Influence of Purge Temperature Variation on the Performance of Turbine Center Frames

Author(s):  
Patrick Jagerhofer ◽  
Andreas Peters ◽  
Emil Göttlich ◽  
Wolfgang Sanz ◽  
Federica Farisco

Abstract High-bypass ratio turbofan engines are commonly employed in aircrafts. Their usage is essential to guarantee low specific fuel consumption, reduced CO2 emissions and low noise levels. Such modern aero-engines benefit from high efficiencies by operating at turbine inlet temperatures in excess of the melting point of the turbine components. To enable this, compressor air is supplied to the turbine for cooling and purging purposes. The re-introduction of the cooling air back into the mainstream flow is known to alter the flow field and to affect the aerodynamic performance of the turbine components. A component especially susceptible to the interaction between the mainstream and purge flow is the Turbine Center Frame, located between high-pressure turbine (HP) and low-pressure (LP) turbine. For ever higher bypass ratios, this turbine transition ducts need to be designed with axial lengths as short as possible and larger radial offsets to avoid engine weight penalties while at the same time maintaining aerodynamic performance. More detailed experience in the field of intermediate turbine ducts is needed to identify further opportunities to improve turbofan engine performance, including an in-depth understanding of the interaction between mainstream and purge flows. This paper presents a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study of the effect of the purge flow temperature, and hence density, on the aerodynamic performance of an engine representative Turbine Center Frame (TCF). Several steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations were conducted for varying purge flow temperatures using an in-house code called LINARS. Time-averaged five-hole-probe measurements acquired in the Transonic Test Turbine Facility (TTTF) at Graz University of Technology were used as inlet boundary conditions to impose an engine-relevant flow field. The results obtained from two reduced and two increased purge flow temperature conditions were compared to a reference case. The reference case results showed agreement with static wall pressure measurements, hence validating the simulation. Changing the purge flow temperature significantly affected the main flow locally as well as overall. The position and size of vortices in the TCF were changed under the presence of hotter or cooler purge flows. Additionally, a flow separation on the outer duct wall observed in the baseline case was suppressed in the cold-purged flow case. The cold-purged TCF showed a 28.8% lower total pressure loss than the hot-purged one. This indicates that a more aggressive TCF design may be feasible in a cold-purged operation.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Shuili Ren ◽  
Peiqing Liu

For turboprop engine, the S-shaped intake affects the engine performance and the propeller is not far in front of the inlet of the S-shaped intake, so the slipstream inevitably affects the flow field in the S-shaped intake and the engine performance. Here, an S-shaped intake with/without propeller is studied by solving Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation employed SST k-ω turbulence model. The results are presented as time-averaged results and transient results. By comparing the flow field in S-shaped intake with/without propeller, the transient results show that total pressure recovery coefficient and distortion coefficient on the AIP section vary periodically with time. The time-averaged results show that the influence of propeller slipstream on the performance of S-shaped intake is mainly circumferential interference and streamwise interference. Circumferential interference mainly affects the secondary flow in the S-shaped intake and then affects the airflow uniformity; the streamwise interference mainly affects the streamwise flow separation in the S-shaped intake and then affects the total pressure recovery. The total pressure recovery coefficient on the AIP section for the S-shaped intake with propeller is 1%-2.5% higher than that for S-shaped intake without propeller, and the total pressure distortion coefficient on the AIP section for the S-shaped intake with propeller is 1%-12% higher than that for the S-shaped intake without propeller. However, compared with the free stream flow velocity ( Ma = 0.527 ), the influence of the propeller slipstream belongs to the category of small disturbance, which is acceptable for engineering applications.


Author(s):  
Akiyoshi Iida ◽  
Akisato Mizuno ◽  
Kyoji Kamemoto

Unsteady flow field and flow induced noise of vertical axis wind turbine are numerically investigated. The flow field is numerically calculated by the vortex method with core-spreading model. This simulation obtains aerodynamic performance and aerodynamic forces. Aerodynamic noise is also simulated by using Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation with compact body and low-Mach number assumptions. Tip speed of rotor blades are not so high, then the contribution of the moving sound source is smaller than that of the dipole sound source. Since the maximum power coefficient of VAWT can be obtained at lower tip-speed ratio compared to the conventional, horizontal axis wind turbines, the aerodynamic noise from vertical axis wind turbine is smaller than that of the conventional wind turbines at the same aerodynamic performance. This result indicates that the vertical axis wind turbines are useful to develop low-noise wind turbines.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingfeng Cong ◽  
Zhigang Li ◽  
Jun Li

