Shorten the Intermediate Turbine Duct Length by Applying an Integrated Concept

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Marn ◽  
E. Göttlich ◽  
D. Cadrecha ◽  
H. P. Pirker
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Flow Distribution ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Flow Angle ◽  
Intermediate Turbine Duct ◽  
Integrated Concept ◽  
Inlet Conditions ◽  
Base Design

The demand of further increased bypass ratio of aero engines will lead to low pressure turbines with larger diameters, which rotate at lower speed. Therefore, it is necessary to guide the flow leaving the high pressure turbine to the low pressure turbine at larger diameters minimizing the losses and providing an adequate flow at the low pressure (LP)-turbine inlet. Due to costs and weight, this intermediate turbine duct has to be as short as possible. This would lead to an aggressive (high diffusion) s-shaped duct geometry. It is possible to shorten the duct simply by reducing the length but the risk of separation is rising and losses increase. Another approach to shorten the duct and thus the engine length is to apply a so called integrated concept. These are novel concepts where the struts, mounted in the transition duct, replace the usually following LP-vane row. This configuration should replace the first LP-vane row from a front bearing engine architecture where the vane needs a big area to hold bearing services. That means the rotor is located directly downstream of the strut. This means that the struts have to provide the downstream blade row with undisturbed inflow with suitable flow angle and Mach number. Therefore, the (lifting) strut has a distinct three-dimensional design in the more downstream part, while in the more upstream part, it has to be cylindrical to be able to lead through supply lines. In spite of the longer chord compared with the base design, this struts have a thickness to chord ratio of 18%. To apply this concept, a compromise must be found between the number of struts (weight), vibration, noise, and occurring flow disturbances due to the secondary flows and losses. The struts and the outer duct wall have been designed by Industria de Turbopropulsores. The inner duct was kept the same as for the base line configuration (designed by Motoren und Turbinen Union). The aim of the design was to have similar duct outflow conditions (exit flow angle and radial mass flow distribution) as the base design with which it is compared in this paper. This base design consists of a single transonic high pressure (HP)-turbine stage, an aggressive s-shaped intermediate turbine duct, and a LP-vane row. Both designs used the same HP-turbine and were run in the continuously operating Transonic Test Turbine Facility at Graz University of Technology under the same engine representative inlet conditions. The flow field upstream and downstream the LP-vane and the strut, respectively, has been investigated by means of five hole probes. A rough estimation of the overall duct loss is given as well as the upper and lower weight reduction limit for the integrated concept.

Shorten the Intermediate Turbine Duct Length by Applying an Integrated Concept

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Marn ◽  
E. Go¨ttlich ◽  
D. Cadrecha ◽  
H. P. Pirker
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Flow Distribution ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Flow Angle ◽  
Intermediate Turbine Duct ◽  
Integrated Concept ◽  
Inlet Conditions ◽  
Base Design

The demand of further increased bypass ratio of aero engines will lead to low pressure turbines with larger diameters which rotate at lower speed. Therefore, it is necessary to guide the flow leaving the high pressure turbine to the low pressure turbine at larger diameters minimising the losses and providing an adequate flow at the LP-turbine inlet. Due to costs and weight this intermediate turbine duct has to be as short as possible. This would lead to an aggressive (high diffusion) s-shaped duct geometry. It is possible to shorten the duct simply by reducing the length but the risk of separation is rising and losses increase. Another approach to shorten the duct and thus the engine length is to apply a so called integrated concept. These are novel concepts where the struts, mounted in the transition duct, replace the usually following LP-vane row. This configuration should replace the first LP-vane row from a front bearing engine architecture where the vane needs a big area to hold bearing services. That means the rotor is located directly downstream of the strut. This means that the struts have to provide the downstream blade row with undisturbed inflow with suitable flow angle and Mach number. Therefore, the (lifting) strut has a distinct three dimensional design in the more downstream part while in the more upstream part it has to be cylindrical to be able to lead through supply lines. In spite of the longer chord compared with the base design this struts have a thickness to chord ratio of 18%. To apply this concept a compromise must be found between the number of struts (weight), vibration, noise and occurring flow disturbances due to secondary flows and losses. The struts and the outer duct wall have been designed by ITP. The inner duct was kept the same as for the base line configuration (designed by MTU). The aim of the design was to have similar duct outflow conditions (exit flow angle and radial mass flow distribution) as the base design with which it is compared in this paper. This base design consists of a single transonic HP-turbine stage, an aggressive s-shaped intermediate turbine duct and an LP-vane row. Both designs used the same HP-turbine and were run in the continuously operating Transonic Test Turbine Facility (TTTF) at Graz University of Technology under the same engine representative inlet conditions. The flow field upstream and downstream the LP-vane and the strut, respectively has been investigated by means of five hole probes. A rough estimation of the overall duct loss is given as well as the upper and lower weight reduction limit for the integrated concept. This work is part of the EU-project AIDA (Aggressive Intermediate Duct Aerodynamics, Contract: AST3-CT-2003-502836).

