Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Influence of Rotor Blades on Hot Gas Ingestion Into the Upstream Cavity of an Axial Turbine Stage

Abstract

The phenomenon of hot gas ingestion through turbine rim seals is experimentally and numerically investigated for a complete stage with nozzle guide vanes and uncooled helicopter turbine rotor blades. In the experimental part, two different geometrical rim seal configurations are examined: 1. a simple axial gap between rotor and stator disk and 2. an axial gap between the rotor disk and a rim seal lip at the periphery of the stator disk. The results obtained are compared to experiments carried out for the same geometry but without rotor blades. The influence of the presence of rotor blades on hot gas ingestion is examined for different parameters such as nondimensional seal flow rate, Reynolds number in the turbine annulus and rotational speed. For the determination of the sealing efficiency measurements of carbon dioxide gas concentration are carried out in the wheelspace. The static pressure distribution in the cavity is measured by means of pressure taps at the stator disk. It is shown that for configuration 1 the presence of rotor blades causes a considerable drop in sealing efficiency whereas for configuration 2 the sealing efficiency increases significantly. In the numerical part results of three-dimensional unsteady CFD calculations for configuration 2 are compared to steady calculations for the same configuration without blades. Predictions of hot gas ingestion and carbon dioxide gas concentration in the hub region and inside the cavity are presented. Special emphasis is put on unsteady effects arising from rotor movement. A local ingestion zone rotating at approximately half rotor speed is numerically predicted. As indicated by the experimental results the rotor blades have a positive influence on the predicted sealing efficiency.