scholarly journals Secondary Flow Loss Reduction in a Turbine Cascade with a Linearly Varied Height Streamwise Endwall Fence

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishna Nandan Kumar ◽  
M. Govardhan

The present study attempts to reduce secondary flow losses by application of streamwise endwall fence. After comprehensive analysis on selection of objective function for secondary flow loss reduction, coefficient of secondary kinetic energy (CSKE) is selected as the objective function in this study. A fence whose height varies linearly from the leading edge to the trailing edge and located in the middle of the flow passage produces least CSKE and is the optimum fence. The reduction in CSKE by the optimum fence is 27% compared to the baseline case. The geometry of the fence is new and is reported for the first time. Idea of this fence comes from the fact that the size of the passage vortex (which is the prime component of secondary flow) increases as it travels downstream, hence the height of fence should vary as the objective of fence is to block the passage vortex from crossing the passage and impinging on suction surface of the blade. Optimum fence reduced overturning and underturning of flow by more than 50% compared to the baseline case. Magnitude and spanwise penetration of the passage vortex were reduced considerably compared to the baseline case.

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):  
Wenhua Duan ◽  
Weiyang Qiao ◽  
Zuojun Wei ◽  
Jian Liu ◽  
Haoyi Cheng

A detailed experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of endwall contouring on the secondary flow was performed in a highly loaded low pressure linear cascade. A comparison between a planar and three contoured configurations has been performed, and the three-dimensional endwall secondary flow structures and the secondary flow losses are here analyzed and discussed. For the contoured endwall, three locations of the same contouring were investigated, first one with the contouring starting upstream the airfoil and ending just before the leading edge of the airfoil, secondary one with the contouring starting upstream the airfoil and ending in the middle of the airfoil passage, the last one with the contouring starting just from the leading edge of the airfoil and continuing through the airfoil passage just ending at the trailing edge. The results suggest that the numerical results offer a reliable prediction for the endwall secondary flow structure together with suction surface separation bubble. It was found that all the three locations of contouring could reduce the secondary flow losses effectively. The location through the airfoil passage got the most benefit in the reduction of secondary flow losses whereas the all contouring upstream the airfoil location got the least. It was also found that the profile losses was affected by the contoured endwall.


Author(s):  
Sandor Becz ◽  
Mark S. Majewski ◽  
Lee S. Langston

Experimental results are presented which provide mass averaged total pressure loss coefficient measurements for three different turbine airfoil leading edge configurations. A baseline (Langston) configuration, a leading edge bulb, and a leading edge fillet were tested in a large-scale, low aspect ratio, high turning linear cascade. Results show that while the fillet geometry reduced overall loss by approximately 7%, the bulb did not exhibit a loss reduction. For the fillet, overall turning was slightly reduced, while for the bulb turning increased slightly. Thus, the bulb shows potential for increasing airfoil loading without an associated loss penalty. Contour plots of total pressure loss coefficient and vorticity are presented for all geometries and the major differences between each are discussed. Through investigation of pitch averaged loss profiles it is found that the area of greatest reduction differs between the bulb and fillet, leading to the possibility that the mechanisms through which each is affecting the flow may be different. This provides hope that the best features of each may potentially be combined to determine an optimum shape for secondary flow loss reduction.


Author(s):  
Zhiyuan Cao ◽  
Xi Gao ◽  
Cheng Song ◽  
Xiang Zhang ◽  
Fei Zhang ◽  
...  

