuration. Previously, an optimization procedure has been implemented by integrating the in-house geometry manipulator, a commercial three-dimensional CFD flow solver and the optimization driver, IsightTM. This optimization procedure has been executed [12] to design profiled endwalls for a turbine cascade and a one-and-half stage axial turbine. Improvements of the turbine performance have been achieved. As the profiled endwall is applied to a high pressure turbine, the problems of cooling and rim seal flows should be addressed. In this work, the effects of rim seal flow and cooling on the flow field of two-stage high pressure turbine have been presented. Three optimization runs are performed to design the profiled endwall of Rotor-One with different optimization model to consider the effects of rim flow and cooling separately. It is found that the rim seal flow has a significant impact on the flow field. The cooling is able to change the operation condition greatly, but barely affects the secondary flow in the turbine. The influences of the profiled endwalls on the flow field in turbine and cavities have been analyzed in detail. A significant reduction of secondary flows and corresponding increase of performance are achieved when taking account of the rim flows into the optimization. The traditional optimization mechanism of profiled endwall is to reduce the cross passage gradient, which has great influence on the strength of the secondary flow. However, with considering the rim seal flows, the profiled endwall improves the turbine performance mainly by controlling the path of rim seal flow. Then the optimization procedure with consideration of rim seal flow has also been applied to the design of the profiled endwall for Stator Two.

scholarly journals Calculation and Correlation of the Unsteady Flowfield in a High Pressure Turbine

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milind A. Bakhle ◽  
Jong S. Liu ◽  
Josef Panovsky ◽  
Theo G. Keith ◽  
Oral Mehmed
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Unsteady Aerodynamics ◽  
Forced Vibrations ◽  
Forced Response ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Turbine Stage ◽  
High Pressure Turbine

Forced vibrations in turbomachinery components can cause blades to crack or fail due to high-cycle fatigue. Such forced response problems will become more pronounced in newer engines with higher pressure ratios and smaller axial gap between blade rows. An accurate numerical prediction of the unsteady aerodynamics phenomena that cause resonant forced vibrations is increasingly important to designers. Validation of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes used to model the unsteady aerodynamic excitations is necessary before these codes can be used with confidence. Recently published benchmark data, including unsteady pressures and vibratory strains, for a high-pressure turbine stage makes such code validation possible. In the present work, a three dimensional, unsteady, multi blade-row, Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes code is applied to a turbine stage that was recently tested in a short duration test facility. Two configurations with three operating conditions corresponding to modes 2, 3, and 4 crossings on the Campbell diagram are analyzed. Unsteady pressures on the rotor surface are compared with data.

EBFOG: Deposition, Erosion and Detachment on High Pressure Turbine Vanes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Casari ◽  
Michele Pinelli ◽  
Alessio Suman ◽  
Francesco Montomoli ◽  
Luca di Mare
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Reduction Rate ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Flight Crew ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Area Reduction ◽  
Performance Deterioration ◽  
Engine Stability

Fouling and erosion are two pressing problems that severely affect gas turbine performance and life. When aircraft fly through a volcanic ash cloud the two phenomena occur simultaneously in the cold as well as in the hot section of the engine. In the high pressure turbine, in particular, the particles soften or melt due to the high gas temperatures and stick to the wet surfaces. The throat area, and hence the capacity, of the HP turbine is modified by these phenomena, affecting the engine stability and possibly forcing engine shutdown. This work presents a model for deposition and erosion in gas turbines and its implementation in a three dimensional Navier-Stokes solver. Both deposition and erosion are kept into account, together with deposit detachment due to changed flow conditions. The model is based on a statistical description of the behaviour of softened particles. The particles can stick to the surface or can bounce away, eroding the material. The sticking prediction relies on the authors’ EBFOG model. The impinging particles which do not stick to the surface are responsible for the removal of material. The model is demonstrated on a high pressure turbine vane. The performance deterioration and the throat area reduction rate are carefully monitored. The safe-to-fly time through a cloud can be inferred from the outcome of this work as important piece of on-board information for the flight crew.

3D Simulation of a Convergent-Divergent Aero Engine Intake, Using Two Different CFD Methods

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Templalexis ◽  
Pericles Pilidis ◽  
Geoffrey Guindeuil ◽  
Theodoros Lekas ◽  
Vassilios Pachidis
Keyword(s):  
Vortex Lattice ◽  
Cfd Simulation ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Internal Flow ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Lattice Method ◽  
Vortex Lattice Method ◽  
Aero Engine ◽  
Flow Effects ◽  
Development And Validation

This study refers to the development and validation of a Three Dimensional (3D) Vortex Lattice Method (VLM) to be used for internal flow case studies and more precisely aero-engine intake simulation. It examines the quantitative and qualitative response of the method to a convergent – divergent intake, produced as a surface of revolution of the CFM56-5B2 upper lip geometry. The study was carried out for three different sections namely: Intake outlet, intake throat and intake inlet. Moreover five different settings of Angle Of Attack (AOA) were considered. The VLM was based on an existing code. It was modified to accommodate internal flow effects and match, as closely as possible, the boundary conditions set by the Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. In the context of this study, Vortex Lattice-derived average values velocity profiles were compared against RANS CFD results.

