Flow control using unsteady pulsed holed suction with different excitation models in a highly loaded compressor cascade

Author(s):  
Hongxin Zhang ◽  
Shaowen Chen ◽  
Yun Gong ◽  
Songtao Wang

Unsteady pulsed holed suction as a new unsteady flow control technique is first proposed. Unsteady excitation models of four different waveforms (Waveforms 1, 2, 3, and 4) based on unsteady pulsed holed suction are investigated to analysis comparatively the control effects of flow separations in a certain highly loaded compressor. Some related unsteady aerodynamic parameters such as excitation frequency and excitation location are studies. The unsteady pulsed holed suctions of the four different modes (Waveforms 1, 2, 3, and 4) all effectively control flow separations. Their optimum frequencies are all an integer multiple of the natural frequency of vortex shedding. And their excitation locations gaining positive effect and optimal excitation locations are both same. The optimal excitation location is near the separation point of upper endwall in unexcited case. But, they show markedly different performances in reducing the total pressure losses. The unsteady pulsed holed suction of Waveform 3 shows greater advantage at different excitation frequencies and excitation locations. The optimum result is obtained by the unsteady pulsed holed suction of Waveform 3. The total pressure loss is reduced by 16.8%. Simultaneously, the unsteady pulsed holed suctions of the four different modes all can provide better effects than the steady constant holed suction in reducing the total pressure loss with the same suction-to-inlet time-averaged suction flow ratio ms. Especially at ms = 0.29%, for the steady constant holed suction, it is too small to effectively control flow separation, and consequently the total pressure loss are increased by 8.3%. However, for the unsteady pulsed holed suctions of Waveforms 2 and 3, the total pressure losses are reduced by 9.1% and 4.3%, respectively.

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. I9AB30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dajan Mimic ◽  
Christoph Jätz ◽  
Florian Herbst

Diffusers convert kinetic flow energy into a rise in static pressure. This pressure recovery is the primary aerodynamic design objective for exhaust gas diffusers in power-generating steam and gas turbines. The total pressure loss is an equally important diffuser design parameter. It is strongly linked to the pressure recovery and the residual kinetic energy of the diffuser outlet flow. A reduction benefits the overall thermodynamic cycle, which requires the adjacent components of a diffuser to be included in the design process. This paper focuses on the total pressure losses in the boundary layer of a highly loaded annular diffuser. Due to its large opening angle the diffuser is susceptible to flow separation under uniform inlet conditions, which is a major source for total pressure losses. However, the unsteady tip leakage vortices of the upstream rotor, which are a source of losses, stabilise the boundary layer and prevent separation. Experiments and unsteady numerical simulation conducted show that the total pressure loss reduction caused by the delayed boundary layer separation exceed the vortex-induced losses by far. This flow interaction between the rotor and diffuser consequently decreases the overall total pressure losses. The intensity of the tip leakage vortex is linked to three rotor design parameters, namely work coefficient, flow coefficient and reduced blade-passing frequency. Based on these parameters, we propose a semi-empiric correlation to predict and evaluate the change in total pressure losses with regards to design operating conditions.


Author(s):  
Matthias Boese ◽  
Leonhard Fottner

An experimental investigation of the influence of riblet surface structures on the loss behavior of a highly loaded compressor cascade V103-180 featuring a large chord length for high spatial resolution of the flow phenomena was performed. The cascade experiments were carried out at the High Speed Cascade Wind Tunnel of the University of the Armed Forces Munich in order to simulate realistic Mach and Reynolds numbers. The riblets used for the first investigation are of symmetric v-groove type with heights of 0.0762, 0.1143 and 0.1524 mm, respectively [1]. With two total pressure probes simultaneously traversed over one pitch behind the center airfoil, the local total pressure difference between the structured and the smooth blade is determined. From these measurements, the total pressure loss coefficient can be evaluated. For a better understanding of the flow phenomena, the profile pressure distribution is measured for the smooth and the structured blade. Boundary layer calculations were performed in order to optimise the riblet size for the design conditions of the compressor cascade. Resulting from the measurements an optimised riblet configuration (size and shape) has been manufactured and transferred to the cascade. Further flow measurements have been performed in order to evaluate the total pressure loss coefficient. Additional insight into the flow phenomena of the boundary layer has been achieved by laser-two-focus measurements. The experimental results indicate that the riblets mainly influence the suction side boundary layer behaviour. The ideal dimensionless groove height is obtained h+ = 9 leading to a reduction of the loss coefficient of 6–8%. Values of h+ > 20 cause an increase of the loss coefficient due to the development of a turbulent boundary layer separation.


