Investigations on the interaction between the front and aft purge flow and the downstream vane of 1.5-stage turbine

The present work reports the influence of the 1.5-stage turbine flow field by the front and aft rim seal flow. The interaction between the front and aft purge flow and the mainstream of a 1.5-stage turbine was numerically simulated, and the influence of the front and aft purge flow on the downstream vane was analyzed separately. The results show that the front purge flow is distributed at the higher radius of second vane inlet, which changes the position of the blade hub secondary flows, and the aft purge flow is distributed at the low radius. The purge flow at different locations in the aft cavity exit forms shear induced vortex, pressure and suction side legs of the egress, which converges with the suction and pressure side legs of the horse vortex to form vane hub passage vortex. The increased purge flow rate in both the front and aft cavities significantly increases the sealing effectiveness of the rim seal, but also causes a reduction in turbine efficiency. The combined effect of the front and aft purge flow reduces the turbine efficiency of the end-wall structure by 0.3619, 0.9062, 1.5004, 2.0188 and 2.509% at IR = 0, IR = 0.5%, IR = 0.9%, IR = 1.3% and IR = 1.7%.

Aerodynamic characteristics of owl like airfoil at low reynolds number.

The computational investigation of aerodynamic characteristics and flow fields of a smooth owl-like airfoil without serrations and velvet structures.The bioinspired airfoil design is planned to serve as the main-wing for low-reynolds number aircrafts such as (MAV)micro air vechiles.The dependency of reynolds number on aerodynamics could be obtained at low reynolds numbers.The result of this experiment shows the owl-like airfoil is having high lift performance at very low speeds and in various wind conditions.One of the unique feature of owl airfoil is a separation bubble on the pressure side at low angle of attack.The separation bubble changes location from the pressure side to suction side as the AOA (angle of attack) increases. The reynolds number dependancy on the lift curve is insignificant,although there’s difference in drag curve at high angle of attacks.Eventually, we get the geometric features of the owl like airfoil to increase aerodynamic performance at low reynolds numbers.

Computation of erosion in a hydro turbine

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the trajectories of sand particles and erosion wear in a hydraulic turbine model.Design/methodology/approachThe Lagrangian-based approach is used to track large numbers of sand particles and determine their impact through the hydro turbine components. The tracking procedure includes the stochastic eddy interaction model and the squeeze film effect. The number of particles, sizes and release positions are conformed to the particle concentration and size distribution. The impact locations, frequency and conditions of impacts are used to estimate the erosion rates and thereby the eroded mass from the distributor vane and the rotor blade and their deteriorated geometry.FindingsThe patterns of erosion in the stationary and rotating parts differ significantly and the effect of the initial position of the runner blade is elucidated. The distributor vane is characterized by a widespread of erosion over the pressure side. Typically, the surface beyond the throat and the root and tip junctions are the regions prone to erosion wear. The entry region of the runner blade is subject to a high number of impacts resulting in high erosion rates visible from the forepart of the blade pressure side.Practical implicationsThe erosion patterns and geometry deterioration may serve to evaluate the drop in the hydraulic performance and to select the appropriate surface coating to extend the lifetime of the turbomachinery parts and reduce the maintenance cost.Originality/valueErosion developments reveal a strong dependence on the blade position against the distributor vane and the particle size and concentration level.

The Effects of Axisymmetric Convergent Contouring and Blowing Ratio On Endwall Film Cooling and Vane Pressure Side Surface Phantom Cooling Performance

In this paper, a detailed numerical investigation on the endwall film cooling and vane pressure side surface phantom cooling was performed, at the simulated realistic gas turbine operating conditions (high inlet freestream turbulence level of 16 %, exit Mach number of 0.85 and exit Reynolds number of 1.7×106). Based on a double coolant temperature model, a novel numerical method for the predictions of adiabatic wall film cooling effectiveness was proposed. This numerical method was validated by comparing the predicted results with experimental data of endwall Nusselt number, endwall film cooling effectiveness and near endwall flow visualization. The results indicate that the present numerical method can accurately predict endwall thermal load distributions and endwall film cooling distributions, and vane surface phantom cooling distributions. The endwall heat transfer coefficient, endwall film cooling effectiveness, phantom cooling effectiveness of the vane pressure side surface and total pressure loss coefficients (TPLC) were predicted and compared for two endwall contouring shapes (flat endwall and axisymmetric convergent contoured endwall) at three different blowing ratios (low blowing ratio of BR=1.0, design blowing ratio of BR=2.5 and high blowing ratio of BR=3.5) with a constant density ratio of DR=1.2, based on the present novel numerical method.