Design of an Intermediate Turbine Duct Downstream of a High Pressure Turbine

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaoshan Hou ◽  
Hu Wu
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Aerodynamic Load ◽  
Duct Flow ◽  
Original Design ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Intermediate Turbine Duct ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Inlet Conditions

The flow leaving the high pressure turbine should be guided to the low pressure turbine by an annular diffuser, which is called as the intermediate turbine duct. Flow separation, which would result in secondary flow and cause great flow loss, is easily induced by the negative pressure gradient inside the duct. And such non-uniform flow field would also affect the inlet conditions of the low pressure turbine, resulting in efficiency reduction of low pressure turbine. Highly efficient intermediate turbine duct cannot be designed without considering the effects of the rotating row of the high pressure turbine. A typical turbine model is simulated by commercial computational fluid dynamics method. This model is used to validate the accuracy and reliability of the selected numerical method by comparing the numerical results with the experimental results. An intermediate turbine duct with eight struts has been designed initially downstream of an existing high pressure turbine. On the basis of the original design, the main purpose of this paper is to reduce the net aerodynamic load on the strut surface and thus minimize the overall duct loss. Full three-dimensional inverse method is applied to the redesign of the struts. It is revealed that the duct with new struts after inverse design has an improved performance as compared with the original one.

Secondary Flows in LPT Cascades: Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Impact of the Inner Part of the Boundary Layer

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Giovannini ◽  
Filippo Rubechini ◽  
Michele Marconcini ◽  
Daniele Simoni ◽  
Vianney Yepmo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Flow Angle ◽  
Pressure Losses ◽  
Current Design ◽  
Inlet Conditions ◽  
Correct Understanding ◽  
The Impact

Due to the low level of profile losses already reached in the design of modern low-pressure turbines for turbofan applications, a renewed interest is devoted to the other sources of loss, and namely to the secondary losses. At the same time, the importance of secondary losses has been reinforced by the current design trend towards high-lift profiles. A great attention, therefore, is dedicated to reliable and effective prediction methods as well as on the correct understanding of the mechanisms that drive the secondary flows. In this context, a systematic numerical and experimental campaign was carried out focusing on the impact of different inlet boundary layer (BL) profiles and considering a state-of-the-art low-pressure turbine cascade. Starting from a computational environment representative of a design standard, detailed RANS analyses were carried out in order to establish dependable guidelines for the computational setup. As a major result, such analyses also underlined the importance of the shape of the inlet BL very close to the endwall, hence suggesting tight requirements for the characterization of the experimental environment. The impact of the inlet BL profile on the secondary flow development was experimentally investigated by varying the profile shape very close to the endwall as well as on the external part with respect to a reference condition. The effects on the cascade performance were evaluated focusing on the intensity of the over-under-turning as well as on the associated losses (intensity and penetration) by measuring the span-wise distributions of flow angle and total pressure losses at the cascade exit plane. For all the inlet conditions, comparisons between CFD and experimental results are discussed. Besides providing guidelines for a proper numerical and experimental setup, the present paper underlines the importance of a detailed characterization of the inlet BL for an accurate assessment of the secondary flows. From a broader perspective, when aiming at reproducing (numerically or experimentally) a real engine environment, this suggests that an in-depth matching of the inlet profiles is crucial for reliable estimates of the secondary losses.