Author(s):  
Yun Wu ◽  
Xiao-hu Zhao ◽  
Ying-hong Li ◽  
Jun Li

Corner separation, which forms over the suction surface and endwall corner of a blade passage, causes significant total pressure loss in highly loaded compressors. Plasma flow control, based on the plasma aerodynamic actuation, is a novel active flow control technique to improve aircrafts’ aerodynamic characteristics and propulsion efficiency. This paper reports computational and experimental results on using three types of plasma aerodynamic actuation (PAA) to control the corner separation in a highly loaded, low speed, linear compressor cascade. Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations were performed to optimize the PAA arrangement. The PAA was generated by a microsecond or nanosecond dielectric barrier discharge in wind tunnel experiments. The total pressure loss coefficient distribution was adopted to evaluate the corner separation control effect. The control effect of pitch-wise PAA on the endwall, in terms of relative reduction of the pitch-wise averaged total pressure loss coefficient in the wake, is much better than that of stream-wise PAA on the suction surface. When both pitch-wise PAA on the endwall and stream-wise PAA on the suction surface are turned on simultaneously, the control effect is the best among all three types of PAA. The main effect of pitch-wise PAA on the endwall is to inhibit the crossflow from neighboring pressure surface to the suction surface, whilest the main effect of stream-wise PAA on the suction surface is to inhibit the boundary layer accumulation and separation. Compared to microsecond discharge PAA, nanosecond discharge PAA is more effective at higher freestream velocity. The mechanisms for nanosecond discharge and microsecond discharge PAA are different for corner separation control.


Author(s):  
Jie Wang ◽  
Qun Zheng ◽  
Lanxin Sun ◽  
Mingcong Luo

Generally, droplets are injected into air at inlet or interstage of a compressor. However, both cases did not consider how to utilize the kinetic energy of these moving droplets. Under the adverse pressure gradient of compressor, the lower energy fluids of blade surfaces and endwalls boundary layers would accumulate and separate. Kinetic droplets could accelerate the lower energy fluids and eliminate the separation. This paper mainly investigate the effective positions where to inject water and how to utilize the droplets’ kinetic energy. Four different injecting positions, which located on the suction surface and endwall, are chosen. The changes of vortexes in the compressor cascade are discussed carefully. In addition, the influences of water injection on temperature, total pressure losses and Mach number are analyzed. Numerical simulations are performed for a highly loaded compressor cascade with ANSYS CFX software.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Craven ◽  
Keith Kirkpatrick ◽  
Stephen Idem

Abstract After constructing a scale model of planned changes to a power plant exhaust system, tests were performed to measure pressure losses in the transition, silencer, and stack. A dimension of 0.30 m (1.0 ft) for the scale model corresponded to 3.7 m (12.0 ft) at full scale. To the extent possible, the scale model tests exhibited geometric similarity with the actual power plant. Total pressure loss coefficients varied between 2.122, 1.969, and 1.932, for three separate scale model configurations that were considered. A combination of turning vanes and splitter vanes in the five-gore elbow, coupled with the use of turning vanes in the rectangular elbow yielded the lowest total pressure loss. Although Reynolds number similarity between the scale model experiments and the actual power plant was not attained, Reynolds number independence was achieved in the tests. The results from this study was applied to model pressure loss in the actual power plant. The scale model testing revealed that utilization of the exhaust ducting design designated as Case A would yield a sufficiently low pressure loss that it would not degrade the performance of the combustion turbine in the power plant to be repaired. Therefore it was selected for inclusion in the retro-fitting of the power plant to facilitate its being quickly brought back on-line.


