A New Loss and Deviation Model for Axial Compressor Inlet Guide Vanes

This paper describes a new universal algebraic model for the estimation of flow deflection and losses in axial compressor inlet guide vane devices. The model deals with nominal flow and far-off-design operating conditions in connection with large stagger angle adjustments. The first part of the model considers deflection and losses in 2D cascades, taking into account the main cascade geometry parameters and operating conditions, such as Mach number and stagger adjustment. The second part of the model deals with additional deviation and losses due to secondary flow caused by the endwall viscous effects and by the trailing vortices. The model is developed for NACA65 airfoils, NACA63-A4K6 airfoils and airfoils having an NACA65 thickness distribution on a circular-arc camber line. It is suitable for application in 1D or 2D through-flow calculations for design and analysis cases. The development of the method is based on systematic CFD flow calculations for various cascade geometries and operating parameters. The comparison of correlation results with experimental data for several test cases shows good agreement.

Evolution of Generic Vanelets Applied to a High Pressure Compressor

The flow field of high pressure compressors is strongly influenced by secondary flow phenomena which lead to performance degradations. A significant fraction of the associated losses arises from tip as well as hub clearance vortices and their interaction with the main flow. In order to decrease the negative effect of clearance vortices, the application of vanelets, winglet-like structures attached to the tips of a cantilevered stator, is studied within the present paper. Different vanelets of generic design are applied to the stator and evaluated with respect to their aerodynamic effect by comparison against a datum configuration. The model comprises the investigated stator enclosed between two rotating blade rows. Detailed insight into the underlying phenomena is provided by numerical investigations with the compressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The structures led to an increased efficiency at the aerodynamic design point due to the suppression of the clearance mass flow in combination with a reduced vortex cross section. Under strongly throttled conditions a so called vanelet corner stall developed, which induced blockage near hub. Thus the main flow was displaced towards casing enhancing stable operation of the downstream rotor. Surge margin was consequently increased.

The Effect of Pulsed Blowing on the Boundary Layer of a Highly Loaded Low Pressure Turbine Blade

The performance of the low pressure turbine (LPT) can vary appreciably, because this component operates under a wide range of Reynolds numbers. At higher Reynolds numbers, mid and aft loaded profiles have the advantage that transition of suction side boundary layer happens further downstream than at front loaded profiles, resulting in lower profile loss. At lower Reynolds numbers, aft loading of the blade can mean that if a suction side separation exists, it may remain open up to the trailing edge. This is especially the case when blade lift is increased via increased pitch to chord ratio. There is a trend in research towards exploring the effect of coupling boundary layer control with highly loaded turbine blades, in order to maximize performance over the full relevant Reynolds number range. In an earlier work, pulsed blowing with fluidic oscillators was shown to be effective in reducing the extent of the separated flow region and to significantly decrease the profile losses caused by separation over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. These experiments were carried out in the High-Speed Cascade Wind Tunnel of the German Federal Armed Forces University Munich, Germany, which allows to capture the effects of pulsed blowing at engine relevant conditions. The assumed control mechanism was the triggering of boundary layer transition by excitation of the Tollmien-Schlichting waves. The current work aims to gain further insight into the effects of pulsed blowing. It investigates the effect of a highly efficient configuration of pulsed blowing at a frequency of 9.5 kHz on the boundary layer at a Reynolds number of 70000 and exit Mach number of 0.6. The boundary layer profiles were measured at five positions between peak Mach number and the trailing edge with hot wire anemometry and pneumatic probes. Experiments were conducted with and without actuation under steady as well as periodically unsteady inflow conditions. The results show the development of the boundary layer and its interaction with incoming wakes. It is shown that pulsed blowing accelerates transition over the separation bubble and drastically reduces the boundary layer thickness.

Influence of Leading Edge Fillet and Nonaxisymmetric Contoured Endwall on Turbine NGV Exit Flow Structure and Interactions With the Rim Seal Flow

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.

Effect of Boundary Layer Suction on Aerodynamic Performance of High-Turning Compressor Cascade

Compared with suction slots, suction holes are (1) flexible in distribution; (2) alterable in size; (3) easy to fabricate and (4) high in strength. In this paper, the numerical and experimental studies for a high turning compressor cascade with suction air removed by using suction holes in the end-wall at a low Mach numbers are carried out. The main objective of the investigation is to study the influence of different suction distributions on the aerodynamic performance of the compressor cascade and to find a better compound suction scheme. A numerical model was first made and validated by comparing with the experimental results. The computed flow visualization and exit parameter distribution showed a good agreement with experimental data. Second, the model was then used to simulate the influence of different suction distributions on the aerodynamic performance of the compressor cascade. A better compound suction scheme was obtained by summarizing numerical results and tested in a low speed wind tunnel. As a result, the compound suction scheme can be used to significantly improve the performance of the compressor cascade because the corner separation gets further suppressed.

Mechanical Work Potential

This paper considers the effect of heat transfer between fluid streams on the work output of a turbine. To correctly characterize the effect of heat transfer requires a new property, ‘mechanical work potential’, which is a measure of the maximum useful work that can be extracted from a fluid by an isentropic turbine exhausting to a fixed exit static pressure. A balance equation for the property, over a control volume, is developed. The equation shows that entropy creation through thermal mixing has no effect on turbine work. It does, however, show that a second heat transfer term, ‘thermal creation’, does alter turbine work. Thermal creation occurs in regions of the turbine where heat transfer occurs across a finite pressure difference. The term is the non-linear version of the acoustic energy creation term proposed by Lord Rayleigh in his thermo-acoustic criterion. The balance equation is then used to link local regions of thermal creation to changes in stage efficiency. The method is used to show that, in a modern high pressure turbine stage, heat transfer due to thermal mixing in the freestream causes a negligible change in efficiency and therefore can be ignored in the design process. The method is also used to show that heat transfer due to convective cooling results in ∼0.5% rise in stage efficiency. This is a significant and should be accounted for in the design process.

