Study on Leakage Loss Control Method of Circumferential Bending Clearance

Author(s):  
Shuai Jiang ◽  
Fu Chen ◽  
Jianyang Yu ◽  
Shaowen Chen ◽  
Yanping Song

Abstract The concept of circumferential bending clearance based on Gauss Bimodal Function is proposed to suppress tip leakage flow (TLF) in a highly-loaded turbine cascade. In this method, a new vortex (BV) can be induced to mix with TLV in the middle of tip region and block the development of tip leakage vortex (TLV). Since the blocking effect divides the TLV into two parts, the tip leakage rate and loss of TLF can be reduced significantly. In order to reveal the mechanisms of blocking effect on leakage flow and its influencing factors, the research numerically investigates the effects of environmental conditions on the TLF development in a turbine cascade. The flow field analysis of the optimal bending clearance is in the first place, and then the effects of clearance heights (δ) and incidence angles (α) on the TLF characteristic and loss are investigated respectively. Results indicate that the blocking effect has a close relationship with the TLF characteristic, which can be divided into the BV migration, TLV-2 location and blocking loss. The nearer distance to the leading edge (LE) and farther distance to the suction side (SS) of BV means a less loss of TLF in bending clearance cases. The further distance away from blade tip and SS of TLV-2 means a larger-scale vortex with more loss. The additional loss in blocking region expands constantly with the increase of clearance height and incidence angle. The bending clearance has limited control effect on TLF with the variation of clearance height, especially the loss increases in Case 2%H. However, it has a strong adaptability with the change of incidence angle, the relative total pressure loss drops up to 16% in Case −5°.

Author(s):  
Xiaochen Mao ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Hang Zhao

This paper presents the studies performed to better understand the effects of increased tip clearance size on the unsteady flow behaviors and overall performance under the rotor–rotor interaction environment in a counter-rotating axial flow compressor. The investigation method is based on the three-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations. The results show that the intensified tip leakage flow in front rotor (R1) caused by the increased tip clearance size will lead to the growth of incoming incidence angle near the tip of the rear rotor (R2). The increasing of double leakage flow range plays a significant role in the sensitivity of the efficiency to tip clearance size and its extent is enlarged gradually with the increase of tip clearance size. As the tip clearance size is increased to 1.5τ (τ represents the designed tip clearance size) from 0.5τ, the results of the fast Fourier transform for the static pressure near blade tip show that two other new fluctuating frequency components appear due to the happening of tip leakage flow self-unsteadiness in R1 and R2, respectively. Additionally, the fluctuating strength near the tip in R2 is significantly increased. However, both the overall fluctuation in R1 caused by the potential effect from downstream and the oscillation in the hub corner on the pressure side of R2 are decreased obviously. The relative inflow angle tends to increase when the incoming wakes and tip leakage flow from R1 encounter the blade leading edge of R2, which leads to the result that the trajectory of tip leakage flow is shifted more upstream.


Author(s):  
Sarallah Abbasi ◽  
Afshin Gholamalipour

Tip leakage flow reduces both efficiency and performance of axial turbines and damages turbine blades as well. Therefore, it is of great importance to identify and control tip leakage flow. This study investigated the effect of flow injection (from the casing), alongside flow structure, on turbine performance. Additionally, the effect of different injection parameters, including injection mass flow rate, angle, location, and diameter on the turbine performance are evaluated. A numerical analysis of the flow in a two-stage axial turbine was employed by using CFX software. To ensure the accuracy of the results, turbine performance curves were compared with the experimental results, which are in good agreement. Analyses revealed that active control method reduces tip leakage flow, improves turbine performance, and increases the efficiency by 1% to 5% as well. A parametric investigation of the tip injection has sought to identify how various parameters affect the turbine performance. The cross-section diameter and the angle of injection had no significant increase on efficiency. Additionally, results showed that at a point 9 mm further from the leading edge, the injection degree of effectiveness is optimum. Finally, analysis of the flow structure in the tip clearance region supported the tip leakage flow reduction.


Author(s):  
Botao Zhang ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Hejian Wang ◽  
Xiaochen Mao

In order to deeply analyze the application prospect of the boundary layer suction technique on the compressor, the flow control effect of endwall suction scheme on the tip leakage flow of a compressor cascade at a large incidence angle with complex internal flow structure and different loss proportion from the case at design incidence angle, was studied numerically, as well as on the overall aerodynamic performance. The results show that the suction scheme directly affects the structure of the tip leakage flow and makes the onset position of the tip leakage vortex move backward, which weakens the intensity and influence range of the tip leakage flow, thus improving the cascade performance in the tip region. At the large incidence angle, large flow suction makes the boundary layer separation in the low span area advance, and the corner separation region at the gap-free end expands to the upper. The position of the separation vortex shedding rises from 10% blade span under the condition without suction to about 70% blade span under the condition with the suction flow rate of 0.7%, and the separation loss increases. The overall performance of the cascade at the large incidence angle mainly depends on the increase of separation loss, while the effect of the decrease of leakage loss on it is greatly reduced. With suction, the total pressure loss coefficient of the cascade increases by about 5.7% at the incidence angle of +8°.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4168
Author(s):  
Botao Zhang ◽  
Xiaochen Mao ◽  
Xiaoxiong Wu ◽  
Bo Liu

