Impingement Starting and Power Boosting of Small Gas Turbines

1985 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Rodgers

The technology of high-pressure air or hot-gas impingement from stationary shroud supplementary nozzles onto radial outflow compressors and radial inflow turbines to permit rapid gas turbine starting or power boosting is discussed. Data are presented on the equivalent turbine component performance for convergent/divergent shroud impingement nozzles, which reveal the sensitivity of nozzle velocity coefficient with Mach number and turbine efficiency with impingement nozzle admission arc. Compressor and turbine matching is addressed in the transient turbine start mode with the possibility of operating these components in braking or reverse flow regimes when impingement flow rates exceed design.

Author(s):  
Dieter Bohn ◽  
Bernd Rudzinski ◽  
Norbert Sürken ◽  
Wolfgang Gärtner

The ingestion of hot gas at the rim seal of a turbine has been investigated for a complete stage with nozzle guide vanes and rotor blades for two types of geometry: 1. the simple axial gap between a flat rotor disk and a flat stator disk, commonly used for industrial gas turbines and 2. an axial lip of the rim seal on the stator combined with a flat rotor disk, often found in aero engine applications. The clearance of the axial gap has been varied for the second type. The efficiency of the rim seal has been examined for different seal flow rates, rotational Reynolds numbers and Mach numbers in the main flow. For the determination of the sealing effectiveness carbon dioxide gas concentration measurements have been carried out in the wheelspace. The distribution of the static pressure in the vicinity of the seal and inside the wheelspace has been measured by means of pressure taps at the stator disk. It is shown that the external flow Mach number in the main flow has a significant effect on the sealing efficiency. As Mach number increases sealing efficiency goes down. The rotational Reynolds number has a distinct effect on the rim seal efficiency depending on the examined configuration. Even for high seal flow rates the ingestion of hot gas can not be fully avoided. The experimental results were the motivation for a three-dimensional CFD approach neglecting the influence of the rotor blades. The results give further insight into aerodynamic features of the ingestion phenomenon.


Author(s):  
J. Michael Owen ◽  
Hui Tang ◽  
Gary D. Lock

Ingress is the leakage of hot mainstream gas through the rim-seal clearance into the wheel-space between the rotating turbine disk (the rotor) and the adjacent stationary casing (the stator). The high-pressure rotor is purged by a radial outflow of air from the high-pressure compressor, and this cooling air is also used to reduce the ingress. The engine designer needs to predict the stator and rotor temperatures as a function of cooling-flow rate. The sealing effectiveness determines how much air is needed to reduce or prevent ingress; although there are numerous theoretical and experimental papers on the effectiveness of different seal geometries, there are few papers on the effect of ingress on the temperature of the rotating disk. This is an unsolved problem of great practical importance: under high stress, a small increase in metal temperature can significantly reduce operating life. In this paper, conservation equations and control volumes are used to develop theoretical equations for the exchange of mass, concentration and enthalpy in an adiabatic rotor–stator system when ingress occurs. It is assumed that there are boundary layers on the rotor and stator, separated by an inviscid rotating core, and the fluid entrained from the core into the boundary layer on the rotor is recirculated into that on the stator. The superposed cooling flow protects the rotor surface from the adverse effects of hot-gas ingress, which increases the temperature of the fluid entrained into the rotor boundary layer. A theoretical model has been developed to predict the relationship between the sealing effectiveness on the stator and the adiabatic effectiveness on the rotor, including the effects of both ingress and frictional heating. The model involves the use of a nondimensional buffer parameter, Ψ, which is related to the relative amount of fluid entrained into the rotor boundary layer. The analysis shows that the cooling flow acts as a buffer, which attenuates the effect of hot gas ingress on the rotor, but frictional heating reduces the buffer effect. The theoretical effectiveness curves are in good agreement with experimental data obtained from a rotor–stator heat-transfer rig, and the results confirm that the buffer effect increases as the sealing effectiveness of the rim seals decreases. The analysis quantifies the increase in the adiabatic rotor temperature due to direct frictional heating, which is separate from the increase due to the combined effects of the ingress and the indirect frictional heating of the entrained fluid. These combined effects are reduced as Ψ increases, and Ψ = 1 at a critical flow rate above which there is no entrained fluid and consequently no indirect heating of the rotor. The model also challenges the conventional physical interpretation of ingress as, in general, not all the hot gas that enters the rim-seal clearance can penetrate into the wheel-space. The ingress manifests itself through a mixing of enthalpy, which can be exchanged even if no ingested fluid enters the wheel-space.


