Influences of Inlet Swirl Distributions on an Inter-Turbine Duct: Part II—Hub Swirl Variation

Author(s):  
Yanfeng Zhang ◽  
Shuzhen Hu ◽  
Xue Feng Zhang ◽  
Edward Vlasic

The inter-turbine transition duct (ITD) of a gas turbine engine has significant potential for engine weight reduction and/or aerodynamic performance improvement. This potential arises because very little is understood of the flow behavior in the duct in relation to the hub and casing shapes and the flow entering the duct (e.g., swirl angle, turbulence intensity, periodic unsteadiness and blade tip vortices from upstream HP turbine blade rows). In this study, the flow development in an ITD with different inlet swirl distributions was investigated experimentally and numerically. The current paper, which is the second part of a two-part paper, presents the investigations of the influences of the hub swirl variations on the flow physics of ITD. The results show that the radial movement of the low momentum hub boundary layer and wake flow induces a pair of hub counter-rotating vortices. This pair of counter-rotating vortices merges with the upstream vorticity, forming a pair of stronger vortices, which persist until ITD exit. Due to the hub streamwise adverse pressure gradient, the hub 3D separation occurs at the exit of the ITD. The hub counter-rotating vortices are strongest with the highest inlet swirl gradient. The hub boundary layer thickness is thickest with the largest inlet hub swirl angle. The hub 3D separation is reduced by the increased hub swirl angle. Based on the studies in both parts of this paper, a detailed loss mechanism has been described. The total pressure coefficient shows that the loss increases gradually at the first bend, and then increases more rapidly at the second bend. The total pressure coefficients within the ITD are significantly redistributed by the casing and hub counter-rotating vortices.

Author(s):  
Shuzhen Hu ◽  
Yanfeng Zhang ◽  
Xue Feng Zhang ◽  
Edward Vlasic

The inter-turbine transition duct (ITD) of a gas turbine engine has significant potential for engine weight reduction and/or aerodynamic performance improvement. This potential arises because very little is understood of the flow behavior in the duct in relation to the hub and casing shapes and the flow entering the duct (e.g., swirl angle, turbulence intensity, periodic unsteadiness and blade tip vortices from upstream HP turbine blade rows). In this study, the flow development in an ITD with different inlet swirl distributions was investigated experimentally and numerically. The current paper, which is the first part of a two-part paper, presents the investigations of the influences of the casing swirl variations on the flow physics in the ITD. The results show a fair agreement between the predicted and experimental data. The radial pressure gradient at the first bend of ITD drives the low momentum hub boundary layer and wake flow radially, which results in a pair of hub counter-rotating vortices. Furthermore, the radially moving low momentum wake flow feeds into the casing region and causes 3D casing boundary layer. At the second bend, the reversed radial pressure gradient together with the 3D casing boundary layer generates a pair of casing counter-rotating vortices. Due to the local adverse pressure gradient, 3D boundary layer separation occurs on both the casing and hub at the second bend and the exit of the ITD, respectively. The casing 3D separation enhances the 3D features of the casing boundary layer as well as the existing casing counter-rotating vortices. With increasing casing swirl angle, the casing 3D boundary layer separation is delayed and the casing counter-rotating vortices are weakened. On the other hand, although the hub swirls are kept constant, the hub counter-rotating vortices get stronger with the increasing inlet swirl gradient. The total pressure coefficients within the ITD are significantly redistributed by the casing and hub counter-rotating vortices.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanfeng Zhang ◽  
Shuzhen Hu ◽  
Ali Mahallati ◽  
Xue-Feng Zhang ◽  
Edward Vlasic

