Aerodynamic Influence of Endwall Fences Located in the Vicinity of the Leading Edge-Endwall Junction of Nozzle Guide Vanes

Author(s):  
Zeki Ozgur Gokce ◽  
Cengiz Camci

Secondary flow characteristics like horseshoe vortices and related total pressure losses decrease turbine efficiency. Computerized simulations of potentially favorable modifications in turbine systems could provide a fast, numerical and inexpensive method of evaluating their effects on flow properties: This paper consists of a comparative numerical study of the flow characteristics of a domain containing a vertical cylinder subjected to cross flow and upstream endwall modifications. Analyzing the flow around a turbine nozzle guide vane (NGV) could be simplified by modeling it as a vertical cylinder with a diameter proportional to the leading edge diameter of the blade, and adding upstream endwall fences of varying dimensions and alignments could attenuate the development of a horseshoe vortex. A commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software package, Fluent, was used for the numerical analysis. To validate the modeling strategy, experimental data previously reported in the literature for conventional cylinders in cross flow were compared to the current predictions. A grid independence study was also performed. The lateral distance between the two legs of the horseshoe vortex downstream of the cylinder was decreased by 7% to 14%. All fence types effectively changed the location of the main horseshoe vortex roll-up. The height of the fence was more influential than the length of the fence in modifying flow characteristics. The existence of the fences slightly increased the mass-averaged total pressure loss far downstream of the cylinder; however, beneficial near-fence flow characteristics were observed in all cases. Also, it was noted that an endwall fence could possibly result in decreased interaction between the horseshoe vortices created by consecutive blades in a row of NGV blades, which would be expected to result in improved flow conditions within actual turbine passages.

Author(s):  
Wu Sang Lee ◽  
Jin Taek Chung ◽  
Dae Hyun Kim ◽  
Seung Joo Choe

The three-dimensional flow in a turbine nozzle guide vane passage causes large secondary loss through the passage and increased heat transfer on the blade surface. In order to reduce or control these secondary flows, a linear turbine with contoured endwall configurations was used and changes in the three-dimensional flow field were analyzed and discussed. Contoured endwalls are installed at a location downstream of the saddle point near the leading edge of the pressure side blade and several positions along the centerline of the passage at constant distance. The objective of this study is to document the development of the three-dimensional flow in a turbine nozzle guide vane cascade with modified endwall. In addition, it proposes and appropriates endwall contouring which shows best overall loss reduction performance among the simulated contoured endwall. The results of this study show that the development of passage vortex and cross flow in the cascade composed of one flat and one contoured endwalls are affected by the acceleration which occurs in contoured endwall side. The overall loss is reduced near the flat endwall rather than contoured endwall, the best performance was shown for the case of 10–15% contoured for span-wise, 40–70% length of chord from trailing edge.


Author(s):  
Özhan H. Turgut ◽  
Cengiz Camcı

Three different ways are employed in the present paper to reduce the secondary flow related total pressure loss. These are nonaxisymmetric endwall contouring, leading edge (LE) fillet, and the combination of these two approaches. Experimental investigation and computational simulations are applied for the performance assessments. The experiments are carried out in the Axial Flow Turbine Research Facility (AFTRF) having a diameter of 91.66cm. The NGV exit flow structure was examined under the influence of a 29 bladed high pressure turbine rotor assembly operating at 1300 rpm. For the experimental measurement comparison, a reference Flat Insert endwall is installed in the nozzle guide vane (NGV) passage. It has a constant thickness with a cylindrical surface and is manufactured by a stereolithography (SLA) method. Four different LE fillets are designed, and they are attached to both cylindrical Flat Insert and the contoured endwall. Total pressure measurements are taken at rotor inlet plane with Kiel probe. The probe traversing is completed with one vane pitch and from 8% to 38% span. For one of the designs, area averaged loss is reduced by 15.06%. The simulation estimated this reduction as 7.11%. Computational evaluation is performed with the rotating domain and the rim seal flow between the NGV and the rotor blades. The most effective design reduced the mass averaged loss by 1.28% over the whole passage at the NGV exit.


Author(s):  
G. A. Zess ◽  
K. A. Thole

With the desire for increased power output for a gas turbine engine comes the continual push to achieve higher turbine inlet temperatures. Higher temperatures result in large thermal and mechanical stresses particularly along the nozzle guide vane. One critical region along a vane is the leading edge-endwall juncture. Based on the assumption that the approaching flow to this juncture is similar to a two-dimensional boundary layer, previous studies have shown that a horseshoe vortex forms. This vortex forms because of a radial total pressure gradient from the approaching boundary layer. This paper documents the computational design and experimental validation of a fillet placed at the leading edge-endwall juncture of a guide vane to eliminate the horseshoe vortex. The fillet design effectively accelerated the incoming boundary layer thereby mitigating the effect of the total pressure gradient. To verify the CFD studies used to design the leading edge fillet, flow field measurements were performed in a large-scale, linear, vane cascade. The flow field measurements were performed with a laser Doppler velocimeter in four planes orientated orthogonal to the vane. Good agreement between the CFD predictions and the experimental measurements verified the effectiveness of the leading edge fillet at eliminating the horseshoe vortex. The flowfield results showed that the turbulent kinetic energy levels were significantly reduced in the endwall region because of the absence of the unsteady horseshoe vortex.