Abstract In the process of turbine acceleration, due to the influence of compressor and complex secondary air system, the change process of coolant purge flow is relatively lagging behind that of mainstream flow and rotational speed. The lagging egress of coolant flow influence the aerodynamic performance and endwall cooling effectiveness of turbine acceleration process. The flow field and aerothermal performance of two-stage axial turbines combined with rim seal structures and coolant purge flow lagging effects in the turbine acceleration process was numerically investigated using Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) via SST turbulence model. The effects of lagging coolant purge flow across the rim seal on the turbine aerodynamics and endwall cooling effectiveness were analyzed. The obtained results show that the turbine aerodynamic efficiency obtains the maximum value when the coolant purge flow lagging time equals to half the acceleration time at the same rotational speed after the end of lagging times. The total-to-total efficiency for the second stage is more sensitive to lagging times. The turbine output power is almost un-changed due to combination of additional work capacity and aerodynamic loss with the introduction of coolant. The turbine endwalls have the maximum averaged cooling effectiveness in the turbine acceleration process without consideration of the coolant purge flow lagging time. And endwall cooling effectiveness decreases with the increase of coolant purge flow lagging time at the same rotational speed and mainstream flow conditions. The detailed flow field of two-stage turbine considering interaction between the coolant purge flow and mainstream was also discussed. The present work provides the reference for the match design between the turbine mainstream flow and secondary air flow system.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1475472X2097839
Author(s):  
Paruchuri Chaitanya ◽  
Pratibha Vellanki

This paper presents an optimisation approach for designing low-noise Outlet Guide Vanes (OGVs) for fan broadband noise generated due to the interaction of turbulence and a cascade of 2-dimensional aerofoils. The paper demonstrates the usage of Bayesian optimisation with constraints to reduce the computation cost of optimisation. The prediction is based on Fourier synthesis of the impinging turbulence and the aerofoil response is predicted for each vortical modal component. A linearised unsteady Navier-Stokes solver is used to predict the aerofoil response due to an incoming harmonic vortical gust. This paper shows that to achieve noise reductions of 0.5 dB the penalty on the aerodynamic performance of 33% is observed compared to baseline aerofoil. Hence, the geometry changes such as thickness and nose radius can’t reduce broadband noise without effecting aerodynamic performance.


Author(s):  
Yang Chen ◽  
Zhuhai Zhong ◽  
Jun Li ◽  
Weijiu Zhou ◽  
Gangyun Zhong ◽  
...  

The stage axial distance significantly influences the aerodynamic performance of turbines under some constraints. Experimental measurements and numerical simulations are used to analyze the effect of stage axial distances on the aerodynamic performance of three-stage axial turbine in this work. The aerodynamic performance of three-stage axial turbine with three different stage axial distances is experimentally measured at the air turbine test rig of Dongfang Steam Turbine Co. LTD. Experimental results show that efficiency increases when the stage axial distance decreases for the geometry under study with relative stage distance ranged from 0.14 to 0.35, and the effect of stage axial distance on the optimization velocity ratio here is very limited. In addition, unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations were carried out with nonlinear harmonic method to analyze the detailed flow field of the experimental three-stage axial turbine. The numerical aerodynamic efficiency of three-stage axial turbine is in good agreement with the experimental data. Furthermore, the small stage axial distance is preferred for the higher efficiency. The detailed flow field and aerodynamic parameters of three-stage axial turbine are also illustrated and discussed.


Author(s):  
F. Merli ◽  
P. Z. Sterzinger ◽  
M. Dellacasagrande ◽  
L. Wiesinger ◽  
A. Peters ◽  
...  

Abstract The paper discusses the impact of rotor purge flows on the unsteady flow field downstream of a two-stage, two-spool test turbine. The analyzed setup is representative of the second high-pressure turbine (HPT) and the first low-pressure turbine (LPT) stage in a modern turbofan aero-engine, with a turbine center frame (TCF) with non-turning struts in-between the two turbines. All measurements were carried out for an engine-representative test vehicle setup at the Transonic Test Turbine Facility at Graz University of Technology. The test rig features a secondary air system delivering five purge flows with independent temperature and mass flow control to the HPT and LPT cavities. This work extends the results shown in two recent publications analyzing the time-resolved flow through the same two-stage setup at fixed purge flow rates. The paper aims to provide additional input about the driving sources of unsteadiness in gas turbines for aeronautic applications, by isolating the HPT and LPT purge air contributions. The time-resolved flow field at the LPT exit was acquired with a Fast Response Aerodynamic Pressure Probe (FRAPP) for three different purge conditions (reference case, no HPT purge case, no LPT purge case), to separate and quantify the impact of HPT and LPT purge contributions on the main flow field. The so-called Rotor Synchronic Averaging (RSA) technique was used as phase-averaging approach, to account for the unsteadiness due to both rotors. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) was then applied to isolate the most important structures and identify their origins. The comparison of the three data-sets shows a significant influence of the HPT purge on the entire flow field at the LPT exit, even though the HPT is located far upstream, while the LPT purge impact appears to mostly affect the end-wall region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 7369-7378
Author(s):  
Ky-Quang Pham ◽  
Xuan-Truong Le ◽  
Cong-Truong Dinh