In highly loaded tandem compressor cascades, corner separations can still exist. In order to eliminate corner separations in highly loaded tandem compressor cascades, incoming vortex–corner separation interaction mechanism was investigated. Different schemes of the vortex generators, which located at different pitchwise locations and could generate vortexes with different rotation directions, were designed and investigated numerically. Results show that, severe corner separation occurred at the front blade passage of the tandem cascade; by utilizing flow control method of incoming vortex–corner separation interaction, the corner separation could be reduced significantly. The optimal control effect of incoming vortex on corner separation was achieved with anticlockwise rotation and the vortex generator is located right ahead of the leading edge of tandem cascade, a maximum loss coefficient reduction of 21.8% being achieved. Different from single blade configuration, the boundary layer of tandem cascade was regenerated at rear blade suction surface due to the injection flow from blade gap between the two blades. Though corner separations could be reduced at both conditions, the loss of tandem cascade with clockwise incoming vortex is higher than that with anticlockwise vortex, and a smaller corner separation region at suction surface was achieved by utilizing clockwise vortex. The mechanism was that anticlockwise incoming vortex reduced the corner separation but increased secondary flow, while clockwise vortex enhanced passage vortex and decreased secondary flow. For clockwise incoming vortex near pressure surface, the vortex would be divided into two parts at the leading edge of rear blade, one would go through the blade gap and deteriorate flow fluid near rear blade suction surface, the other flowed downstream along pressure surface. The rotation direction of different incoming vortexes became the same as the passage vortex at rear blade passage of tandem cascade, which was mainly due to the effect of secondary flow.


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.


1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. T. Hsu ◽  
A. M. Wo

This paper demonstrates reduction of stator unsteady loading due to forced response in a large-scale, low-speed, rotor/stator/rotor axial compressor rig by clocking the downstream rotor. Data from the rotor/stator configuration showed that the stator response due to the upstream vortical disturbance reaches a maximum when the wake impinges against the suction surface immediately downstream of the leading edge. Results from the stator/rotor configuration revealed that the stator response due to the downstream potential disturbance reaches a minimum with a slight time delay after the rotor sweeps pass the stator trailing edge. For the rotor/stator/rotor configuration, with Gap1 = 10 percent chord and Gap2 = 30 percent chord, results showed a 60 percent reduction in the stator force amplitude by clocking the downstream rotor so that the time occurrence of the maximum force due to the upstream vortical disturbance coincides with that of the minimum force due to the downstream potential disturbance. This is the first time, the authors believe, that beneficial use of flow unsteadiness is definitively demonstrated to reduce the blade unsteady loading.


Author(s):  
Fusheng Meng ◽  
Jie Gao ◽  
Weiliang Fu ◽  
Xuezheng Liu ◽  
Qun Zheng

In a high endwall angle turbine, large meridional expansion can cause the strong secondary flow at the endwall, which results in a larger endwall flow loss than the small meridional expansion turbine. The endwall heat transfer is strongly affected by secondary flow effect. In order to optimize the endwall flow to reduce the flow loss and optimize the distribution of heat load, the swept-curved method was used in this study. The swept-curved method was investigated on a transonic second stator (S2) with large meridional expansion in a Low-Pressure (LP) Turbine. Validation studies were performed to investigate the aerodynamic and the heat transfer prediction ability of shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model. The influence of different shapes of the stacking line, including forward-swept, backward-swept, positive-curved and negative-curved, were investigated through numerical simulation. The parameterized control of swept-curved height and angle were adopted to optimize the performance of the aerodynamic and heat transfer. 3D flow field calculation captured the relatively accurate flow structures in the parts of endwall and near endwall. Heat transfer behaviors were explored by means of isothermal wall temperature and Nusselt number (Nu) distribution. The results show that the maximal heat transfer coefficient at the leading edge, for the formation of horseshoe vortexes that cause the high velocity towards the endwall. The swept vane can improve the static pressure and heat load distribution at the endwall region, which decreases the area-averaged shroud heat flux by 2.6 percent and the loss coefficient 1.3 percent.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuki Yamamoto ◽  
Ryota Uehara ◽  
Shohei Mizuguchi ◽  
Masahiro Miyabe