To explain the effect of tip leakage flow on the performance of an axial-flow transonic compressor, the compressors with different rotor tip clearances were studied numerically. The results show that as the rotor tip clearance increases, the leakage flow intensity is increased, the shock wave position is moved backward, and the interaction between the tip leakage vortex and shock wave is intensified, while that between the boundary layer and shock wave is weakened. Most of all, the stall mechanisms of the compressors with varying rotor tip clearances are different. The clearance leakage flow is the main cause of the rotating stall under large rotor tip clearance. However, the stall form for the compressor with half of the designed tip clearance is caused by the joint action of the rotor tip stall caused by the leakage flow spillage at the blade leading edge and the whole blade span stall caused by the separation of the boundary layer of the rotor and the stator passage. Within the investigated varied range, when the rotor tip clearance size is half of the design, the compressor performance is improved best, and the peak efficiency and stall margin are increased by 0.2% and 3.5%, respectively.


2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teng Cao ◽  
Tadashi Kanzaka ◽  
Liping Xu ◽  
Tobias Brandvik

Abstract In this paper, an unsteady tip leakage flow phenomenon is identified and investigated in a centrifugal compressor with a vaneless diffuser at near-stall conditions. This phenomenon is associated with the inception of a rotating instability in the compressor. The study is based on numerical simulations that are supported by experimental measurements. The study confirms that the unstable flow is governed by a Kelvin–Helmholtz type instability of the shear layer formed between the main-stream flow and the tip leakage flow. The shear layer instability induces large-scale vortex roll-up and forms vortex tubes, which propagate circumferentially, resulting in measured pressure fluctuations with short wavelength and high amplitude which rotate at about half of the blade speed. The 3D vortex tube is also found to interact with the main blade leading edge, causing the reduction of the blade loading identified in the experiment. The paper also reveals that the downstream volute imposes a once-per-rev circumferential nonuniform back pressure at the impeller exit, inducing circumferential loading variation at the impeller inducer, and causing circumferential variation in the unsteady tip leakage flow.


Author(s):  
Leilei Ji ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Weidong Shi ◽  
Fei Tian ◽  
Shuo Li ◽  
...  

In order to study the effect of different numbers of impeller blades on the performance of mixed-flow pump “saddle zone”, the external characteristic test and numerical simulation of mixed-flow pumps with three different impeller blade numbers were carried out. Based on high-precision numerical prediction, the internal flow field and tip leakage flow field of mixed flow pump under design conditions and stall conditions are investigated. By studying the vorticity transport in the stall flow field, the specific location of the high loss area inside the mixed flow pump impeller with different numbers of blades is located. The research results show that the increase in the number of impeller blades improve the pump head and efficiency under design conditions. Compared to the 4-blade impeller, the head and efficiency of the 5-blade impeller are increased by 5.4% and 21.9% respectively. However, the increase in the number of blades also leads to the widening of the “saddle area” of the mixed-flow pump, which leads to the early occurrence of stall and increases the instability of the mixed-flow pump. As the mixed-flow pump enters the stall condition, the inlet of the mixed-flow pump has a spiral swirl structure near the end wall for different blade numbers, but the depth and range of the swirling flow are different due to the change in the number of blades. At the same time, the change in the number of blades also makes the flow angle at 75% span change significantly, but the flow angle at 95% span is not much different because the tip leakage flow recirculates at the leading edge. Through the analysis of the vorticity transport results in the impeller with different numbers of blades, it is found that the reasons for the increase in the values of the vorticity transport in the stall condition are mainly impacted by the swirl flow at the impeller inlet, the tip leakage flow at the leading edge and the increased unsteady flow structures.


Author(s):  
Yunfeng Fu ◽  
Fu Chen ◽  
Huaping Liu ◽  
Yanping Song

In this paper, the effect of a novel honeycomb tip on suppressing tip leakage flow in a highly-loaded turbine cascade has been experimentally and numerically studied. The research focuses on the mechanisms of honeycomb tip on suppressing tip leakage flow and affecting the secondary flow in the cascade, as well as the influences of different clearance heights on leakage flow characteristics. In addition, two kinds of local honeycomb tip structures are pro-posed to explore the positive effect on suppressing leakage flow in simpler tip honeycomb structures. Based on the experimental and numerical results, the physical processes of tip leakage flow and its interaction with main flow are analyzed, the following conclusions can be obtained. Honeycomb tip rolls up a number of small vortices and radial jets in regular hexagonal honeycomb cavities, increasing the flow resistance in the clearance and reducing the velocity of leakage flow. As a result, the structure of honeycomb tip not only suppresses the leakage flow effectively, but also has positive effect on reducing the associated losses in cascade by reducing the strength of leakage vortex. Compare to the flat tip cascade at 1%H gap height, the relative leakage flow in honeycomb tip cascade reduces from 3.05% to 2.73%, and the loss at exit section is also decreased by 10.63%. With the increase of the gap height, the tip leakage flow and loss have variations of direct proportion with it, but their growth rates in the honeycomb tip cascade are smaller. Consider the abradable property of the honeycomb seal, a smaller gap height is allowed in the cascade with honeycomb tip, and that means honeycomb tip has better effect on suppressing leakage flow. Two various local honeycomb tip structures has also been discussed. It shows that local raised honeycomb tip has better suppressing leakage flow effect than honeycomb tip, while local concave honeycomb tip has no more effect than honeycomb tip. Compare to flat tip cascade, the leakage flow in honeycomb tip cascade, local concave tip cascade and local raised honeycomb tip cascade decrease by nearly 17.33%, 15.51% and 30.86% respectively, the losses at exit section is reduced by 13.38%, 12% and 28.17% respectively.