EBFOG: Deposition, Erosion, and Detachment on High-Pressure Turbine Vanes

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Casari ◽  
Michele Pinelli ◽  
Alessio Suman ◽  
Luca di Mare ◽  
Francesco Montomoli
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Flight Crew ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Turbine Performance ◽  
Turbine Vanes ◽  
Volcanic Ash Cloud ◽  
Engine Stability

Fouling and erosion are two pressing problems that severely affect gas turbine performance and life. When aircraft fly through a volcanic ash cloud, the two phenomena occur simultaneously in the cold as well as in the hot section of the engine. In the high-pressure turbine (HPT), in particular, particles soften or melt due to the high gas temperatures and stick to the wet surfaces. The throat area, and hence the capacity, of the HPT is modified by these phenomena, affecting the engine stability and possibly forcing engine shutdown. This work presents a model for deposition and erosion in gas turbines and its implementation in a three-dimensional Navier–Stokes solver. Both deposition and erosion are taken into account, together with deposit detachment due to changed flow conditions. The model is based on a statistical description of the behavior of softened particles. The particles can stick to the surface or can bounce away, eroding the material. The sticking prediction relies on the authors' Energy Based FOulinG (EBFOG) model. The impinging particles which do not stick to the surface are responsible for the removal of material. The model is demonstrated on a HPT vane. The airfoil shape evolution over the exposure time as a consequence of the impinging particles has been carefully monitored. The variation of the flow field as a consequence of the geometrical changes is reported as an important piece of on-board information for the flight crew.

3D-Modelling and Simulation of Physicochemical Transformations in a High-Pressure Turbine (HPT) of an Aircraft Engine

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. H. Nguyen ◽  
F. Garnier
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Aircraft Engine ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Geometrical Parameters ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
3D Design ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Fluent Software

In this work, the 3D design of the stator, rotor of a turbine is performed. A one way coupling between a detailed physicochemical box model and multidimensional Navier-Stokes solver (FLUENT software) is used. Various series of three-dimensional calculations including approximately 500,000 elements are carried out to calculate aero-thermodynamics fields for a first stage of high-pressure turbine of the CFM56 aero-engine. The results show that blades of early turbine stages, directly downstream of combustor are subjected to relatively high levels of unsteadiness generated from complex significant three dimensional shear layers. The latter causes the formation of large-scale turbulent. By consequence, the complex interactions between the geometrical parameters, thermodynamical and chemical processes involving aerosol precursor formation in the turbine are analyzed and investigated.

A Novel Vortex Identification Technique Applied to the 3D Flow Field of a High-Pressure Turbine

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Pátý ◽  
Sergio Lavagnoli
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Pure Shear ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Vortex Identification ◽  
3D Flow ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Vortical Structures ◽  
Identification Technique

Abstract The efficiency of modern axial turbomachinery is strongly driven by the secondary flows within the vane or blade passages. The secondary flows are characterized by a complex pattern of vortical structures that origin, interact and dissipate along the turbine gas path. The endwall flows are responsible for the generation of a significant part of the overall turbine loss because of the dissipation of secondary kinetic energy and mixing-out of non-uniform momentum flows. The understanding and analysis of secondary flows requires a reliable vortex identification technique to predict and analyse the impact of specific turbine designs on the turbine performance. However, literature shows a remarkable lack of general methods to detect vortices and to determine the location of their cores and to quantify their strength. This paper presents a novel technique for the identification of vortical structures in a general 3D flow field. The method operates on the local flow field and it is based on a triple decomposition of motion proposed by Kolář. In contrast to a decomposition of velocity gradient into the strain and vorticity tensors, this method considers a third, pure shear component. The subtraction of the pure shear tensor from the velocity gradient remedies the inherent flaw of vorticity-based techniques which cannot distinguish between rigid rotation and shear. The triple decomposition of motion serves to obtain a 3D field of residual vorticity whose magnitude is used to define vortex regions. The present method allows to locate automatically the core of each vortex, quantify its strength and determine the vortex bounding surface. The output may be used to visualize the turbine vortical structures for the purpose of interpreting the complex three-dimensional viscous flow field, as well as to highlight any case-to-case variations by quantifying the vortex strength and location. The vortex identification method is applied to a high-pressure turbine with three optimized blade tip geometries. The 3D flow-field is obtained by CFD computations performed with Numeca FINE/Open. The computational model uses steady-state RANS equations closed by the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. Although developed for turbomachinery applications, the vortex identification method proposed in this work is of general applicability to any three-dimensional flow-field.