Author(s):  
O¨zhan H. Turgut ◽  
Cengiz Camcı

Nonaxisymmetric endwall contouring has recently become one of the ways to minimize the secondary flow related losses in a turbine nozzle guide vane (NGV) passage. In this study, a specific nonaxisymmetric endwall contouring design methodology is introduced. Fourier series based splines at different axial locations are generated and combined with the help of stream-wise B-splines within solid modeling program. Eight different contoured endwalls are presented in this paper. Computational study of these designs are performed by the finite-volume flow solver. The SST k–ω turbulence model is selected and a body-fitted structured grid is used. Total pressure distribution at the NGV exit shows that contouring the endwall effectively changes the results. Among from these various designs, the most promising one is with the contouring extended in the upstream of the vane leading edge. Mass-averaged value of 3.2% total pressure loss reduction is achieved at the NGV exit plane. The current study was performed in a rotating turbine rig simulating a state of the art HP turbine stage. An NGV only simulation is performed. This approach is helpful in isolating rotor-stator influence and the possible upstream flow modifications of the rim seal cavity flow existing in the rotating turbine research rig. The investigation including the rotor-stator interaction and rim seal cavity flow is the topic of a subsequent paper currently under progress.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lamyaa A. El-Gabry ◽  
Ranjan Saha ◽  
Jens Fridh ◽  
Torsten Fransson

An experimental study has been performed in a transonic annular sector cascade of nozzle guide vanes (NGVs) to investigate the aerodynamic performance and the interaction between hub film cooling and mainstream flow. The focus of the study is on the endwalls, specifically the interaction between the hub film cooling and the mainstream. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been supplied to the coolant holes to serve as tracer gas. Measurements of CO2 concentration downstream of the vane trailing edge (TE) can be used to visualize the mixing of the coolant flow with the mainstream. Flow field measurements are performed in the downstream plane with a five-hole probe to characterize the aerodynamics in the vane. Results are presented for the fully cooled and partially cooled vane (only hub cooling) configurations. Data presented at the downstream plane include concentration contour, axial vorticity, velocity vectors, and yaw and pitch angles. From these investigations, secondary flow structures such as the horseshoe vortex, passage vortex, can be identified and show the cooling flow significantly impacts the secondary flow and downstream flow field. The results suggest that there is a region on the pressure side (PS) of the vane TE where the coolant concentrations are very low suggesting that the cooling air introduced at the platform upstream of the leading edge (LE) does not reach the PS endwall, potentially creating a local hotspot.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioanna Aslanidou ◽  
Budimir Rosic

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the concept of using the combustor transition duct wall to shield the nozzle guide vane leading edge. The new vane is tested in a high-speed experimental facility, demonstrating the improved aerodynamic and thermal performance of the shielded vane. The new design is shown to have a lower average total pressure loss than the original vane, and the heat transfer on the vane surface is overall reduced. The peak heat transfer on the vane leading edge–endwall junction is moved further upstream, to a region that can be effectively cooled as shown in previously published numerical studies. Experimental results under engine-representative inlet conditions showed that the better performance of the shielded vane is maintained under a variety of inlet conditions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Shuo Mao ◽  
Ridge A. Sibold ◽  
Wing Ng ◽  
Zhigang LI ◽  
Bo Bai ◽  
...  

Abstract Nozzle guide vane platforms often employ complex cooling schemes to mitigate the ever-increasing thermal loads on endwall. This study analyzes, experimentally and numerically, and describes the effect of coolant to mainstream blowing ratio, momentum ratio and density ratio for a typical axisymmetric converging nozzle guide vane platform with an upstream doublet staggered, steep-injection, cylindrical hole purge cooling scheme. Nominal flow conditions were engine-representative and as follows: Maexit = 0.85, Reexit,Cax = 1.5×106 and an inlet large-scale freestream turbulence intensity of 16%. Two blowing ratios were investigated, each corresponding to the design condition and its upper extrema at M = 2.5 and 3.5, respectively. For each blowing ratio, the coolant to mainstream density ratio was varied between DR=1.2, representing typical experimental neglect of coolant density, and DR=1.95, representative of typical engine conditions. The results show that with a fixed coolant-to-mainstream blowing ratio, the density ratio plays a vital role in the coolant-mainstream mixing and the interaction between coolant and horseshoe vortex near the vane leading edge. A higher density ratio leads to a better coolant coverage immediately downstream of the cooling holes but exposes the in-passage endwall near the pressure side. It also causes the in-passage coolant coverage to decay at a higher rate in the flow direction. From the results gathered, both density ratio and blowing ratio should be considered for accurate testing, analysis, and prediction of purge jet cooling scheme performance.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Zess ◽  
K. A. Thole