Abstract High efficiency is strongly demanded for gas turbines to reduce CO2 emissions. In order to improve the efficiency of gas turbines, the turbine inlet temperature is being raised higher. In that case, the turbine blade loading is higher and secondary flow loss becomes a major source of aerodynamic losses due to the interaction between the horseshoe vortex and the strong endwall cross flow. One of the authors have optimized a boundary layer fence which is a partial vane to prevent cross-flow from pressure-side to suction-side between blade to blade. However, it was also found that installing the fence leads to increase another loss due to tip vortex, wake and viscosity. Therefore, in this paper, we focused on the endwall contouring and the positive effect findings from the boundary layer fence were used to study its optimal shape. Firstly, the relationship between the location of the endwall contouring and the internal flow within the turbine cascade was investigated. Two patterns of contouring were made, one is only convex and another is just concave, and the secondary flow behavior of the turbine cascade was investigated respectively. Secondly, the shape was designed and the loss reduction effect was investigated by using optimization method. The optimized shape was manufactured by 3D-printer and experiment was conducted using cascade wind tunnel. The total pressure distributions were measured and compared with CFD results. Furthermore, flow near the endwall and the internal flow of the turbine cascade was experimentally visualized. The internal flow in the case of a flat wall (without contouring), with a fence, and with optimized endwall contouring were compared by experiment and CFD to extract the each feature.


Author(s):  
Botao Zhang ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Xin Sun ◽  
Hang Zhao

Abstract In order to explore the similarities and differences between the flow fields of cantilever stator and idealized compressor cascade with tip clearance, and to extend the cascade leakage model to compressors, the influence of stator hub rotation to represent cascade and cantilever stator on hub leakage flow was numerically studied. On this basis, the control strategy and mechanism of blade root suction were discussed. The results show that there is no obvious influence on stall margin of the compressor whether the stator hub is rotating or stationary. For rotating stator hub, the overall efficiency is decreased while the total pressure ratio is increased. At peak efficiency point and near stall point, the efficiency is reduced by about 0.43% and 0.34% individually, while the total pressure ratio is enlarged by about 0.23% and 0.27%, respectively. The gap leakage flow is promoted due to stator hub rotation, and the structure of the leakage vortex is weakened obviously. In addition, the hub leakage flow originating from the blade leading edge of rotating hub may contribute to double leakage near the trailing edge of the adjacent blade. However, the leakage flow directly out of the blade passage with stationary stator hub. The stator root loading and strength of the leakage flow increase with the rotation of the hub, and the leakage vortex is further away from the suction surface of the blade and is stretched to an ellipse closer to the endwall under the shear action. The rotating hub makes the flow loss near the stator gap increase, while the flow loss in the upper part of the blade root is decreased. Meanwhile, the total pressure ratio in the end area is increased. Blade root suction of cantilever stator can effectively control the hub leakage flow, inhibit the development of hub leakage vortex, and improve the flow capacity of the passage, thereby reducing the flow loss and modifying the flow field in the end zone.


Author(s):  
Christian Kasper ◽  
Martin G. Rose ◽  
Stephan Staudacher ◽  
Jochen Gier

The influence of secondary flows on the performance of turbines has been investigated in great detail in the last decades. The interaction of vortices with following blade rows has been identified to be one of the loss mechanisms within a turbo-machine. This paper presents for the first time detailed flow visualization photographs of the interaction of the vane passage vortex with the rotor. The appearance vortex breakdown could be identified before and within the rotating passage of the turbine. The measurements were taken in a vertical water channel. Water is used instead of air because the flow visualization can be realised very easily with injected ink. For different relative positions of rotor to stator a series of photographs were taken. With an image editing process the average and the pixel RMS were calculated for each relative position. The pixel RMS is a useful indicator to identify highly turbulent regions in the flow field. The photographs of the vortex breakdown show spots of high pixel RMS which are associated with very high turbulence and therefore can be regarded as sources of loss. Insight is gained into the nature of the passage vortex breakdown mechanisms as follows: first the pressure wave of the rotor stretches the vortex causing a spiral vortex instability, then the vortex interacts with the leading edge as it attempts to cut the vortex. In the stagnation region of the blade a bubble type instability forms, expands and then convects through the rotor. The absolute trajectory of the vortex fluid reveals that it exchanges no work with the rotor.


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