Heat Transfer Investigation of an Aggressive Intermediate Turbine Duct: Part 2—Numerical Analysis

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrik Wallin ◽  
Carlos Arroyo Osso
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
High Pressure ◽  
Numerical Analysis ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Area Ratio ◽  
Pressure System ◽  
Intermediate Turbine Duct ◽  
Numerical Predictions ◽  
Inlet Conditions

Demands on improved efficiency, reduced emissions and lowered noise levels result in higher by-pass ratio turbofan engines. The design of the intermediate turbine duct, connecting the high-pressure and low-pressure turbines in a two-spool engine, becomes thus more critical. The radial offset between the high-pressure core and the low-pressure system will increase, which leads to a higher aspect ratio (Δr/L) of the turbine duct. In order to improve the low-pressure turbine performance the turbine duct exit axial velocity could be reduced by increasing the duct area ratio (Aout/Ain). In order to keep the turbine frame weight as low as possible, it is also desirable to keep the duct short, i. e. keep the non-dimensional length (L/hin) as low as possible. Therefore, there is a need to improve the knowledge about the flowfield and heat transfer in aggressive (high aspect ratio/high area ratio) turbine ducts. The work presented here has been performed within the EU FP6 project AITEB-2, focusing on heat transfer in turbines. In a two-part paper the aerothermal behavior of a fairly aggressive intermediate turbine duct with nine non-lifting vanes has been studied. The flowfield and heat transfer data was acquired in the Chalmers Turbine Facility. The first part of the paper focuses on the experimental investigation and results. In this second part of the paper comparisons between experimental data and numerical results are made. The work highlights the challenges associated with numerical predictions of flowfield induced heat transfer in turbine ducts. The numerical analysis was performed using Chalmers in-house compressible flow solver. The experimental results are compared to CFD analyzes using two different turbulence models; k-ε with wall functions and low-Re k-ω SST, and using the measured inlet conditions to the duct as boundary conditions. Previously presented flowfield comparisons showed good agreement between experiments and CFD. The main flow features, such as vorticity and pressure gradients, are reasonably well reproduced by the CFD. The heat transfer results show reasonable agreement on the hub and on the downstream part of the shroud. The heat transfer agreement is, however, poor on the shroud in the region between the duct inlet and the leading edge of the vane.

Improving Characteristics of a Cooled Transonic Vane of Low Pressure Turbine Under Nonuniform Inlet Conditions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Granovskiy ◽  
I. V. Afanasiev ◽  
V. K. Kostege ◽  
E. Yu. Marchukov
Keyword(s):  
Cooling System ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Gas Temperature ◽  
Flow Angle ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Large Pressure ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Inlet Conditions

Abstract Vanes of low-pressure turbines (LPT) run under inlet conditions generated by a preceding high-pressure turbine (HPT). HP stages are generally cooled and transonic as well due to the large pressure ratio necessary to reduce the gas temperature upstream of the downstream stages. Therefore radial distributions of inlet flow angle, total pressure and total temperature at the boundary upstream of the LPT are highly non–uniform. Such non-uniform inlet conditions can result in enhanced level of the total losses including the secondary losses. Moreover, vanes of LPT have meridional openings along inner and outer boundaries of the flow path, which causes intensification of the secondary flows leading to an increase in secondary losses. In this case the special meridional contouring of the vanes’ outer and inner surfaces allows a decrease in the flare angle namely meridional opening in the rear part of the vane. In this work, in order to compensate the negative effect of non-uniform inlet conditions, meridional opening and low aspect ratio, 3D profiling of the vane row is used as a way of reducing secondary losses. Some variants of LPT vanes with various complex 3D shapes are investigated. In particular, vane variants with a “reversed bow”, a “bowed” and a “lean” in the circumferential direction have been examined. Significant modification of the vane row is limited by cooling system design, which has to incorporate a deflector in the inner hollow of the vane to improve cooling effectiveness. A compromise between aerodynamic quality and cooling limitations has been achieved.

