This paper is the first part of a two part paper reporting the improvement of efficiency of a one-and-half stage high work axial flow turbine by nonaxisymmetric endwall contouring. In this first paper the design of the endwall contours is described, and the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) flow predictions are compared with five-hole-probe measurements. The endwalls have been designed using automatic numerical optimization by means of a sequential quadratic programming algorithm, the flow being computed with the 3D Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver TRACE. The aim of the design was to reduce the secondary kinetic energy and secondary losses. The experimental results confirm the improvement of turbine efficiency, showing a stage efficiency benefit of 1%±0.4%, revealing that the improvement is underestimated by CFD. The secondary flow and loss have been significantly reduced in the vane, but improvement of the midspan flow is also observed. Mainly this loss reduction in the first row and the more homogeneous flow is responsible for the overall improvement. Numerical investigations indicate that the transition modeling on the airfoil strongly influences the secondary loss predictions. The results confirm that nonaxisymmetric endwall profiling is an effective method to improve turbine efficiency but that further modeling work is needed to achieve a good predictability.
A highly loaded turbine cascade has been redesigned with the objective to reduce the secondary flow by applying endwall contouring and 3D airfoil design in the endwall regions. The overall loading and the axial area ratio of the cascade have been kept constant. With the tools of a 3D design environment a systematic study has been carried out regarding several features of the endwall pressure distribution and their influence on the secondary flow. Two optimized configurations have been investigated in a high speed cascade wind tunnel. The flow field traverses showed improvements concerning the radial extent of the secondary flow and a decrease in secondary loss of 26 per cent. Unfortunately this reduction was counterbalanced by increased profile losses and higher inlet losses due to increased blockage. The striking feature of the cascade with endwall contouring and 3D airfoil design was a significant reduction of the exit flow angle deviations connected with the secondary flow. The predictions obtained by the 3D Navier-Stokes solver TRACE_S showed a remarkable agreement with the experimental results.
In high-pressure turbines, a small amount of air is ejected at the hub rim seal, to cool and prevent the ingestion of hot gases into the cavity between the stator and the disk. This paper presents an experimental study of the flow mechanisms that are associated with injection through the hub rim seal at the rotor inlet. Two different injection rates are investigated: nominal sucking of −0.1% of the main massflow and nominal blowing of 0.9%. This investigation is executed on a one-and-1/2-stage axial turbine. The results shown here come from unsteady and steady measurements, which have been acquired upstream and downstream of the rotor. The paper gives a detailed analysis of the changing secondary flow field as well as unsteady interactions associated with the injection. The injection of fluid causes a very different and generally more unsteady flow field at the rotor exit near the hub. The injection causes the turbine efficiency to deteriorate by about 0.6%.
In high-pressure turbines, a small amount of air is ejected at the hub rim seal to cool and prevent the ingestion of hot gases into the cavity between the stator and the disk. This paper presents an experimental study of the flow mechanisms that are associated with injection through the hub rim seal at the rotor inlet. Two different injection rates are investigated: nominal sucking of −0.14% of the main massflow and nominal blowing of 0.9%. This investigation is executed on a one-and-1/2-stage axial turbine. The results shown here come from unsteady and steady measurements, which have been acquired upstream and downstream of the rotor. The paper gives a detailed analysis of the changing secondary flow field, as well as unsteady interactions associated with the injection. The injection of fluid causes a very different and generally more unsteady flow field at the rotor exit near the hub. The injection causes the turbine efficiency to deteriorate by about 0.6%.
A highly loaded turbine cascade has been redesigned with the objective to reduce the secondary flow by applying endwall contouring and three-dimensional airfoil design in the endwall regions. The overall loading and the axial area ratio of the cascade have been kept constant. With the tools of a three-dimensional design environment, a systematic study has been carried out regarding several features of the endwall pressure distribution and their influence on the secondary flow. Two optimized configurations have been investigated in a high-speed cascade wind tunnel. The flow field traverses showed improvements concerning the radial extent of the secondary flow and a decrease in secondary loss of 26 percent. Unfortunately this reduction was counterbalanced by increased profile losses and higher inlet losses due to increased blockage. The striking feature of the cascade with endwall contouring and three-dimensional airfoil design was a significant reduction of the exit flow angle deviations connected with the secondary flow. The predictions obtained by the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes solver TRACE_S showed a remarkable agreement with the experimental results.
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