Experimental and numerical investigations of aerodynamic behavior of a three-stage high-pressure turbine at different operation conditions

2011 ◽  
Vol 226 (6) ◽  
pp. 1535-1549
Author(s):  
S Abdelfattah ◽  
M T Schobeiri
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Numerical Results ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Numerical Investigations ◽  
Operation Conditions ◽  
And Performance

Using the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes-based numerical methods to simulate the flow field, efficiency and performance of high-pressure turbine components of multi-stage steam turbines result in substantial differences between the experimental and the numerical results pertaining to the individual flow quantities. These differences are integrally noticeable in terms of major discrepancies in aerodynamic losses, efficiency, and performance of the turbine. As a consequence, engine manufacturers are compelled to frequently calibrate their simulation package by performing a series of experiments before issuing efficiency and performance guaranty. The aim of this article is to investigate the cause of the aforementioned differences by utilizing a three-stage high-pressure research turbine with three-dimensional compound lean blades as the platform for experimental and numerical investigations. Experimental data were obtained using interstage aerodynamic measurements at three measurement stations, namely, downstream of the first rotor row, the second stator row, and the second rotor row. Detailed measurements were conducted using custom-designed five-hole probes traversed in both circumferential and radial directions. Aerodynamic measurements were carried out within a rotational speed range of 1800–2800 r/min. Numerical simulations were performed utilizing a commercially available computational fluid dynamics code. A detailed mesh of the three stages was created and used to simulate the corresponding operating conditions. The experimental and numerical results were compared following a critical discussion relative to differences mentioned above.

Investigation of the Flow Field in a High-Pressure Turbine Stage for Two Stator-Rotor Axial Gaps—Part I: Three-Dimensional Time-Averaged Flow Field

2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 572-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Gaetani ◽  
G. Persico ◽  
V. Dossena ◽  
C. Osnaghi
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Flow Fields ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Flow Structures ◽  
Axial Distance ◽  
Turbine Stage ◽  
High Pressure Turbine

An extensive experimental analysis on the subject of unsteady flow field in high-pressure turbine stages was carried out at the Laboratorio di Fluidodinamica delle Macchine (LFM) of Politecnico di Milano. The research stage represents a typical modern HP gas turbine stage designed by means of three-dimensional (3D) techniques, characterized by a leaned stator and a bowed rotor and operating in high subsonic regime. The first part of the program concerns the analysis of the steady flow field in the stator-rotor axial gap by means of a conventional five-hole probe and a temperature sensor. Measurements were carried out on eight planes located at different axial positions, allowing the complete definition of the three-dimensional flow field both in absolute and relative frame of reference. The evolution of the main flow structures, such as secondary flows and vane wakes, downstream of the stator are here presented and discussed in order to evidence the stator aerodynamic performance and, in particular, the different flow field approaching the rotor blade row for the two axial gaps. This results set will support the discussion of the unsteady stator-rotor effects presented in Part II (Gaetani, P., Persico, G., Dossena, V., and Osnaghi, C., 2007, ASME J. Turbomach., 129(3), pp. 580–590). Furthermore, 3D time-averaged measurements downstream of the rotor were carried out at one axial distance and for two stator-rotor axial gaps. The position of the probe with respect to the stator blades is changed by rotating the stator in circumferential direction, in order to describe possible effects of the nonuniformity of the stator exit flow field downstream of the stage. Both flow fields, measured for the nominal and for a very large stator-rotor axial gap, are discussed, and results show the persistence of some stator flow structures downstream of the rotor, in particular, for the minimum axial gap. Finally, the flow fields are compared to evidence the effect of the stator-rotor axial gap on the stage performance from a time-averaged point of view.

A Novel Vortex Identification Technique Applied to the 3D Flow Field of a High-Pressure Turbine

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Pátý ◽  
Sergio Lavagnoli
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Pure Shear ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Vortex Identification ◽  
3D Flow ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Vortical Structures ◽  
Identification Technique

Abstract The efficiency of modern axial turbomachinery is strongly driven by the secondary flows within the vane or blade passages. The secondary flows are characterized by a complex pattern of vortical structures that origin, interact, and dissipate along the turbine gas path. The endwall flows are responsible for the generation of a significant part of the overall turbine loss because of the dissipation of secondary kinetic energy and mixing out of nonuniform momentum flows. The understanding and analysis of secondary flows requires a reliable vortex identification technique to predict and analyze the impact of specific turbine designs on the turbine performance. However, the literature shows a remarkable lack of general methods to detect vortices and to determine the location of their cores and to quantify their strength. This paper presents a novel technique for the identification of vortical structures in a general 3D flow field. The method operates on the local flow field, and it is based on a triple decomposition of motion proposed by Kolář. In contrast to a decomposition of velocity gradient into the strain and vorticity tensors, this method considers a third, pure shear component. The subtraction of the pure shear tensor from the velocity gradient remedies the inherent flaw of vorticity-based techniques, which cannot distinguish between rigid rotation and shear. The triple decomposition of motion serves to obtain a 3D field of residual vorticity whose magnitude is used to define vortex regions. The present method allows to locate automatically the core of each vortex, to quantify its strength, and to determine the vortex bounding surface. The output may be used to visualize the turbine vortical structures for the purpose of interpreting the complex three-dimensional viscous flow field and to highlight any case-to-case variations by quantifying the vortex strength and location. The vortex identification method is applied to a high-pressure turbine with three optimized blade tip geometries. The 3D flow field is obtained by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computations performed with Numeca FINE/Open. The computational model uses steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations closed by the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. Although developed for turbomachinery applications, the vortex identification method proposed in this work is of general applicability to any three-dimensional flow field.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document