Secondary Flows in Low-Pressure Turbines Cascades: Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Impact of the Inner Part of the Boundary Layer

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Giovannini ◽  
Filippo Rubechini ◽  
Michele Marconcini ◽  
Daniele Simoni ◽  
Vianney Yepmo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Flow Angle ◽  
Pressure Losses ◽  
Inlet Conditions ◽  
External Part ◽  
The Impact

Due to the low level of profile losses reached in low-pressure turbines (LPT) for turbofan applications, a renewed interest is devoted to other sources of loss, e.g., secondary losses. At the same time, the adoption of high-lift profiles has reinforced the importance of these losses. A great attention, therefore, is dedicated to reliable prediction methods and to the understanding of the mechanisms that drive the secondary flows. In this context, a numerical and experimental campaign on a state-of-the-art LPT cascade was carried out focusing on the impact of different inlet boundary layer (BL) profiles. First of all, detailed Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) analyzes were carried out in order to establish dependable guidelines for the computational setup. Such analyzes also underlined the importance of the shape of the inlet BL very close to the endwall, suggesting tight requirements for the characterization of the experimental environment. The impact of the inlet BL on the secondary flow was experimentally investigated by varying the inlet profile very close to the endwall as well as on the external part of the BL. The effects on the cascade performance were evaluated by measuring the span-wise distributions of flow angle and total pressure losses. For all the inlet conditions, comparisons between Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and experimental results are discussed. Besides providing guidelines for a proper numerical and experimental setup, the present paper underlines the importance of a detailed characterization of the inlet BL for an accurate assessment of the secondary flows.

On the Flow Evolution Through a LP Turbine With Wide-Chord Vanes in an S-Shaped Channel

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Spataro ◽  
Cornelia Santner ◽  
Davide Lengani ◽  
Emil Göttlich
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Meridional Flow ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Pressure Stage ◽  
Oil Flow ◽  
Inlet Conditions

The paper discusses the time averaged flow field in a test facility located at the Institute for Thermal Turbomachinery and Machine Dynamics (ITTM) of Graz University of Technology. The rig was designed in order to reproduce the flow leaving a transonic turbine through a following counter rotating low pressure stage. This configuration is common in modern multi-shaft jet engines and will become a standard in the future. The discussion on the flow field is based on numerical results obtained by a commercial CFD code and validated by aerodynamic measurements and oil flow visualization performed on the facility itself. The meridional flow path of the machine is characterized by a diffusing S-shaped duct between the two rotors. Within the duct turning struts lead the flow to the following rotor. The LP stage inlet condition is given by the outlet flow of the high pressure turbine whose spanwise distribution is strongly affected by the shape of the downstream S-channel. A special focus is concentrated on the generation and propagation of secondary flows in such a turning mid turbine frame (TMTF). The aim of the present work is to isolate the flow structures moving from the outlet of the transonic stage through the low pressure stage and identify their effect on the time-averaged flow. The main outcome of this paper is that, whenever a TMTF is placed between counter-rotating high pressure and low pressure turbines, the structures coming from the upstream rotor will not decay (like in a co-rotating setup), but they will be convected and transported towards the downstream rotor. Moreover, the turning of the struts will enhance the vorticities generated by the upstream turbine. The application of technical solutions such as embedded TMTF designs or endwall contouring should be aimed to reach LP rotor uniform inlet conditions, minimize the TMTF secondary flows and thus to damp the rotor-rotor interaction.