Author(s):  
Hongxin Zhang ◽  
Shaowen Chen ◽  
Yun Gong ◽  
Songtao Wang

A numerical research is applied to investigate the effect of controlling the flow separation in a certain highly loaded compressor cascade using different unsteady flow control techniques. Firstly, unsteady pulsed suction as a new novel unsteady flow control technique was proposed and compared to steady constant suction in the control of flow separation. A more exciting effect of controlling the flow separation and enhancing the aerodynamic performance for unsteady pulsed suction was obtained compared to steady constant suction with the same time-averaged suction flow rate. Simultaneously, with the view to further exploring the potential of unsteady flow control technique, unsteady pulsed suction, unsteady pulsed blowing, and unsteady synthetic jet (three unsteady flow control techniques) are analyzed comparatively in detail by the related unsteady aerodynamic parameters such as excitation location, frequency, and amplitude. The results show that unsteady pulsed suction shows greater advantage than unsteady pulsed blowing and unsteady synthetic jet in controlling the flow separation. Unsteady pulsed suction and unsteady synthetic jet have a wider range of excitation location obtaining positive effects than unsteady pulsed blowing. The ranges of excitation frequency and excitation amplitude for unsteady pulsed suction gaining favorable effects are both much wider than that of unsteady pulsed blowing and unsteady synthetic jet. The optimum frequencies of unsteady pulsed suction, unsteady pulsed blowing, and unsteady synthetic jet are found to be different, but these optimum frequencies are all an integer multiple of the natural frequency of vortex shedding. The total pressure loss coefficient is reduced by 16.98%, 16.55%, and 17.38%, respectively, when excitation location, frequency, and amplitude are all their own optimal values for unsteady pulsed suction, unsteady pulsed blowing, and unsteady synthetic jet. The optimum result of unsteady synthetic jet only slightly outperforms that of unsteady pulsed suction and unsteady pulsed blowing. But unfortunately, there is no advantage from the standpoint of overall efficiency for the optimum result of unsteady synthetic jet because the slight improvement has to require a greater power consumption than the unsteady pulsed suction and unsteady pulsed blowing methods.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey P. Bons ◽  
Jon Pluim ◽  
Kyle Gompertz ◽  
Matthew Bloxham ◽  
John P. Clark

The synchronous application of flow control in the presence of unsteady wakes was studied on a highly-loaded low pressure turbine blade. The L1A blade has a design Zweifel coefficient of 1.34 and a suction peak at 58% axial chord, making it an aft-loaded pressure distribution. Velocity and pressure data were acquired at Rec = 20,000 with 3% incoming freestream turbulence. Unsteady wakes from an upstream vane row are simulated with a moving row of bars at a flow coefficient of 0.76. At this Reynolds number, the blade exhibits a non-reattaching separation bubble beginning at 57% axial chord under steady flow conditions without upstream wakes. The separation zone is modified substantially by the presence of unsteady wakes, producing a smaller separation zone and reducing the area-averaged wake total pressure loss by more than 50%. The wake disturbance accelerates transition in the separated shear layer but stops short of reattaching the flow. Rather, a new time-averaged equilibrium location is established for the separated shear layer, further downstream than without wakes. The focus of this study was the application of pulsed flow control using two spanwise rows of discrete vortex generator jets (VGJs). The VGJs were located at 59% Cx, approximately the peak cp location, and at 72% Cx. The most effective separation control was achieved at the 59% Cx location. Wake total pressure loss decreased 60% from the wake only level and the cp distribution fully recovered its high Reynolds number (attached flow) performance. The VGJ disturbance dominates the dynamics of the separated shear layer, with the wake disturbance assuming a secondary role only. When the pulsed jet actuation (30% duty cycle) was initiated at the 72% Cx location, synchronization with the wake passing frequency (10.6Hz) was key to producing the most effective separation control. A 25% improvement in effectiveness was obtained by aligning the jet actuation between wake events. Evidence suggests that flow control using VGJs will be effective in the highly unsteady LPT environment of an operating gas turbine, provided the VGJ location and amplitude are adapted for the specific blade profile.


