The fluid flow in gas turbine rim seals and the sealing effectiveness are influenced by the interaction of the rotor and the stator disk and by the external flow in the hot gas annulus. The resulting flow structure is fully 3-dimensional and time-dependant. The requirements to a sufficiently accurate numerical prediction for front and back cavity flows are discussed in this paper. The results of different numerical approaches are presented for an axial seal configuration. This covers a full simulation of the time-dependant flow field in a 1.5 stage experimental turbine including the main annulus and both rim cavities. This configuration is simplified in subsequent steps in order to identify a method providing the best compromise between a sufficient level of accuracy and the least computational effort. A comparison of the computed cavity pressures and the sealing effectiveness with rig test data shows the suitability of each numerical method. The numerical resolution of a large scale rotating structure that is found in the front cavity is a special focus of this study. The existence of this flow pattern was detected first by unsteady pressure measurements in test rig. It persists within a certain range of cooling air massflows and significantly affects the sealing behaviour and the cavity pressure distribution. This phenomenon is captured with an unsteady calculation using a 360 deg. computational domain. The description of the flow pattern is given together with a comparison to the measurements.
The flow fields of four diffusers situated at the rear of a one-stage axial flow compressor was experimentally investigated. Through modification of the compressor operating point a wide range of variations of the side wall boundary layers and the radial velocity distribution outside of the boundary layers at diffuser inlet could be achieved. The three dimensional flow field at both diffuser inlet and outlet is analysed. Changes of inlet blockage and radial velocity distribution and their resulting effects on pressure recovery are thoroughly presented. Compared with the results of measurements at diffusers, typically with ducted flow inlet conditions, higher values of pressure recovery are observed. Established design rules, based on investigations of diffusers with carefully developed inlet flow, are checked regarding their applicability for diffusers in turbomachine environment.
Over the past years, Alstom gas turbines have been protected against icing based on a set of ambient temperature and relative humidity limits. These limits were derived mainly from operational and fleet experience. In recent times, the potential for optimizing these limits arose as they were observed to be too conservative. It is recognized that lowering the icing limits by a better understanding of the formation of condensate ice offers an opportunity for engine performance optimization while simultaneously ensuring adequate protection of the engine hardware. However, the level to which the original limits could be extended has not been known and this necessitated the setting up of a dedicated project to address the issue. This paper presents part of the results of the work done within this project and addresses how the new limits have been derived based on the thermodynamics of ice accretion at stationary and rotating surfaces of the compressor. The theory of ice accretion on the variable inlet guide vane (VIGV) and compressor blade surfaces as the intake air is expanded through the GT inlet system presented in this paper covers the process of condensation of moist air, the solidification of the condensate and the accumulation of the sub-cooled water condensate on surfaces with temperatures below 0°C. Using a state-of-the-art gas turbine modelling environment, relevant thermodynamic quantities including static and velocity components up to the first rotating plane of the compressor have been used to quantify the amount of condensate in the intake air at the first compressor rotating plane at various ambient conditions of temperature and humidity and at various engine operation modes (base load and part load operation). Empirical in-house relations for surface temperatures have been used to estimate the VIGV and the surface temperature of the first blade of the compressor. The theoretical results obtained have been validated on a heavy-duty gas turbine engine. Based on the confirmation of the theoretical results with engine data, the presented method can accurately be used to determine the anti-icing limits for a gas turbine. The approach is a generic one and is therefore applicable to all compressor designs for stationary gas turbines.
The flow fields of four diffusers situated at the rear of a one-stage axial flow compressor were experimentally investigated. Through modification of the compressor operating point, a wide range of variations of the side wall boundary layers and the radial velocity distribution outside of the boundary layers at diffuser inlet could be achieved. The three-dimensional flow field at both diffuser inlet and outlet is analyzed. Changes of inlet blockage and radial velocity distribution and their resulting effects on pressure recovery are thoroughly presented. Compared with the results of measurements at diffusers, typically with ducted flow inlet conditions, higher values of pressure recovery are observed. Established design rules, based on investigations of diffusers with carefully developed inlet flow, are checked regarding their applicability for diffusers in turbomachine environments.
The present work aims at investigating a new methodology developed at Ansaldo Energia, for the transient finite element modelling of the whole engine with an axisymmetric approach. The strong coupling and non linearity in the heat transfer process during transient thermal analyses are handled by a partly coupled scheme. The 2D axisymmetric finite element model includes a dedicated thermal fluid network where fluid-metal temperatures are computed. In the overall procedure the selected finite element solver is a customized version of CalculiX®, while mass flow rates and pressure distributions in each thermal fluid network element are provided by external fluid network solvers in terms of customized time series. This paper represents a first insight about a fully integrated WEM (Whole Engine Modelling) procedure currently under development. Geometrical changes during operation, lead to different fluid properties affecting heat transfer coefficients too. These modified conditions in their turn impact the material temperature and displacements. The future implementation steps will be oriented on the adoption of a customized version of the native CalculiX® fluid network solver with the aim of developing a fully integrated procedure able to take into account the interaction between the secondary air system and the modifications in the clearances and gaps due to the thermal and mechanical loads. In this paper, a detailed description of the procedure will be reported with comprehensive discussions about some fundamental modelling aspects. Preliminary results, related to the first application of the new methodology to the transient thermal modelling of a simplified test case representative of real engine geometries, will be presented.
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