Secondary Flow Measurements in a Turbine Passage With Endwall Flow Modification

2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole V. Aunapu ◽  
Ralph J. Volino ◽  
Karen A. Flack ◽  
Ryan M. Stoddard

A flow modification technique is introduced in an attempt to allow increased turbine inlet temperatures. A large-scale two half-blade cascade simulator is used to model the secondary flow between two adjacent turbine blades. Various flow visualization techniques and measurements are used to verify that the test section replicates the flow of an actual turbine engine. Two techniques are employed to modify the endwall secondary flow, specifically the path of the passage vortex. Six endwall jets are installed at a location downstream of the saddle point near the leading edge of the pressure side blade. These wall jets are found to be ineffective in diverting the path of the passage vortex. The second technique utilizes a row of 12 endwall jets whose positions along the centerline of the passage are based on results from an optimized boundary layer fence. The row of jets successfully diverts the path of the passage vortex and decreases its effect on the suction side blade. This can be expected to increase the effectiveness of film cooling in that area. The row of jets increases the aerodynamic losses in the passage, however. Secondary flow measurements are presented showing the development of the endwall flow, both with and without modification. [S0889-504X(00)01004-7]

Author(s):  
Nicole V. Aunapu ◽  
Ralph J. Volino ◽  
Karen A. Flack ◽  
Ryan M. Stoddard

A flow modification technique is introduced in an attempt to allow increased turbine inlet temperatures. A large-scale two half-blade cascade simulator is used to model the secondary flow between two adjacent turbine blades. Various flow visualization techniques and measurements are used to verify that the test section replicates the flow of an actual turbine engine. Two techniques are employed to modify the endwall secondary flow, specifically the path of the passage vortex. Six endwall jets are installed at a location downstream of the saddle point near the leading edge of the pressure side blade. These wall jets are found to be ineffective in diverting the path of the passage vortex. The second technique utilizes a row of 12 endwall jets whose positions along the centerline of the passage are based on results from an optimized boundary layer fence. The row of jets successfully diverts the path of the passage vortex and decreases its effect on the suction side blade. This can be expected to increase the effectiveness of film cooling in that area. The row of jets increases the aerodynamic losses in the passage, however. Secondary flow measurements are presented showing the development of the endwall flow, both with and without modification.


Author(s):  
Sabine Ardey ◽  
Stefan Wolff ◽  
Leonhard Fottner

For a better understanding of the turbulence structures attached to film cooling jets, mean flow velocities and turbulent fluctuations were measured by means of 3D hot wire anemometry in the injection zone of a linear, large scale, high pressure turbine cascade with leading edge film cooling. Near the stagnation point, the blades are equipped with one row of film cooling holes each on the suction and pressure side. Two basically different coolant jet situations are compared: On the suction side the jet features the ordinary kidney vortex. On the pressure side, the jet separates completely from the blade surface since it is located above a large recirculation zone created by a locally adverse pressure gradient and a flow separation near the pressure side injection. The measured Reynolds stresses were analyzed with regard to turbulence production and diffusion. The Bousinesque Hypothesis was tested and could not be confirmed. It was found that the turbulence is highly anisotropic. In addition to the brief description of the experimental set up and the acquired data, given in this paper, the complete information are published as a test case (Ardey and Fottner, 1998) that is directly accessible via internet at: http://www.unibw-muenchen.de/campus/LRT12/welcome.html


2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Sauer ◽  
R. Mu¨ller ◽  
K. Vogeler

Experimental results are presented which show the influence on the secondary flow and its losses by a profile modification of the leading edge very close to the endwall. The investigation was carried out with a well-known turbine profile that originally was developed for highly loaded low pressure turbines. The tests were done in a low speed cascade wind tunnel. The geometrical modification was achieved by a local thickness increase; a leading edge endwall bulb. It was expected that this would intensify the suction side branch of the horse-shoe (hs-) vortex with a desirable weakening effect on the passage vortex. The investigated configuration shows a reduction of secondary losses by 2.1 percent points that represents approximately 50 percent of these losses compared to the reference profile. Detailed measurements of the total pressure field behind the cascade are presented for both the reference and the modified profile. The influence of the modified hs-vortex on the overall passage vortex can be clearly seen. The results of a numerical analysis are compared with the experimental findings. A numerical analysis shows that the important details of the experimental findings can be reproduced. Quantitative values are locally different. The theoretical approach taken cannot yet be used for an exact prediction of the loss reduction. However, the analysis of the interaction and the resulting tendencies are considered to be valid. Hence, theoretical investigations as a guideline for the design of a leading edge bulb at the endwall are a valuable tool.