Author(s):  
Oliver Reutter ◽  
Stefan Hemmert-Pottmann ◽  
Alexander Hergt ◽  
Eberhard Nicke

The following paper deals with the development of an optimized fillet and an endwall contour for reducing the total pressure loss and for homogenizing the outflow of a highly loaded cascade with a low aspect ratio. The NACA-65 K48 cascade profile without a fillet and without endwall contouring is used as a basis. Optimizations are performed using the DLR in-house tool AutoOpti and the RANS-solver TRACE. Three operating points at an inflow Mach number of 0.67 with different inflow angles are used to secure a wide operating range of the optimized design. At first only a fillet is optimized. The optimized fillet is small at the leading edge and rather high, wide and thick towards the trailing edge. It reduces the total pressure loss and homogenizes the outflow up to a blade height of 20 %. Following this a combined optimization of the endwall and the fillet is performed. The optimized contour leads to the development of a vortex, which changes the secondary flow in such a way, that the corner separation is reduced, which in turn significantly reduces the total pressure loss up to 16 % in the design operating point. The contour in the outflow region leads to a significant homogenization of the outflow in the near wall region.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 650-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Sullerey ◽  
A. M. Pradeep

In this paper, results are presented of an experimental investigation into the effectiveness of vortex generator jets in controlling secondary flows in two-dimensional S-duct diffusers. The experiments were performed in uniform and distorted inflow conditions and the performance evaluation of the diffuser was carried out in terms of static pressure recovery and quality of the exit flow. In the case with inflow distortion, tapered fin vortex generators were employed in addition to vortex generator jets to control flow separation that was detected on the wall with inflow distortion. Detailed measurements including total pressure, velocity distribution, surface static pressure, skin friction, and boundary layer measurements were taken at a Reynolds number of 7.8×105. These results are presented in terms of static pressure rise, distortion coefficient, and total pressure loss coefficient at the duct exit. For uniform inflow, the use of vortex generator jets resulted in more than a 30 percent decrease in total pressure loss and flow distortion coefficients. In combination with passive device (tapered fin vortex generators), the vortex generator jets reduce total pressure losses by about 25 percent for distorted inflow conditions. A potential application of this method may include control of secondary flows in turbo machinery.


Author(s):  
Ping-Ping Chen ◽  
Wei-Yang Qiao ◽  
Karsten Liesner ◽  
Robert Meyer

The large secondary flow area in the compressor hub-corner region usually leads to three-dimensional separation in the passage with large amounts of total pressure loss. In this paper numerical simulations of a linear high-speed compressor cascade, consisting of five NACA 65-K48 stator profiles, were performed to analyze the flow mechanism of hub-corner separation for the base flow. Experimental validation is used to verify the numerical results. Active control of the hub-corner separation was investigated by using boundary layer suction. The influence of the selected locations of the endwall suction slot was investigated in an effort to quantify the gains of the compressor cascade performance. The results show that the optimal chordwise location should contain the development section of the three-dimensional corner separation downstream of the 3D corner separation onset. The best pitchwise location should be close enough to the vanes’ suction surface. Therefore the optimal endwall suction location is the MTE slot, the one from 50% to 75% chord at the hub, close to the blade suction surface. By use of the MTE slot with 1% suction flow ratio, the total-pressure loss is substantially decreased by about 15.2% in the CFD calculations and 9.7% in the measurement at the design operating condition.


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