Abstract
This two part review covers experiments examining the effects of blade tip gaps encountered in turbomachines and the methods by which the synthesised data are currentl used in turbomachine design and analysis. Data gained since the 1930's are subdivided for convenience into cascade (Part 1) and rotating machinery (Part 2) data, with a further subdivision into diffusing, or compressor type flows and accelerating, or turbine type flows. The overall trend is that an increasing tip gap, whose effect can reach over most or all of the blade height, reduces turbomachine performance. There is some evidence among the compressor and compressor cascade data that an optimum gap exists when the opposing effects of secondary flows and tip leakage with rotor/wall relative movement tend to balance. Turbine data are, in general, more regular than the body of compressor data, possibly because of the enhanced effect of, usually, undefined boundary layers in diffusing flow in the latter. Comment is made in Part 2 on the predictive and design models reported in the liturature
Published Version
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