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

Improved durability of gas turbine engines is an objective for both military and commercial aeroengines as well as for power generation engines. One region susceptible to degradation in an engine is the junction between the combustor and first vane given that the main gas path temperatures at this location are the highest. The platform at this junction is quite complex in that secondary flow effects, such as the leading edge vortex, are dominant. Past computational studies have shown that the total pressure profile exiting the combustor dictates the development of the secondary flows that are formed. This study examines the effect of varying the combustor liner film-cooling and junction slot flows on the adiabatic wall temperatures measured on the platform of the first vane. The experiments were performed using large-scale models of a combustor and nozzle guide vane in a wind tunnel facility. The results show that varying the coolant injection from the upstream combustor liner leads to differing total pressure profiles entering the turbine vane passage. Endwall adiabatic effectiveness measurements indicate that the coolant does not exit the upstream combustor slot uniformly but instead accumulates along the suction side of the vane and endwall. Increasing the liner cooling continued to reduce endwall temperatures, which was not found to be true with increasing the film-cooling from the liner.


Author(s):  
Yi Lu ◽  
Yinyi Hong ◽  
Zhirong Lin ◽  
Xin Yuan

Detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions were experimentally obtained on a turbine vane platform within a linear cascade. Testing was done in a large scale five-vane cascade with low freestream Renolds number condition 634,000 based on the axial chord length and the exit velocity. The detailed film-cooling effectiveness distributions on the platform were obtained using pressure sensitive paint technique. Two film-cooling hole configurations, cylindrical and fan-shaped, were used to cool the vane surface with two rows on pressure side, two rows on suction side and three rows on leading edge. For cylindrical holes, the blowing ratio of the coolant through the discrete cooling holes on pressure side and suction side ranged from 0.3 to 1.5 (based on the inlet mainstream velocity) while the blowing ratio ranging from 0.15 to 1.5 on leading edge; for fan-shaped holes, the four blowing ratios were 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. Results showed that average film-cooling effectiveness decreased with increasing blowing rate for the cylindrical holes, while the fan-shaped passage showed increased film-cooling effectiveness with increasing blowing ratio, indicating the fan-shaped cooling holes helped to improve film-cooling effectiveness by reducing overall jet liftoff. Fan-shaped holes improved average film-cooling effectiveness by 93.2%, 287.6% and 489.6% on pressure side, −4.1%, 27.9% and 78.2% on suction side over cylindrical holes at the blowing ratio of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 respectively. Numerical results were used to analyze the details of the flow and heat transfer on the cooling area with two turbulence models. Results demonstrated that tendency of the film cooling effectiveness distribution of numerical calculation and experimental measurement was generally consistent at different blowing ratio.


Author(s):  
W. F. Colban ◽  
A. T. Lethander ◽  
K. A. Thole ◽  
G. Zess

Most turbine inlet flows resulting from the combustor exit are non-uniform in the near-platform region as a result of cooling methods used for the combustor liner. These cooling methods include injection through film-cooling holes and injection through a slot that connects the combustor and turbine. This paper presents thermal and flow field measurements in the turbine vane passage for a combustor exit flow representative of what occurs in a gas turbine engine. The experiments were performed in a large-scale wind tunnel facility that incorporates combustor and turbine vane models. The measured results for the thermal and flow fields indicate a secondary flow pattern in the vane passage that can be explained by the total pressure profile exiting the combustor. This secondary flow field is quite different than that presented for past studies with an approaching flat plate turbulent boundary layer along the upstream platform. A counter-rotating vortex that is positioned above the passage vortex was identifed from the measurements. Highly turbulent and highly unsteady flow velocities occur at flow impingment locations along the stagnation line.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. Colban ◽  
A. T. Lethander ◽  
K. A. Thole ◽  
G. Zess

