Optimization and Evaluation of Multiple DBD Plasma Actuators Applied in the Tip Leakage Control for Turbine Cascade

Author(s):  
Jianyang Yu ◽  
Wenchun Bao ◽  
Fu Chen ◽  
Yanping Song ◽  
Cong Wang

Abstract The dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator, in which electrodes are asymmetric arranged, has already demonstrated its ability in flow control. In the present work, the configuration of multiple plasma actuators is placed at the suction side of the cascade top to realize the tip leakage control. However, massive configurations appear when the number of plasma actuators increases, resulting in the investigation of actuator configuration for tip leakage flow control becomes a challenge. The surrogate modelling approach provides a cheap and efficient method to investigate the effect of multiple plasma actuators on the tip leakage flow control. By constructing an approximation model, tip leakage mass flow rates of all configuration are obtained in the present work. What’s more, the flow structures in the tip clearance controlled by the plasma actuators are explained in the process of topological analysis. The results show that the tip leakage mass flow rate is decreasing with the number of active plasma actuators increasing. However, the decreasing would reach its limits in the process of adding plasma actuators. In the analysis of flow topology, single actuator would generate a small vortex at the suction side to cause an obstacle in the tip leakage flow. While the continuous arrangements of plasma actuator is beneficial to generate an induced vortex to diminish the tip leakage flow.

Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Wei-Yang Qiao ◽  
Kai-Fu Xu ◽  
Hua-Ling Luo

The tip leakage flow has significant effects on turbine in loss production, aerodynamic efficiency, etc. Then it’s important to minimize these effects for a better performance by adopting corresponding flow control. The active turbine tip clearance flow control with injection from the tip platform is given in Part-1 of this paper. This paper is Part-2 of the two-part papers focusing on the effect of five different passive turbine tip clearance flow control methods on the tip clearance flow physics, which consists of a partial suction side squealer tip (Partial SS Squealer), a double squealer tip (Double Side Squealer), a pressure side tip shelf with inclined squealer tip on a double squealer tip (Improved PS Squealer), a tip platform extension edge in pressure side (PS Extension) and in suction side (SS Extension) respectively. Combined with the turbine rotor and the numerical method mentioned in Part 1, the effects of passive turbine tip clearance flow controls on the tip clearance flow were sequentially simulated. The detailed tip clearance flow fields with different squealer rims were described with the streamline and the velocity vector in various planes parallel to the tip platform or normal to the tip leakage vortex core. Accordingly, the mechanisms of five passive controls were put in evidence; the effects of the passive controls on the turbine efficiency and the tip clearance flow field were highlighted. The results show that the secondary flow loss near the outer casing including the tip leakage flow and the casing boundary layer can be reduced in all the five passive control methods. Comparing the active control with the passive control, the effect brought by the active injection control on the tip leakage flow is evident. The turbine rotor efficiency could be increased via the rational passive turbine tip clearance flow control. The Improved PS Squealer had the best effect on turbine rotor efficiency, and it increased by 0.215%.


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.


Author(s):  
Toma´sˇ Hofer ◽  
Tony Arts

Modern high pressure turbines operate at high velocity and high temperature conditions. The gap existing above a turbine rotor blade is responsible for an undesirable tip leakage flow. It is a source of high aerodynamic losses and high heat transfer rates. A better understanding of the tip flow behaviour is needed to provide a more efficient cooling design in this region. The objective of this paper is to investigate the tip leakage flow for a blade with two different squealer tips and film-cooling applied on the pressure side and through tip dust holes in a non-rotating, linear cascade arrangement. The experiments were performed in the VKI Light Piston Compression Tube facility, CT-2. The tip gap flow was investigated by oil flow visualisations and by wall static and total pressure measurements. Two geometries were tested — a full squealer and a partial suction side squealer. The measurements were performed in the blade tip region, including the squealer rim and on the corresponding end-wall for engine representative values of outlet Reynolds and Mach numbers. The main flow structures in the cavity were put in evidence. Positive influence of the coolant on the tip gap flow and on the aerodynamic losses was found for the full squealer tip case: increasing the coolant mass-flow increased the tip gap flow resistance. The flow through the clearance therefore slows down, the tip gap mass-flow and the heat transfer respectively decreases. No such effect of cooling was found in the case of the partial suction side squealer geometry. The absence of a pressure side squealer rim resulted in a totally different tip gap flow topology, indifferent to cooling. The influence of cooling on the overall mass-weighted thermodynamic loss coefficient, which takes into account the different energies of the mainstream and coolant flows was found marginal for both geometries. Finally the overall loss coefficient was found to be higher for the partial suction side squealer tip than for the full squealer tip.


Author(s):  
Takayuki Matsunuma ◽  
Takehiko Segawa

Tip leakage flow through the small gap between the blade tip and the casing wall in turbomachinery reduces the aerodynamic performance of the blade. New ring-type dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators have been developed to facilitate active control of the tip leakage flow of a turbine rotor. In the present study, the ring-type plasma actuators consisted of metallic wires coated with insulation material, mounted in an insulator embedded in the tip casing wall. For the fundamental experiments using a flat plate and a single airfoil with tip clearance, particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to obtain two-dimensional velocity field measurements near the plate and blade tip regions. From flat plate experiments in a static flow field, it was confirmed that the operation of the plasma actuator generates an upward flow at the corner between the blade tip and the casing wall, and this forms a perpendicular obstacle to the tip leakage flow. In flat plate experiments on tip leakage flow in a wind tunnel, the forcibly-induced tip leakage flow was successfully dissipated by means of the plasma actuator flow control. In single airfoil experiments, the tip leakage flow was also reduced by the plasma actuator. In annular turbine rotor experiments, the plasma emission at the blade tip and its motion with blade rotation were determined. Single-element hot-wire anemometry was used to measure the turbulence intensity distributions at the turbine rotor exit. The amplitude of input voltage for the plasma actuator was varied from ±3.0 to ±6.0 kV. The high turbulence intensity region created by the tip leakage flow was reduced with an increase in the input voltage of the plasma actuator.


Author(s):  
S. K. Krishnababu ◽  
W. N. Dawes ◽  
H. P. Hodson ◽  
G. D. Lock ◽  
J. Hannis ◽  
...  

A numerical study has been performed to investigate the effect of casing motion on the tip leakage flow and heat transfer characteristics in unshrouded axial flow turbines. The relative motion between the blade tip and the casing was simulated by moving the casing in a direction from the suction side to the pressure side of the stationary blade. Baseline flat tip geometry and squealer type geometries namely double squealer or cavity and suction side squealer were considered at a clearance gap of 1.6%C. The computations were performed using a single blade with periodic boundary conditions imposed along the boundaries in the pitchwise direction. Turbulence was modelled using the SST k-ω model. The flow conditions correspond to an exit Reynolds number of 2.3×105. The results were compared with those obtained without the relative casing motion reported in part I of this paper. In general, the effect of relative casing motion was to decrease the tip leakage mass flow and the average heat transfer to the tip due to the decrease in leakage flow velocity caused by a drop in driving pressure difference. Compared to the computations with stationary casing, in the case of all the three geometries considered, the average heat transfer to the suction surface of the blade was found to be larger in the case of the computations with relative casing motion. At a larger clearance gap of 2.8%C, in case of flat tip, while the tip leakage mass flow decreased due to relative casing motion only a smaller change in the average heat transfer to the tip and the suction surface of the blade was noticed.


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