Splitter blades located between stator blades in a single-stage axial compressor were proposed and investigated in this work to find their effects on aerodynamic performance and operating stability. Aerodynamic performance of the compressor was evaluated using three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations using the k-e turbulence model with a scalable wall function. The numerical results for the typical performance parameters without stator splitter blades were validated in comparison with experimental data. The numerical results of a parametric study using four geometric parameters (chord length, coverage angle, height and position) of the stator splitter blades showed that the operational stability of the single-stage axial compressor enhances remarkably using the stator splitter blades. The splitters were effective in suppressing flow separation in the stator domain of the compressor at near-stall condition which affects considerably the aerodynamic performance of the compressor.


Author(s):  
M. A. Abd Halim ◽  
N. A. R. Nik Mohd ◽  
M. N. Mohd Nasir ◽  
M. N. Dahalan

Induction system or also known as the breathing system is a sub-component of the internal combustion system that supplies clean air for the combustion process. A good design of the induction system would be able to supply the air with adequate pressure, temperature and density for the combustion process to optimizing the engine performance. The induction system has an internal flow problem with a geometry that has rapid expansion or diverging and converging sections that may lead to sudden acceleration and deceleration of flow, flow separation and cause excessive turbulent fluctuation in the system. The aerodynamic performance of these induction systems influences the pressure drop effect and thus the engine performance. Therefore, in this work, the aerodynamics of motorcycle induction systems is to be investigated for a range of Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM). A three-dimensional simulation of the flow inside a generic 4-stroke motorcycle airbox were done using Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver in ANSYS Fluent version 11. The simulation results are validated by an experimental study performed using a flow bench. The study shows that the difference of the validation is 1.54% in average at the total pressure outlet. A potential improvement to the system have been observed and can be done to suit motorsports applications.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742110131
Author(s):  
Xiaohang Fang ◽  
Li Shen ◽  
Christopher Willman ◽  
Rachel Magnanon ◽  
Giuseppe Virelli ◽  
...  

In this article, different manifold reduction techniques are implemented for the post-processing of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) images from a Spark Ignition Direct Injection (SIDI) engine. The methods are proposed to help make a more objective comparison between Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations and PIV experiments when Cycle-to-Cycle Variations (CCV) are present in the flow field. The two different methods used here are based on Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) principles where Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Kernel Principal Component Analysis (KPCA) are used for representing linear and non-linear manifold reduction techniques. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first time a non-linear manifold reduction technique, such as KPCA, has ever been used in the study of in-cylinder flow fields. Both qualitative and quantitative studies are given to show the capability of each method in validating the simulation and incorporating CCV for each engine cycle. Traditional Relevance Index (RI) and two other previously developed novel indexes: the Weighted Relevance Index (WRI) and the Weighted Magnitude Index (WMI), are used for the quantitative study. The results indicate that both POD and KPCA show improvements in capturing the main flow field features compared to ensemble-averaged PIV experimental data and single cycle experimental flow fields while capturing CCV. Both methods present similar quantitative accuracy when using the three indexes. However, challenges were highlighted in the POD method for the selection of the number of POD modes needed for a representative reconstruction. When the flow field region presents a Gaussian distribution, the KPCA method is seen to provide a more objective numerical process as the reconstructed flow field will see convergence with an increasing number of modes due to its usage of Gaussian properties. No additional criterion is needed to determine how to reconstruct the main flow field feature. Using KPCA can, therefore, reduce the amount of analysis needed in the process of extracting the main flow field while incorporating CCV.


1974 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 394-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. A. Marple ◽  
B. Y. H. Liu ◽  
K. T. Whitby

The flow field in an inertial impactor was studied experimentally with a water model by means of a flow visualization technique. The influence of such parameters as Reynolds number and jet-to-plate distance on the flow field was determined. The Navier-Stokes equations describing the laminar flow field in the impactor were solved numerically by means of a finite difference relaxation method. The theoretical results were found to be in good agreement with the empirical observations made with the water model.


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