Numerical Analysis of Flow in a Transonic Compressor With a Single Circumferential Casing Groove: Influence of Groove Location and Depth on Flow Instability

The effect of circumferential single grooved casing treatment on the stability enhancement of NASA Rotor 37 has been examined with CFD analysis. Stall inception mechanism of Rotor 37 is presented first with principal focus on the tip leakage flow behavior, passage blockage, and the vortical flow structures. Detailed observation showed that the combined interaction of the stagnated flow of tip leakage vortex breakdown and the jet-like leakage flow from the mid-chord region leads to the blade tip-initiated stall inception. The result of numerical parametric study is then demonstrated to show the effect of varying the axial location and the depth of a circumferential single groove. The evaluation based on stall margin improvement showed a higher potential of deeper grooves in stability enhancement, and the optimal position for the groove to be located was indicated to exist near the leading edge of the blade.

Flow Field and Vibration Behavior of Straight Transonic Compressor Cascade due to External Acoustic Excitation

A fluid-structure coupled approach is utilized to study the influence of external acoustic excitation on straight compressor cascade flow field and blade vibration behavior. Interaction between fluid and structure are dealt with in a coupled manner, based on the interface exchange of information between the aerodynamic and structural model. The computation fluid mesh is updated at every time step with an improved algebraic method. The flow field of cascade with/without external acoustic excitation is carried out using a 3D unsteady CFD model based on moving boundary way, as well as some experimental studies based on transonic wind tunnel. Then coupled with blade FE model, mode shapes, frequencies, vibration stress and the structural deformations of blade are identified. The performance of the cascade is obtained by computational and experimental ways, consistency of numerical and test results shows that the numerical model is suitable. The numerical results show that acoustic excitation has a greater impact on negative and designed attack angle in contrast to high positive attack angle. The cascade wake and blade surface pressure frequency characteristic are changed and the main frequency is almost the same as the acoustic excitation frequency. Compared results with no excitation, the vibration characteristics of the blade is changed, also the vibration behavior is sensitive to the excitation amplitude and frequency.

Design and Test Results of a Ultra High Loaded Single Stage High Pressure Turbine

This paper describes the engine and rig design, and test results of an ultra-highly loaded single stage high pressure turbine. In service aviation single stage HPTs typically operate at a total-to-total pressure ratio of less than 4.0. At higher pressure ratios or energy extraction the nozzle and blade both have regions of supersonic flow and shock structures which, if not mitigated, can result in a large loss in efficiency both in the turbine itself and due to interaction with the downstream component which may be a turbine center frame or a low pressure turbine. Extending the viability of the single stage HPT to higher pressure ratios is attractive as it enables a compact engine with less weight, and lower initial and maintenance costs as compared to a two stage HPT. The present work was performed as part of the NASA UEET (Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology) program from 2002 through 2005. The goal of the program was to design and rig test a cooled single stage HPT with a pressure ratio of 5.5 with an efficiency at least two points higher than the state of the art. Preliminary design tools and a design of experiments approach were used to design the flow path. Stage loading and through-flow were set at appropriate levels based on prior experience on high pressure ratio single stage turbines. Appropriate choices of blade aspect ratio, count, and reaction were made based on comparison with similar HPT designs. A low shock blading design approach was used to minimize the shock strength in the blade during design iterations. CFD calculations were made to assess performance. The HPT aerodynamics and cooling design was replicated and tested in a high speed rig at design point and off-design conditions. The turbine met or exceeded the expected performance level based on both steady state and radial/circumferential traverse data. High frequency dynamic total pressure measurements were made to understand the presence of unsteadiness that persists in the exhaust of a transonic turbine.

Effect of Purge Flow Swirl on Hot Gas Ingestion Into Turbine Rim Cavities

Purge air, injected through seals in the hub of axial turbines, is necessary to prevent hot gas ingestion into endwall cavities, but generates losses by viscous interaction with the mainstream flow. Recent work has shown that for a given purge air mass flow rate, introducing swirl into the purge flow can reduce these losses. This paper investigates the effect of introducing such swirl on the ability of purge flow to prevent ingestion. In particular, it is observed that in the presence of the rotating external pressure non-uniformity due to a downstream blade row, swirled purge flow is much less effective in sealing a turbine disk rim cavity compared to non-swirled purge flow. This is reflected in higher purge air mass flow rates necessary to seal a given cavity, and that in turn diminishes the positive effect of pre-swirling purge flow in the first place. It is shown that this will occur whenever the circumferential pressure disturbance associated with the downstream rotating blades is the dominant driver for externally induced ingestion. It is reasoned that swirled purge flow moves with the rotating pressure non-uniformity and responds to it more readily than non-swirled purge flow, which sees the averaged effect of multiple blade passing events. A flow model based on this physical principle is developed, showing good agreement with computational results. The model yields an ingestion criterion with a parametric dependence on purge flow design parameters. The analysis is extended to an unsteady situation, whereby the effects of both stationary and rotating pressure non-uniformities, from vanes and blades respectively, are taken into account simultaneously. This unsteady flow model points to an optimal design space, in the context of minimizing purge flow losses while maintaining an appropriate margin with regard to hot gas ingestion.