Author(s):  
Kai Zhou ◽  
Chao Zhou

In turbines, secondary vortices and tip leakage vortices develop and interact with each other. In order to understand the flow physics of vortices interaction, the effects of incoming vortex on the downstream tip leakage flow are investigated in terms of the aerodynamic performance in a turbine cascade. Experimental, numerical and analytical methods are used. In the experiment, a swirl generator was used upstream near the casing to generate the incoming vortex, which interacted with the tip leakage vortex in the turbine cascade. The swirl generator was located at ten different pitchwise locations to simulate the quasi-steady effects. In the numerical study, a Rankine-like vortex was defined at the inlet of the computational domain to simulate the incoming swirling vortex. Incoming vortices with opposite directions were investigated. The vorticity of the positive incoming swirling vortex has a large vector in the same direction as that of the tip leakage vortex. In the case of the positive incoming swirling vortex, the vortex mixes with the tip leakage vortex to form one vortex near the tip as it transports downstream. The vortices interaction reduces the vorticity of the flow near the tip, as well as the loss by making up for the streamwise momentum within the tip leakage vortex core. In contrast, the negative incoming swirling vortex has little effects on the tip leakage vortex and the loss. As the negative incoming swirling vortex transports downstream, it is separated from the tip leakage vortex and forms two vortices. A triple-vortices-interaction kinetic analytical model and one-dimensional mixing model are proposed to explain the mechanism of vortex interaction on the aerodynamic performance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunfeng Fu ◽  
Fu Chen ◽  
Huaping Liu ◽  
Yanping Song

In this paper, the effect of a novel honeycomb tip on suppressing tip leakage flow in turbine cascade has been experimentally and numerically studied. Compared to the flat tip cascade with 1%H blade height, the relative leakage flow in honeycomb tip cascade reduces from 3.05% to 2.73%, and the loss also decreases by 8.24%. For honeycomb tip, a number of small vortices are rolled up in the regular hexagonal honeycomb cavities to dissipate the kinetic energy of the clearance flow, and the fluid flowing into and out the cavities create aerodynamic interceptions to the upper clearance flow. As a result, the flow resistance in the clearance increased and the velocity of leakage flow reduced. As the gap height increases, the tip leakage flow and loss changes proportionally, but the growth rate in the honeycomb tip cascade is smaller. Considering its wear resistance of the honeycomb seal, a smaller gap height is allowed in the cascade with honeycomb tip, and that means honeycomb tip has better effect on suppressing leakage flow. Part honeycomb tip structure also retains the effect of suppressing leakage flow. It shows that locally convex honeycomb tip has better suppressing leakage flow effect than the whole honeycomb tip, but locally concave honeycomb tip is slightly less effective.


Author(s):  
Takayuki Matsunuma ◽  
Takehiko Segawa

Tip leakage flow through the small gap between the blade tip of a turbine and the casing endwall reduces the aerodynamic performance. String-type dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators made of silicone printed-circuit board were used for the active control of the tip leakage flow of a linear turbine cascade. Sinusoidal voltage excitation with amplitude varying from 4 kV to 6 kV (peak-to-peak voltage: 8 kVp-p to 12 kVp-p) and fixed frequency of 10 kHz was applied to the plasma actuators. The two-dimensional velocity field in the blade passage was estimated by particle image velocimetry (PIV) under the very low Reynolds number conditions of Re = 7.1 × 103 and 1.42 × 104. The tip leakage flow was reduced by the flow control using plasma actuators. The high turbulence intensity region caused by the tip leakage flow was also reduced. For the quantitative comparisons, the displacement thickness of the absolute velocity distributions was examined. By the flow control of the plasma actuators, the displacement thickness at tip-side gradually decreased as the input voltage increased. Although three types of plasma actuators were used, with thin, thick, and flat electrodes and different ratios of discharge area, the differences in their effect were negligible. The reason for these very small differences in effect is the wide spread of the plasma discharge from the encapsulated electrode in the plasma actuator to the exposed electrode of the blade tip. At the relatively high Reynolds number condition of Re = 1.42 × 104, the effect of the plasma actuator was smaller than that at the lower Reynolds number condition of Re = 7.1 × 103.


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