Influence of Pressure Surface Winglets on the Tip Leakage Flow in a Compressor Cascade With High Subsonic Mach Numbers

Author(s):  
Wanyang Wu ◽  
Jingjun Zhong ◽  
Xiaoxu Kan ◽  
Zhenyu Huang

Abstract The improvement of compressor performance is facing a new technological challenge, as the compressor is considered as one of the core components in a gas turbine. Tip leakage flow affects the aerodynamic performance of the compressor rotor directly, then the compressor performance can be improved by reasonably controlling it. In recent years, the blade tip winglet has been certainly concerned as an effective flow control method for reducing the leakage loss. The mechanism of using tip winglets to control tip leakage flow in compressor cascade has been investigated in the condition of low Mach number, whereas the research in high subsonic incoming conditions also needs to be considered. To investigate the effect of the pressure surface winglet on the aerodynamic performance of a compressor cascade at high subsonic inlet Mach numbers, an experiment compared cascades with no winglet and different width pressure surface tip winglets at different inlet Mach numbers (Ma = 0.5, 0.6 and 0.7). Results show that the pressure surface winglet weakened the pressure gradient on both sides of the blade and reduced flow loss in the condition of high subsonic Mach numbers, which in turn tip clearance flow. When pressure surface tip winglet width increased, the improving degree is increased. At the same time, a change in Mach number had a proportional the effect on tip leakage flow control. The most effective pressure surface winglet was PW2.0 at the inlet Mach number of 0.7, which produced the most significant cascade loss reduction of 6.53% when compared to the original cascade at the same inlet Mach number. To investigate the characteristics of the compressor cascade at different incidences, the Mach number was set at 0.7 and the characteristics of cascade flow at −6°, −3°, 0°, +3° and +6°were studied. Pressure surface winglets with different widths reduced both the influence range of the leakage flow and the strength of the leakage vortex. As the tip winglet width increased, the influence of the tip winglet on the cascade flow increased. When incidences moved from negative to positive, the improvement effect of the cascade flow field with the pressure surface winglet was enhanced. When the incidence was+6°, for example the improvement effects the PW2.0 on cascade loss was 12.4%. The flow characteristics in the compressor cascade with the pressure surface winglets behave better at different Mach numbers and incidences. Through the research in this paper, the improvement effect and mechanism of the aerodynamic performance of the pressure surface winglet in high subsonic Mach number are clearer, and the application range of the winglet is widened, which provides a rich reference for the optimization design of compressor with high subsonic Mach number.

Author(s):  
Andrew P. S. Wheeler ◽  
Theodosios Korakianitis ◽  
Shashimal Banneheke

In this paper the effect of blade-exit Mach number on unshrouded turbine tip-leakage flows is investigated. Previously published experimental data of a high-pressure turbine blade are used to validate a CFD code, which is then used to study the tip-leakage flow at blade-exit Mach numbers from 0.6 to 1.4. Three-dimensional calculations are performed of a flat-tip and a cavity-tip blade. Two-dimensional calculations are also performed to show the effect of various squealer-tip geometries on an idealized tip-flow. The results show that as the blade-exit Mach number is increased the tip leakage flow becomes choked. Therefore the tip-leakage flow becomes independent of the pressure difference across the tip and hence the blade-loading. Thus the effect of the tip-leakage flow on overall blade loss reduces at blade-exit Mach numbers greater than 1.0. The results suggest that for transonic blade-rows it should be possible to raise blade loading within the tip region without increasing tip-leakage loss.


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°.


2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P. S. Wheeler ◽  
Theodosios Korakianitis ◽  
Shashimal Banneheke

In this paper the effect of blade-exit Mach number on unshrouded turbine tip-leakage flows is investigated. Previously published experimental data of a high-pressure turbine blade are used to validate a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, which is then used to study the tip-leakage flow at blade-exit Mach numbers from 0.6 to 1.4. Three-dimensional (3D) calculations are performed of a flat-tip and a cavity-tip blade. Two-dimensional calculations are also performed to show the effect of various squealer-tip geometries on an idealized tip flow. The results show that as the blade-exit Mach number is increased the tip-leakage flow becomes choked. Therefore the tip-leakage flow becomes independent of the pressure difference across the tip and hence the blade loading. Thus the effect of the tip-leakage flow on overall blade loss reduces at blade-exit Mach numbers greater than 1.0. The results suggest that for transonic blade rows it should be possible to raise blade loading within the tip region without increasing tip-leakage loss.


