Effects of Tip Clearance on Aerodynamic Damping in a Linear Turbine Cascade

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuquan Huang ◽  
Li He ◽  
David L. Bell
1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shimpei Mizuki ◽  
Hoshio Tsujita

Three-dimensional incompressible turbulent flow within a linear turbine cascade with tip clearance is analyzed numerically. The governing equations involving the standard k-ε model are solved in the physical component tensor form with a boundary-fitted coordinate system. In the analysis, the blade tip geometry is treated accurately in order to predict the flow through the tip clearance in detail when the blades have large thicknesses. Although the number of grids employed in the present study is not enough because of the limitation of computer storage memory, the computed results show good agreements with the experimental results. Moreover, the results clearly exhibit the locus of minimum pressure on the rear part of the pressure surface at the blade tip.


1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Bindon

The detailed development of tip clearance loss from the leading to trailing edge of a linear turbine cascade was measured and the contributions made by mixing, internal gap shear flow, and endwall/ secondary flow were identified, separated, and quantified for the first time. Only 13 percent of the overall loss arises from endwall/secondary flow and of the remaining 87 percent, 48 percent is due to mixing and 39 percent is due to internal gap shear. All loss formation appears to be dominated by phenomena connected with the gap separation bubble. Flow established within the bubble by the pressure gradient separates as the gradient disappears and most of the internal loss is created by the entrainment of this separated fluid. When this high-loss leakage wake enters the mainstream, it separates due to the suction corner pressure gradient to create virtually all the measured mixing loss. It is suggested that the control of tip clearance loss by discharge coefficient reduction actually introduces loss. Performance improvements may result from streamlined tip geometries that optimize the tradeoff between entropy production and flow deflection.


Author(s):  
Shaowen Chen ◽  
Qinghe Meng ◽  
Weihang Li ◽  
Zhihua Zhou ◽  
Songtao Wang

The effects of axially non-uniform clearances on the tip leakage flow and aerodynamic performance in a linear turbine cascade with a cavity squealer tip were investigated in this study with the objective of improving the flow loss and tip flow field structure. A calibrated five-hole probe was used for the measurement of three-dimensional flows downstream of the cascade. The method of oil-flow visualization was used to show the endwall flow field structure. The distribution of endwall static pressure was measured particularly by using the special moveable endwall. The axially non-uniform clearance, as a novel strategy that has a non-negligible influence on tip clearance flow and clearance leakage loss, may become a potential technology for improving aerodynamic performance in turbine cascades. By using the expanding clearance, the flow loss at the outlet is reduced effectively and an apparent improvement of aerodynamic performance in the turbine cascade is gained. Under the tip clearances of 0.75% H and 2% H, the maximum reduction of overall total pressure loss coefficient at the outlet is separately about 2.3% and 3.5% compared with the uniform clearance. The shrinkage of the buffer zone is considered to be able to weaken the interaction of the tip leakage vortex and passage vortex and thus reduce the loss of passage vortex. For the shrinking clearance, a noticeable decline in the aerodynamic performance of turbine cascade with cavity squealer tip is exhibited at both on and off design conditions in contrast to the uniform clearance. In addition, the effects of axially non-uniform clearances on the aerodynamic performance at off-design conditions have been investigated.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanny M. Besem ◽  
Robert E. Kielb

2005 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takayuki Matsunuma

Tip clearance losses represent a major efficiency penalty of turbine blades. This paper describes the effect of tip clearance on the aerodynamic characteristics of an unshrouded axial-flow turbine cascade under very low Reynolds number conditions. The Reynolds number based on the true chord length and exit velocity of the turbine cascade was varied from 4.4×104 to 26.6×104 by changing the velocity of fluid flow. The freestream turbulence intensity was varied between 0.5% and 4.1% by modifying turbulence generation sheet settings. Three-dimensional flow fields at the exit of the turbine cascade were measured both with and without tip clearance using a five-hole pressure probe. Tip leakage flow generated a large high total pressure loss region. Variations in the Reynolds number and freestream turbulence intensity changed the distributions of three-dimensional flow, but had no effect on the mass-averaged tip clearance loss of the turbine cascade.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maosheng Niu ◽  
Shusheng Zang

A numerical investigation has been performed to study the influences of cooling injection from the blade tip surface on controlling tip clearance flow in an unshrouded, high-turning axial turbine cascade. Emphasis is put on the analysis of the effectiveness of tip injection when the approaching flow is at design and off-design incidences. A total of three incidence angles are investigated, 7.4°, 0°, 0°, 0°, and 7.6°, 0° relative to the design value. The results indicate that even at the off-design incidences, tip injection can also act as an obstruction to the tip clearance flow and weaken the interaction between the passage flow and the tip clearance flow. It is also found that tip injection causes the tip clearance loss to be less sensitive to the incidences. Moreover, with injection, at all these incidences the heat transfer conditions are improved significantly on the blade tip surface in the middle and aft parts of blade. Thus, tip injection is proved to be an effective method of controlling tip clearance flow, even at off-design conditions. Beside that, an indirect empirical correlation is observed to be able to perform well in predicting the losses induced by tip clearance flow at design and off-design conditions, no matter whether air injection is active or not.


Author(s):  
Daniel Hoyniak ◽  
William S. Clark

A recently developed two dimensional, linearized Navier-Stokes algorithm, capable of modeling the unsteady flows encountered in turbomachinery applications, has been benchmarked and validated for use in the prediction of the aerodynamic damping. Benchmarking was accomplished by comparing numerical simulations with experimental data for two geometries. The first geometry investigated is a high turning turbine cascade. For this configuration, two different steady operating conditions were considered. The exit flow for one operating condition is subsonic whereas the exit flow for the other operating condition is supersonic. The second geometry investigated is a tip section from a high speed fan. Again, two separate steady operating conditions were examined. For this fan geometry, one operating condition falls within an experimentally observed flutter region whereas the other operating condition was observed experimentally to be flutter free. For both geometries considered, experimental measurements of the unsteady blade surface pressures were acquired for a linear cascade subjected to small amplitude torsional vibrations. Comparisons between the numerical calculations and the experimental data demonstrate the ability of the present computational model to predict accurately the steady and unsteady blade loading, and hence the aerodynamic damping, for each configuration presented.


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