Author(s):  
Neil Goldstein ◽  
Carlos A. Arana ◽  
Fritz Bien ◽  
Jamine Lee ◽  
John Gruninger ◽  
...  

The feasibility of an innovative minimally intrusive sensor for monitoring the hot gas stream at the turbine inlet in high performance aircraft gas turbine engines was demonstrated. The sensor uses passive fiber-optical probes and a remote readout device to collect and analyze the spatially resolved spectral signature of the hot gas in the combustor/turbine flowpaths. Advanced information processing techniques are used to extract the average temperature, temperature pattern factor, and chemical composition on a sub-second time scale. Temperatures and flame composition were measured in a variety of combustion systems including a high pressure, high temperature combustion cell. Algorithms for real-time temperature measurements were developed and demonstrated. This approach should provide a real-time temperature profile, temperature pattern factor, and chemical species sensing capability for multi-point monitoring of high temperature and high pressure flow at the combustor exit with application as an engine development diagnostic tool, and ultimately, as a real-time active control component for high performance gas turbines.


2010 ◽  
Vol 133 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Michael Owen

Ingress of hot gas through the rim seals of gas turbines can be modeled theoretically using the so-called orifice equations. In Part I of this two-part paper, the orifice equations were derived for compressible and incompressible swirling flows, and the incompressible equations were solved for axisymmetric rotationally induced (RI) ingress. In Part II, the incompressible equations are solved for nonaxisymmetric externally induced (EI) ingress and for combined EI and RI ingress. The solutions show how the nondimensional ingress and egress flow rates vary with Θ0, the ratio of the flow rate of sealing air to the flow rate necessary to prevent ingress. For EI ingress, a “saw-tooth model” is used for the circumferential variation of pressure in the external annulus, and it is shown that ε, the sealing effectiveness, depends principally on Θ0; the theoretical variation of ε with Θ0 is similar to that found in Part I for RI ingress. For combined ingress, the solution of the orifice equations shows the transition from RI to EI ingress as the amplitude of the circumferential variation of pressure increases. The predicted values of ε for EI ingress are in good agreement with the available experimental data, but there are insufficient published data to validate the theory for combined ingress.


Author(s):  
J. Michael Owen

Ingress of hot gas through the rim seals of gas turbines can be modelled theoretically using the so-called orifice equations. In Part 1 (ASME GT 2009-59121) of this two-part paper, the orifice equations were derived for compressible and incompressible swirling flow, and the incompressible equations were solved for axisymmetric rotationally-induced (RI) ingress. In Part 2, the incompressible equations are solved for non-axisymmetric externally-induced (EI) ingress and for combined EI and RI ingress. The solutions show how the nondimensional ingress and egress flow rates vary with Θ0, the ratio of the flow rate of sealing air to the flow rate necessary to prevent ingress. For EI ingress, a ‘saw-tooth model’ is used for the circumferential variation of pressure in the external annulus, and it is shown that ε, the sealing effectiveness, depends principally on Θ0; the theoretical variation of ε with Θ0 is similar to that found in Part 1 for RI ingress. For combined ingress, the solution of the orifice equations shows the transition from RI to EI ingress as the amplitude of the circumferential variation of pressure increases. The predicted values of ε for EI ingress are in good agreement with available experimental data, but there are insufficient published data to validate the theory for combined ingress.


Author(s):  
M. Rabs ◽  
F.-K. Benra ◽  
H. J. Dohmen ◽  
O. Schneider

The present paper gives a contribution to a better understanding of the flow at the rim and in the wheel space of gas turbines. Steady state and time-accurate numerical simulations with a commercial Navier-Stokes solver for a 1.5 stage turbine similar to the model treated in the European Research Project ICAS-GT were conducted. In the framework of a numerical analysis, a validation with experimental results of the test rig at the Technical University of Aachen will be given. In preceding numerical investigations of realistic gas turbine rim cavities with a simplified treatment of the hot gas path (modelling of the main flow path without blades and vanes), so called Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices were found in the area of the gap when using appropriate boundary conditions. The present work shows that these flow instabilities also occur in a 1.5 stage gas turbine model with consideration of the blades and vanes. Therefore, several simulations with different sealing air mass flow rates (CW 7000, 20000, 30000) have been conducted. The results show, that for high sealing air mass flow rates Kelvin-Helmholtz Instabilities are developing. These vortices significantly coin the flow at the rim.