Influence of Coolant Density on Turbine Blade Tip Film Cooling at Transonic Cascade Flow Conditions Using the Pressure Sensitive Paint Technique

This work is an experimental study of film cooling effectiveness on a blade tip in a stationary, linear cascade. The cascade is mounted in a blowdown facility with controlled inlet and exit Mach numbers of 0.29 and 0.75, respectively. The free stream turbulence intensity is measured to be 13.5 % upstream of the blade's leading edge. A flat tip design is studied, having a tip gap of 1.6%. The blade tip is designed to have 15 shaped film cooling holes along the near-tip pressure side (PS) surface. Fifteen vertical film cooling holes are placed on the tip near the pressure side. The cooling holes are divided into a 2-zone plenum to locally maintain the desired blowing ratios based on the external pressure field. Two coolant injection scenarios are considered by injecting coolant through the tip holes only and both tip and PS surface holes together. The blowing ratio (M) and density ratio (DR) effects are studied by testing at blowing ratios of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 and three density ratios of 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0. Three different foreign gases are used to create density ratio effect. Over-tip flow leakage is also studied by measuring the static pressure distributions on the blade tip using the pressure sensitive paint measurement technique. In addition, detailed film cooling effectiveness and over-tip flow leakage is acquired to quantify the parametric effect of blowing ratio and density ratio on a plane tip.

Numerical Investigation of the Characteristics of Erosion in a Centrifugal Pump for Transporting Dilute Particle-Laden Flows

Erosion in centrifugal pumps for transporting flows with dilute particles is a main pump failure problem in many engineering processes. A numerical model combining the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and Discrete Element Method (DEM) is applied to simulate erosion in a centrifugal pump. Different models of the liquid-solid inter-phase forces are implemented, and the particle-turbulence interaction is also defined. The inertial particles considered in this work are monodisperse and have finite size. The numerical results are validated by comparing the results with a series of experimental data. Then, the effects of particle volume fraction, size, and shape on the pump erosion are estimated in the simulations. The results demonstrate that severe erosive areas are located near the inlet and outlet of the pressure side of the impeller blade, the middle region of the blade, the corners of the shroud and hub of the impeller adjoining to the pressure side of the blade, and the volute near the pump tongue. Among these locations, the maximum erosion occurs near the inlet of the pressure side of the blade. Erosion mitigation occurs under the situation where more particles accumulate in the near-wall region of the eroded surface, forming a buffering layer. The relationship between the particle size and the erosion is nonlinear, and the 1 mm particle causes the maximum pump erosion. The sharp particles cause more severe erosion in the pump because both the frequency of particle-wall collisions and the impact angle increase with the increasing sharpness of the particle.

Preliminary Histological Evaluation of the Application of Ozone in the First Days of Orthodontic Force Induction in Animal Model