Author(s):  
Wanyang Wu ◽  
Jingjun Zhong

To investigate the influence of tip winglets on the tip leakage flow in a compressor cascade with different incidences, the experimental measurement combined with numerical simulation are used to study the conventional cascade and cascades with three different pressure surface tip winglets at five incidences of −6°, −3°, 0°, +3° and +6°. The results indicate that three different tip winglets at five incidences all restrain the occurrence of leakage flow, delay the mixing of leakage flow and the mainstream, change the formation path of leakage vortex and weaken its intensity, reduce the flow loss and improve the uniformity of flow field. The sensitivity of the flow field to variable incidences is reduced. The optimization degree of the flow field is proportional to the width of the blade tip winglet. The improvements are more obvious at positive angles. When the incidence reaches +6°, the flow loss is reduced by 12.4%.


1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kang ◽  
C. Hirsch

Tip leakage flow in a linear compressor cascade of NACA 65-1810 profiles is investigated, for tip clearance levels of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.25 percent of chord at design and off-design flow conditions. Data, velocity and pressures, are collected from three transverse sections inside tip clearance and sixteen sections within flow passage. Tip separation vortex influence is identified from the data. Leakage flow mixing is clearly present inside the clearance and has a significant influence on the internal loss.


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.


Author(s):  
Ali Akturk ◽  
Cengiz Camci

Ducted fans that are popular choices in vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) offer a higher static thrust/power ratio for a given diameter than open propellers. Although ducted fans provide high performance in many VTOL applications, there are still unresolved problems associated with these systems. Fan rotor tip leakage flow is a significant source of aerodynamic loss for ducted fan VTOL UAVs and adversely affects the general aerodynamic performance of these vehicles. The present study utilized experimental and computational techniques in a 22″ diameter ducted fan test system that has been custom designed and manufactured. Experimental investigation consisted of total pressure measurements using Kiel total pressure probes and real time six-component force and torque measurements. The computational technique used in this study included a 3D Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) based CFD model of the ducted fan test system. RANS simulations of the flow around rotor blades and duct geometry in the rotating frame of reference provided a comprehensive description of the tip leakage and passage flow. The experimental and computational analysis performed for various tip clearances were utilized in understanding the effect of the tip leakage flow on aerodynamic performance of ducted fans used in VTOL UAVs. The aerodynamic measurements and results of the RANS simulations showed good agreement especially near the tip region.


Author(s):  
Gong Hee Lee ◽  
Jong Il Park ◽  
Je Hyun Baek

It is experimentally well-known that high anisotropy of turbulent flow field, which results from the complex shear and rotation effect, is dominant inside tip leakage vortex (TLV). With all this fact, the greater part of the numerical studies to deal with TLV have used an isotropic eddy viscosity model (EVM), and their predictions showed some disagreement with the measurement data. The main objective of the present study is to show the superior ability of the Reynolds stress model (RSM), which can naturally consider the effect of system rotation on turbulence via the rotational production term, over the isotropic EVM for predicting appropriately the complex tip leakage flow in axial type of turbomachines. To achieve this aim, the results obtained from steady-state Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes simulations based on the Spalart-Allmaras model, Renormalization Group (RNG) k-ε model and RSM are compared with the experimental data for two test configurations: a linear compressor cascade and a forward-swept axial-flow fan. This comparative study of turbulence models suggests that the RSM should be used to predict reasonably the complex tip leakage flow, especially in a rotating environment.


Author(s):  
Jingjun Zhong ◽  
Shaobing Han ◽  
Peng Sun

The effect of tip winglet on the aerodynamic performance of compressor cascade are mainly determined by the location of the tip winglet, the tip winglet geometry, the size of tip clearance, and the aerodynamic parameters of the cascade. In this paper, an extensive numerical study which includes three aspects has been carried out to investigate the effects of these influencing factors in a highly-loaded compressor cascade in order to give the guidance for the application of tip winglet to control the tip leakage in modern highly-loaded compressor. Firstly, the numerical method is validated by comparing the numerical results with available measured data. Results show that the numerical procedure is valid and accurate. Then, the cascade flow fields are interrogate to identify the physical mechanism of how suction-side winglet improve the cascade flow behavior. It is found that a significant tip leakage mass flow rate and aerodynamic loss reduction is possible by using proper tip winglet located near the suction side corner of the blade tip. Finally, an optimum width of the suction-side tip winglet is obtained by comparing the compressor performance with different clearances and incidences. The use of the suction-side winglet can reduce the pressure difference between the pressure and the suction sides of the blade and tip leakage velocity ratio. And the winglet also can compact the tip leakage vortex structure, which is benefit to decrease the loss of the tip secondary flow mixing with the primary flow.


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