With the desire for increased power output for a gas turbine engine comes the continual push to achieve higher turbine inlet temperatures. Higher temperatures result in large thermal and mechanical stresses particularly along the nozzle guide vane. One critical region along a vane is the leading edge-endwall juncture. Based on the assumption that the approaching flow to this juncture is similar to a two-dimensional boundary layer, previous studies have shown that a horseshoe vortex forms. This vortex forms because of a radial total pressure gradient from the approaching boundary layer. This paper documents the computational design and experimental validation of a fillet placed at the leading edge-endwall juncture of a guide vane to eliminate the horseshoe vortex. The fillet design effectively accelerated the incoming boundary layer thereby mitigating the effect of the total pressure gradient. To verify the CFD studies used to design the leading edge fillet, flowfield measurements were performed in a large-scale, linear, vane cascade. The flowfield measurements were performed with a laser Doppler velocimeter in four planes orientated orthogonal to the vane. Good agreement between the CFD predictions and the experimental measurements verified the effectiveness of the leading edge fillet at eliminating the horseshoe vortex. The flow-field results showed that the turbulent kinetic energy levels were significantly reduced in the endwall region because of the absence of the unsteady horseshoe vortex.


2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 526-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maik Tiedemann ◽  
Friedrich Kost

This investigation is aimed at an experimental determination of the unsteady flowfield downstream of a transonic high pressure turbine stage. The single stage measurements, which were part of a joined European project, were conducted in the windtunnel for rotating cascades of the DLR Go¨ttingen. Laser-2-focus (L2F) measurements were carried out in order to determine the Mach number, flow angle, and turbulence distributions. Furthermore, a fast response pitot probe was utilized to determine the total pressure distribution. The measurement position for both systems was 0.5 axial rotor chord downstream of the rotor trailing edge at midspan. While the measurement position remained fixed, the nozzle guide vane (NGV) was “clocked” to 12 positions covering one NGV pitch. The periodic fluctuations of the total pressure downstream of the turbine stage indicate that the NGV wake damps the total pressure fluctuations caused by the rotor wakes. Furthermore, the random fluctuations are significantly lower in the NGV wake affected region. Similar conclusions were drawn from the L2F turbulence data. Since the location of the interaction between NGV wake and rotor wake is determined by the NGV position, the described effects are potential causes for the benefits of “stator clocking” which have been observed by many researchers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhigang Li ◽  
Luxuan Liu ◽  
Jun Li ◽  
Ridge A. Sibold ◽  
Wing F. Ng ◽  
...  

This paper presents a detailed experimental and numerical study on the effects of upstream step geometry on the endwall secondary flow and heat transfer in a transonic linear turbine vane passage with axisymmetric converging endwalls. The upstream step geometry represents the misalignment between the combustor exit and the nozzle guide vane endwall. The experimental measurements were performed in a blowdown wind tunnel with an exit Mach number of 0.85 and an exit Re of 1.5×106. A high freestream turbulence level of 16% was set at the inlet, which represents the typical turbulence conditions in a gas turbine engine. Two upstream step geometries were tested for the same vane profile: a baseline configuration with a gap located 0.88Cx (43.8 mm) upstream of the vane leading edge (upstream step height = 0 mm) and a misaligned configuration with a backward-facing step located just before the gap at 0.88Cx (43.8 mm) upstream of the vane leading edge (step height = 4.45% span). The endwall temperature history was measured using transient infrared thermography, from which the endwall thermal load distribution, namely, Nusselt number, was derived. This paper also presents a comparison with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions performed by solving the steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes with Reynolds stress model using the commercial CFD solver ansysfluent v.15. The CFD simulations were conducted at a range of different upstream step geometries: three forward-facing (upstream step geometries with step heights from −5.25% to 0% span), and five backward-facing, upstream step geometries (step heights from 0% to 6.56% span). These CFD results were used to highlight the link between heat transfer patterns and the secondary flow structures and explain the effects of upstream step geometry. Experimental and numerical results indicate that the backward-facing upstream step geometry will significantly enlarge the high thermal load region and result in an obvious increase (up to 140%) in the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) level, especially for arched regions around the vane leading edge. However, the forward-facing upstream geometry will modestly shrink the high thermal load region and reduce the HTC (by ∼10% to 40% decrease), especially for the suction side regions near the vane leading edge. The aerodynamic loss appears to have a slight increase (0.3–1.3%) because of the forward-facing upstream step geometry but is slightly reduced (by 0.1–0.3%) by the presence of the backward upstream step geometry.


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