Heat Transfer Investigation of an Aggressive Intermediate Turbine Duct: Part 1—Experimental Investigation

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Arroyo Osso ◽  
T. Gunnar Johansson ◽  
Fredrik Wallin
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Computational Study ◽  
Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Flow Measurements ◽  
Pressure Losses ◽  
Turbofan Engines ◽  
Intermediate Turbine Duct ◽  
Inlet Conditions

In most designs of two-spool turbofan engines, intermediate turbine duct (ITD’s) are used to connect the high-pressure turbine (HPT) with the low-pressure turbine (LPT). Demands for more efficient engines with reduced emissions require more “aggressive ducts”, ducts which provide both a higher radial offset and a larger area ratio in the shortest possible length, while maintaining low pressure losses and avoiding non-uniformities in the outlet flow that might affect the performance of the downstream LPT. The work presented in this paper is part of a more comprehensive experimental and computational study of the flowfield and the heat transfer in an aggressive ITD. The main objectives of the study were to obtain an understanding of the mechanisms governing the heat transfer in ITD’s and to obtain high quality experimental data for the improvement of the CFD-based design tools. This paper consists of two parts. The first one, this one, presents and discusses the results of the experimental study. In the second part, a comparison between the experimental results and a numerical analysis is presented. The duct studied was a state-of-the-art “aggressive” design with nine thick non-turning structural struts. It was tested in a large-scale low-speed experimental facility with a single-stage HPT. In this paper measurements of the steady convective heat transfer coefficient (HTC) distribution on both endwalls and on the strut for the duct design inlet conditions are presented. The heat transfer measurement technique used is based on infrared-thermography. Part of the results of the flow measurements is also included.

Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Tip Leakage Flow on an Aggressive S-Shaped Intermediate Turbine Duct

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Sanz ◽  
M. Kelterer ◽  
R. Pecnik ◽  
A. Marn ◽  
E. Go¨ttlich
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Intermediate Turbine Duct ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
High Diffusion ◽  
Gap Height

The demand of a further increased bypass ratio of aero engines will lead to low pressure turbines with larger diameters which rotate at lower speed. Therefore, it is necessary to guide the flow leaving the high pressure turbine to the low pressure turbine at a larger diameter without any loss generating separation or flow disturbances. Due to costs and weight this intermediate turbine duct has to be as short as possible. This leads to an aggressive (high diffusion) S-shaped duct geometry. In order to investigate the influence of the blade tip gap height of a preceding rotor on such a high-diffusion duct flow a detailed measurement campaign in the Transonic Test Turbine Facility at Graz University of Technology has been performed. A high diffusion intermediate duct is arranged downstream a high-pressure turbine stage providing an exit Mach number of about 0.6 and a swirl angle of −15 degrees (counter swirl). A low-pressure vane row is located at the end of the duct and represents the counter rotating low pressure turbine at larger diameter. At the ASME 2007, results of these investigations were presented for two different tip gap heights of 1.5% span (0.8 mm) and 2.4% span (1.3 mm). In order to better understand the flow phenomena observed in the intermediate duct a detailed numerical study is conducted. The unsteady flow through the whole configuration is simulated for both gap heights as well as for a rotor with zero gap height. The unsteady data are compared at the stage exit and inside the duct to study the flow physics. The calculation of the zero gap height configuration allows to determine the influence of the tip leakage flow of the preceding rotor on the intermediate turbine duct. It turns out that for this aggressive duct the tip leakage flow has a very positive effect on the pressure recovery.

Aerodynamic Performance of a Very High Lift Low Pressure Turbine Blade With Emphasis on Separation Prediction

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 406-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Re´gis Houtermans ◽  
Thomas Coton ◽  
Tony Arts
Keyword(s):  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Separation Bubble ◽  
Separated Flow ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Flow Mode ◽  
High Lift ◽  
Flow Angle ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Very High

The present paper is based on an experimental study of a front-loaded very high lift, low pressure turbine blade designed at the VKI. The experiments have been carried out in a low-speed wind tunnel over a wide operating range of incidence and Reynolds number. The aim of the study is to characterize the flow through the cascade in terms of losses, mean outlet flow angle, and secondary flows. At low inlet freestream turbulence intensity, a laminar separation bubble is present, and a prediction model for a separated flow mode of transition has been developed.

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