1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (03) ◽  
pp. 98-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Valenti

A high-pressure injection system that needs less water to clean gas turbines than conventional methods can reduce equipment maintenance costs for aircraft, offshore platforms, and power plants. Gas Turbine Efficiency (GTE) in Jarfalla, Sweden, has developed a high-pressure injection system that cleans turbines using atomized droplets and needs 90 percent less liquid than previous methods. With this technique, the operators of offshore oil platforms, power plants, refineries, and aircraft in several countries are reducing the purchase costs of new fluids, the disposal costs of spent cleaning fluids, and maintenance downtime. In creating their washing system, designers considered the differences in cleaning aviation and stationary engines. The turbine-washing system is available in mobile versions for aircraft engines and permanently installed versions, for the off-line cleaning of stationary turbines. GTE also designed two models to serve the very small and very large turbines. The GTE 30 A services the small turbines, ranging from 0.5 to 10 megawatts, that are used in industrial, power-generation, marine, and test-cell applications as well as turboprop aircraft, turbofan craft, and helicopters.


Author(s):  
Zhe Liu ◽  
James Braun ◽  
Guillermo Paniagua

AbstractIn this paper, a diffuser is used to integrate a transonic high-pressure turbine with a rotating detonation combustor (RDC). The paper focuses on the required design modifications to the turbine endwalls (EW) to enable high efficiency, while preserving the airfoil blade-to-blade geometry. The main challenge is the stator passage unstarting, due to the high inlet Mach number. First of all, steady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes simulations were performed to compare the efficiency of turbines with constant-radius EWs to turbines with axisymmetric EWs. A modified EW design prevented the unstarting of the stator passage, enabling a significant gain in performance. Afterward, the influence on the turbine efficiency and damping due to the unsteadiness from the diffuser-like fluctuations of the RDC was evaluated with unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes simulations with a mixing plane approach (MPA). Full unsteady simulations were carried out on selected inlet conditions and compared to the mixing plane results. This parametric study provides turbine designers with recommended diffusion rates along the vane EWs. Additionally, we provide guidance on the upstream diffuser design, specifically the required damping and outlet Mach number.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Yaomin Zhao ◽  
Richard Sandberg

Abstract We report on a series of highly resolved large-eddy simulations of the LS89 high-pressure turbine (HPT) vane, varying the exit Mach number between Ma=0.7 and 1.1. In order to accurately resolve the blade boundary layers and enforce pitchwise periodicity, we for the first time use an overset mesh method, which consists of an O-type grid around the blade overlapping with a background H-type grid. The simulations were conducted either with a synthetic inlet turbulence condition or including upstream bars. A quantitative comparison shows that the computationally more efficient synthetic method is able to reproduce the turbulence characterictics of the upstream bars. We further perform a detailed analysis of the flow fields, showing that the varying exit Mach number significantly changes the turbine efficiency by affecting the suction-side transition, blade boundary layer profiles, and wake mixing. In particular, the Ma=1.1 case includes a strong shock that interacts with the trailing edge, causing an increased complexity of the flow field. We use our recently developed entropy loss analysis (Zhao and Sandberg, GT2019-90126) to decompose the overall loss into different source terms and identify the regions that dominate the loss generation. Comparing the different Ma cases, we conclude that the main mechanism for the extra loss generation in the Ma=1.1 case is the shock-related strong pressure gradient interacting with the turbulent boundary layer and the wake, resulting in significant turbulence production and extensive viscous dissipation.


Author(s):  
Yaomin Zhao ◽  
Richard D. Sandberg

Abstract We report on a series of highly resolved large-eddy simulations of the LS89 high-pressure turbine (HPT) vane, varying the exit Mach number between Ma = 0.7 and 1.1. In order to accurately resolve the blade boundary layers and enforce pitchwise periodicity, we for the first time use an overset mesh method, which consists of an O-type grid around the blade overlapping with a background H-type grid. The simulations were conducted either with a synthetic inlet turbulence condition or including upstream bars. A quantitative comparison shows that the computationally more efficient synthetic method is able to reproduce the turbulence characterictics of the upstream bars. We further perform a detailed analysis of the flow fields, showing that the varying exit Mach number significantly changes the turbine efficiency by affecting the suction-side transition, blade boundary layer profiles, and wake mixing. In particular, the Ma = 1.1 case includes a strong shock that interacts with the trailing edge, causing an increased complexity of the flow field. We use our recently developed entropy loss analysis (Zhao and Sandberg, GT2019-90126) to decompose the overall loss into different source terms and identify the regions that dominate the loss generation. Comparing the different Ma cases, we conclude that the main mechanism for the extra loss generation in the Ma = 1.1 case is the shock-related strong pressure gradient interacting with the turbulent boundary layer and the wake, resulting in significant turbulence production and extensive viscous dissipation.


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