This work, a continuation of a series of investigations on the aerodynamics of aggressive interturbine ducts (ITD), is aimed at providing detailed understanding of the flow physics and loss mechanisms in four different ITD geometries. A systematic experimental and computational study was carried out by varying duct outlet-to-inlet area ratios (ARs) and mean rise angles while keeping the duct length-to-inlet height ratio, Reynolds number, and inlet swirl constant in all four geometries. The flow structures within the ITDs were found to be dominated by the boundary layer separation and counter-rotating vortices in both the casing and hub regions. The duct mean rise angle determined the severity of adverse pressure gradient in the casing's first bend, whereas the duct AR mainly governed the second bend's static pressure rise. The combination of upstream wake flow and the first bend's adverse pressure gradient caused the boundary layer to separate and intensify the strength of counter-rotating vortices. At high mean rise angle, the separation became stronger at the casing's first bend and moved farther upstream. At high ARs, a two-dimensional separation appeared on the casing and resulted in increased loss. Pressure loss penalties increased significantly with increasing duct mean rise angle and AR.


Author(s):  
Yanfeng Zhang ◽  
Shuzhen Hu ◽  
Ali Mahallati ◽  
Xue-Feng Zhang ◽  
Edward Vlasic

The present work, a continuation of a series of investigations on the aerodynamics of aggressive inter-turbine ducts (ITD), is aimed at providing detailed understanding of the flow physics and loss mechanisms in four different ITD geometries. A systematic experimental and computational study was carried out for varying duct mean rise angles and outlet-to-inlet area ratio while keeping the duct length-to-inlet height ratio, Reynolds number and inlet swirl constant in all four geometries. The flow structures within the ITDs were found to be dominated by the counter-rotating vortices and boundary layer separation in both the casing and hub regions. The duct mean rise angle determined the severity of adverse pressure gradient in the casing’s first bend whereas the duct area ratio mainly governed the second bend’s static pressure rise. The combination of upstream wake flow and the first bend’s adverse pressure gradient caused the boundary layer to separate and intensify the strength of counter-rotating vortices. At high mean rise angle, the separation became stronger at the casing’s first bend and moved farther upstream. At high area ratios, a 2-D separation appeared on the casing. Pressure loss penalties increased significantly with increasing duct mean rise angle and area ratio.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hardial Singh ◽  
Bharat Bhushan Arora

Abstract An annular diffuser is a critical component of the turbomachinery, and its prime function is to reduce the flow velocity. The current work is carried to study the effect of four different geometrical designs of an annular diffuser using the ANSYS Fluent. The numerical simulations were carried out to examine the effect of fully developed turbulent swirling and non-swirling flow. The flow behavior of the annular diffuser is analyzed at Reynolds number 2.5 × 105. The simulated results reveal pressure recovery improvement at the casing wall with adequate swirl intensity at the diffuser inlet. Swirl intensity suppresses the flow separation on the casing and moves the flow from the hub wall to the casing wall of the annulus region. The results also show that the Equal Hub and Diverging Casing (EHDC) annular diffuser in comparison to other diffusers has a higher static pressure recovery (C p  = 0.76) and a lower total pressure loss coefficient of (C L  = 0.12) at a 17° swirl angle.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Yonglei Qu ◽  
Dario Barsi ◽  
Daniele Simoni ◽  
Pietro Zunino ◽  
Yigang Luan

The performance of turbomachinery blade profiles, at low Reynolds numbers, is influenced by laminar separation bubbles (LSBs). Such a bubble is caused by a strong adverse pressure gradient (APG), and it makes the laminar boundary layer to separate from the curved profile surface, before it becomes turbulent. The paper consists on a joint experimental and numerical investigation on a flat plate with adverse pressure gradient. The experiment provides detailed results including distribution of wall pressure coefficient and boundary layer velocity and turbulence profiles for several values of typical influencing parameters on the behavior of the flow phenomena: Reynolds number, free stream turbulence intensity, and end-wall opening angle, which determines the adverse pressure gradient intensity. The numerical work consists on carrying out a systematic analysis, with Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations. The results of the numerical simulations are critically investigated and compared with the experimental ones in order to understand the effect of the main physical parameters on the LSB behavior. For RANS simulations, different turbulence and transition models are compared at first to identify the adaptability to the flow phenomena; then, the influence of the three aforementioned parameters on the LSB behavior is investigated under a typical aggressive adverse pressure gradient. Boundary layer integral parameters are discussed for the different cases in order to understand the flow phenomena in terms of flow time-mean properties.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.-L. Lin ◽  
H. J. Schock ◽  
T. I-P. Shih ◽  
R. S. Bunker