Objectives The aim of the study is to histologically evaluate the effect of ozone therapy on orthodontic force induction in an animal model. Materials and Methods Twenty-four Wistar rats were divided into three groups (n = 8). A NiTi coil spring was installed from the maxillary first molar to the maxillary central incisor. G1 was control and G2/G3 received 1 mL of ozonated gas at concentrations of 10 and 60 µg/mL, in the buccal mucosa above the first molar roots. The animals were euthanized 3 and 5 days after the procedure. Histological sections were obtained, longitudinally of the first molar’ long axis, in the mesiodistal direction. The number of osteoclasts, osteoblasts, blood vessels, polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells, formation of osteoid tissue and hyaline areas, and root resorption were evaluated with light microscope, in tension and pressure sides. Intergroup comparisons were performed with Kruskal–Wallis, Dunn, and Chi-square tests. Results At 3-days pressure side, a greater number of osteoclasts was observed in ozone groups and greater number of blood vessels and polymorphonuclear cells were observed in G2. On the tension side, there was a significantly greater number of blood vessels, osteoblasts, and mononuclear cells in G2. At 5-days pressure side, there was a significantly greater number of osteoclasts in G2, blood vessels and osteoblasts in the ozone groups, and lesser number of polymorphonuclear cells in G3. Conclusion Ozone therapy increased the number of osteoclasts on the pressure side and osteoblasts on tension side, in 10 µg/mL concentration, demonstrating histological parameters favorable to bone remodeling. The 60 µg/mL ozone concentration accelerated the periodontal ligament reorganization process.

Pressure Fluctuation Reduction of a Centrifugal Pump by Blade Trailing Edge Modification

The pressure fluctuation inside centrifugal pumps is one of the main causes of hydro-induced vibration, especially at the blade-passing frequency and its harmonics. This paper investigates the feature of blade-passing frequency excitation in a low-specific-speed centrifugal pump in the perspective of local Euler head distribution based on CFD analysis. Meanwhile, the relation between local Euler head distribution and pressure fluctuation amplitude is observed and used to explain the mechanism of intensive pressure fluctuation. The impeller blade with ordinary trailing edge profile, which is the prototype impeller in this study, usually induces wake shedding near the impeller outlet, making the energy distribution less uniform. Because of this, the method of reducing pressure fluctuation by means of improving Euler head distribution uniformity by modifying the impeller blade trailing edge profile is proposed. The impeller blade trailing edges are trimmed in different scales, which are marked as model A, B, and C. As a result of trailing edge trimming, the impeller outlet angles at the pressure side of the prototype of model A, B, and C are 21, 18, 15, and 12 degrees, respectively. The differences in Euler head distribution and pressure fluctuation between the model impellers at nominal flow rate are investigated and analyzed. Experimental verification is also conducted to validate the CFD results. The results show that the blade trailing edge profiling on the pressure side can help reduce pressure fluctuation. The uniformity of Euler head circumferential distribution, which is directly related to the intensity of pressure fluctuation, is improved because the impeller blade outlet angle on the pressure side decreases and thus the velocity components are adjusted when the blade trailing edge profile is modified. The results of the investigation demonstrate that blade trailing edge profiling can be used in the vibration reduction of low specific impellers and in the engineering design of centrifugal pumps.

Impact of Cooling Injection on Shock Wave over a Flat Tip in High Pressure Turbine

Cooling design of highly-loaded turbine blade tips is challenged by the scarcity of experimental data and the lack of physical understanding in cooling and over-tip leakage (OTL) interaction under transonic conditions. To address these issues, this paper carried out transient thermal measurements through infrared thermography on a transonic flat tip with and without cooling injection. Experimental data of Nusselt number and cooling effectiveness were obtained and compared with computational fluid dynamics results for numerical validation. Both experimental data and simulation results show that cooling injection drastically augments tip Nusselt number near pressure side which is upstream of ejection, and in areas around coolant holes. Moreover, a strikingly low Nusselt number stripe is observed downstream of cooling injection from one of the holes in aft portion of blade. The strip is directed transverse to local OTL streamline flowing from pressure to suction side and sprawls to adjacent coolant wakes. Further numerical analyses concluded that cooling injection changes tip aerodynamics and overtip shock wave structure fundamentally. Oblique shock waves across uncooled flat tip are replaced by a confined shock train downstream of cooling injection and between cooling holes, which is constituted by two shocks normal to local OTL flow coming from pressure side. Across the first shock, density and pressure increases abruptly, contributing to thickening of tip boundary layer and the plummet of skin friction on tip surface, which is responsible for the sharp decline of tip Nusselt number and therefore, formation of low heat transfer stripe downstream cooling injection.