An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the effect of blade profile inaccuracies and surface finish on the aerodynamic performance of a 11.15-cm tip dia turbine. The as-received cast rotor blades had a significantly thicker profile than the design intent and a fairly rough surface finish. Stage test results showed an increase of one point in efficiency by smoothing the surface finish and another three points by thinning the blade profiles to near the design profile. Most of the performance gain between the as-cast thick and the thinned rotor blades, both with the same surface finish, was attributed to reduced trailing edge losses of the recontoured blades.
A method for calculating turbine stage performance is described. The usefulness of the method is demonstrated by comparing measured and predicted efficiencies for nine different stages. Comparisons are made over a range of turbine pressure ratios and rotor speeds. A quasi-3D flow analysis is used to account for complex passage geometries. Boundary layer analyses are done to account for losses due to friction. Empirical loss models are used to account for incidence, secondary flow, disc windage, and clearance losses.
Nomenclature
An extensive experimental investigation was made to determine the effect of varying the rotor tip clearance of a 12.77-cm-tip diameter, single-stage, axial-flow reaction turbine. In this investigation, the rotor tip clearance was obtained by use of a recess in the casing above the rotor blades and also by use of a reduced blade height. For the recessed casing configuration, the optimum rotor blade height was found to be the one where the rotor tip diameter was equal to the stator tip diameter. The tip clearance loss associated with this optimum recessed casing configuration was less than that for the reduced blade height configuration.
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