Abstract Computations, based on the ensemble-averaged compressible Navier-Stokes equations closed by the shear-stress transport (SST) model of turbulence, were performed to investigate the effects of inlet swirl angle on the three-dimensional flow and heat transfer in two contoured endwall configurations. Swirl angles investigated include three constant angles (0°, 15°, 30°) and a linearly varying angle from +30° at one endwall to −30° at the other. For all swirl angles, the mass-flow rate through the nozzle was fixed so that the higher the swirl angle, the higher is the velocity magnitude. Of the two endwalls investigated, one has all of the contouring upstream of the airfoil (C1), and another has contouring that starts upstream of the airfoil and continues until the airfoil’s trailing edge (C2). Computed results show that at all swirl angles investigated, the C2 configuration was able to reduce significantly secondary flows on the contoured endwall. Results also show that with reduced secondary flows, the heat-transfer coefficients are also reduced on the suction surface next to the juncture, where the airfoil meets the contoured endwall. On aerodynamics, the C2 configuration was found to produce essentially the same lift as the C1 configuration, but does so with less loss in stagnation pressure. For the C1 configuration, secondary flows are quite pronounced, and they increase slightly in size and in magnitude when swirl angle is increased. However, aerodynamic loss and surface heat transfer were found to decrease with increase in swirl angle. One explanation is that increasing the swirl angle shifted the stagnation zone downstream on the pressure surface to a flatter portion of the airfoil, producing a thicker boundary layer at the stagnation zone, and this changed considerably the evolution of the turbulent boundary layer. When the swirl angle varied linearly from +30° to −30°, increasing the velocity component towards the pressure surface was found to enhance instead of suppress the formation of secondary flows.


Author(s):  
Ali A. Merchant ◽  
Mark Drela ◽  
Jack L. Kerrebrock ◽  
John J. Adamczyk ◽  
Mark Celestina

The pressure ratio of axial compressor stages can be significantly increased by controlling the development of blade and endwall boundary layers in regions of adverse pressure gradient by means of boundary layer suction. This concept is validated and demonstrated through the design and analysis of a unique aspirated compressor stage which achieves a total pressure ratio of 3.5 at a tip speed of 1500 ft/s. The aspirated stage was designed using an axisymmetric through-flow code coupled with a quasi three-dimensional cascade plane code with inverse design capability. Validation of the completed design was carried out with three-dimensional Navier-Stokes calculations. Spanwise slots were used on the rotor and stator suction surfaces to bleed the boundary layer with a total suction requirement of 4% of the inlet mass flow. Additional bleed of 3% was also required on the hub and shroud near shock impingement locations. A three-dimensional viscous evaluation of the design showed good agreement with the quasi three-dimensional design intent, except in the endwall regions. The three-dimensional viscous analysis predicted a mass averaged total pressure ratio of 3.7 at an isentropic efficiency of 93% for the rotor, and a mass averaged total pressure ratio of 3.4 at an isentropic efficiency of 86% for the stage.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Lengani ◽  
D. Simoni ◽  
M. Ubaldi ◽  
P. Zunino ◽  
F. Bertini ◽  
...  