Most turbine inlet flows resulting from the combustor exit are nonuniform in the near-platform region as a result of cooling methods used for the combustor liner. These cooling methods include injection through film-cooling holes and injection through a slot that connects the combustor and turbine. This paper presents thermal and flow field measurements in the turbine vane passage for a combustor exit flow representative of what occurs in a gas turbine engine. The experiments were performed in a large-scale wind tunnel facility that incorporates combustor and turbine vane models. The measured results for the thermal and flow fields indicate a secondary flow pattern in the vane passage that can be explained by the total pressure profile exiting the combustor. This secondary flow field is quite different than that presented for past studies with an approaching flat plate turbulent boundary layer along the upstream platform. A counter-rotating vortex that is positioned above the passage vortex was identified from the measurements. Highly turbulent and highly unsteady flow velocities occur at flow impingement locations along the stagnation line.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. Colban ◽  
K. A. Thole ◽  
G. Zess

Improved durability of gas turbine engines is an objective for both military and commercial aeroengines as well as for power generation engines. One region susceptible to degradation in an engine is the junction between the combustor and first vane given that the main gas path temperatures at this location are the highest. The platform at this junction is quite complex in that secondary flow effects, such as the leading edge vortex, are dominant. Past computational studies have shown that the total pressure profile exiting the combustor dictates the development of the secondary flows that are formed. This study examines the effect of varying the combustor liner film-cooling and junction slot flows on the adiabatic wall temperatures measured on the platform of the first vane. The experiments were performed using large-scale models of a combustor and nozzle guide vane in a wind tunnel facility. The results show that varying the coolant injection from the upstream combustor liner leads to differing total pressure profiles entering the turbine vane passage. Endwall adiabatic effectiveness measurements indicate that the coolant does not exit the upstream combustor slot uniformly, but instead accumulates along the suction side of the vane and endwall. Increasing the liner cooling continued to reduce endwall temperatures, which was not found to be true with increasing the film-cooling from the liner.


Author(s):  
Sabine Ardey ◽  
Leonhard Fottner

To increase the understanding of the aerodynamic processes dominating the flow field of turbine bladings with leading edge film cooling, isothermal investigations were carried out on a large scale high pressure turbine cascade. Near the stagnation point the blades are equipped with one row of film cooling holes on the suction side and one on the pressure side. Blowing ratio, turbulence intensity, Mach number, and Reynolds number are set to values typically found in modern gas turbines. Experimental data of the cascade flow were obtained by pneumatic probes and static pressure tappings. The flow field was visualized by Schlieren and oil flow techniques. For detailed investigations near the blowing holes the Laser Transit Velocimetry and the three dimensional Hot Wire Anemometry were used. The flow field measurements in the near hole region of the suction side show the typical kidney shaped vortex pair. A local suction peak on the pressure side causes a large recirculation area behind the holes on the pressure side and induces separation bubbles in between the pressure side holes. This leads to the generation of two pairs of vortices: The kidney-vortex is located on top of a second vortex pair and a trough flow that fills up the deficit of the recirculation. Thus the film cooling air is detached from the pressure side surface. In addition to the mean flow vectors Reynolds stress components are a good means to judge the propagation of the jet. In spite of the complex flow pattern occurring on each single jet, the surveyed loss-increase due to the leading edge blowing can be predicted by the mixing layer model.


Author(s):  
H. Sauer ◽  
R. Müller ◽  
K. Vogeler

Experimental results are presented which show the influence on the secondary flow and its losses by a profile modification of the leading edge very close to the endwall. The investigation was carried out with a well-known turbine profile that originally was developed for highly loaded low pressure turbines. The tests were done in a low speed cascade wind tunnel. The geometrical modification was achieved by a local thickness increase; a leading edge endwall bulb. It was expected that this would intensify the suction side branch of the horse-shoe (hs-) vortex with a desirable weakening effect on the passage vortex. The investigated configuration shows a reduction of secondary losses by 2.1% points that represents approximately 50% of these losses compared to the reference profile. Detailed measurements of the total pressure field behind the cascade are presented for both the reference and the modified profile. The influence of the modified hs-vortex on the overall passage vortex can be clearly seen. The results of a numerical analysis are compared with the experimental findings. A numerical analysis shows that the important details of the experimental findings can be reproduced. Quantitative values are locally different. The theoretical approach taken cannot yet be used for an exact prediction of the loss reduction. However the analysis of the interaction and the resulting tendencies are considered to be valid. Hence theoretical investigations as a guideline for the design of a leading edge bulb at the endwall are a valuable tool.


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