The paper analyzes losses and the loss generation mechanisms in a low-pressure turbine (LPT) cascade by proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) applied to measurements. Total pressure probes and time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) are used to determine the flow field and performance of the blade with steady and unsteady inflow conditions varying the flow incidence. The total pressure loss coefficient is computed by traversing two Kiel probes upstream and downstream of the cascade simultaneously. This procedure allows a very accurate estimation of the total pressure loss coefficient also in the potential flow region affected by incoming wake migration. The TR-PIV investigation concentrates on the aft portion of the suction side boundary layer downstream of peak suction. In this adverse pressure gradient region, the interaction between the wake and the boundary layer is the strongest, and it leads to the largest deviation from a steady loss mechanism. POD applied to this portion of the domain provides a statistical representation of the flow oscillations by splitting the effects induced by the different dynamics. The paper also describes how POD can dissect the loss generation mechanisms by separating the contributions to the Reynolds stress tensor from the different modes. The steady condition loss generation, driven by boundary layer streaks and separation, is augmented in the presence of incoming wakes by the wake–boundary layer interaction and by the wake dilation mechanism. Wake migration losses have been found to be almost insensitive to incidence variation between nominal and negative (up to −9 deg) while at positive incidence, the losses have a steep increase due to the alteration of the wake path induced by the different loading distribution.


Author(s):  
G. K. Feldcamp ◽  
A. M. Birk

An experimental investigation into the overall influence of struts spanning a double divergent annular diffuser followed by a straight cored annular diffuser has been undertaken in order to determine the performance of various strut configurations over a wide range of inlet swirl conditions. Two strut profiles have been investigated in four and eight strut configurations. Results have shown that the presence of struts under no swirl conditions have a relatively small effect on the overall total pressure loss. Increasing the inlet swirl angle to 20° has shown that the struts are able to assist in recovery of the swirling flow such that the pressure recovery nearly approaches that without struts, despite increased total pressure losses. Performance at 40° swirl is highly dependent on strut profile; the higher thickness-to-chord ratio strut configurations show minimal decrease in pressure recovery compared to 20° swirl, while the lower thickness-to-chord ratio configurations experiences a significant decrease as the result of significant flow separation from the struts. The exit swirl number has been shown to correlate strongly with the strut profile shape, while the number of struts had only a secondary influence. The exit velocity profiles show significant distortions at 40° swirl, and as a result the ideal pressure recovery calculated from the inlet and exit profiles change with strut configuration at 40° swirl.


Author(s):  
Nicholas Fredrick ◽  
Milt Davis

Serpentine ducts used by both military and commercial aircraft can generate significant flow angularity and total pressure distortion at the engine face. Most low by-pass ratio turbofan engines with mixed exhaust are equipped with inlet guide vanes (IGV) which can reduce the effect of moderate inlet distortion. High by-pass ratio and some low by-pass ratio turbofan engines are not equipped with IGVs, and swirl can in effect change the angle of attack of the fan blades. Swirl and total pressure distortion at the engine inlet will impact engine performance, operability, and durability. The impact on the engine performance and operability must be quantified to ensure safe operation of the aircraft and propulsion system. Testing is performed at a limited number of discrete points inside the propulsion system flight envelope where it is believed the engine is most sensitive to the inlet distortion in order to quantify these effects. Turbine engine compressor models are based on the limited amount of experimental data collected during testing. These models can be used as an analysis tool to improve the effectiveness of engine testing and to improve understanding of engine response to inlet distortion. The Dynamic Turbine Engine Compressor Code (DYNTECC) utilizes parallel compressor theory and quasi-one-dimensional Euler equations to determine compressor performance. In its standard form, DYNTECC uses user supplied characteristic stage maps in order to calculate stage forces and shaft work for use in the momentum and energy equations. These maps were typically developed using experimental data or created using characteristic codes such as the 1-D Mean Line Code (MLC) or the 2-D Streamline Curvature Code. The MLC was created to calculate the performance of individual compressor stages and requires less computational effort than the 2-D and 3-D models. To improve efficiency and accuracy, the MLC has been incorporated into DYNTECC as a subroutine. Rather than independently developing stage maps using the MLC and then importing these maps into DYNTECC, DYNTECC can now use the MLC to develop the required stage characteristic for the desired operating point. This will reduce time and complexity required to analyze the effects of inlet swirl on compressor performance. The combined DYNTECC/MLC was used in the past to model total pressure distortion. This paper presents the result obtained using the combined DYNTECC/MLC to model the effects of various types of inlet swirl on F109 fan performance and operability for the first time.


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