Experimental Investigation of Periodically Unsteady Wake Impact on the Secondary Flow in a 1.5 Stage Full Annular LPT Cascade With Modified T106 Blading

Abstract

This paper transfers findings from linear cascade studies to the annular system. Experimental studies have been conducted on the newly designed 1.5 stage full annular rotating axial turbine rig at Chair of Thermal Turbomachinery, Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Therefore, an existing large scale low speed test rig was retrofitted with newly designed T106RUB low pressure turbine (LPT) blading, state-of-the-art measurement technologies and multi-dimensional traversing devices to allow for highly resolved measurements of unsteady wake stator flow interaction in both space and time. Incoming wakes are generated by a variable-speed driven rotor disk equipped with cylindrical bars. The measuring concept for an in-depth analysis of unsteady flow phenomena is presented and results from highly resolved time-averaged and time-resolved flow field traverses are discussed and compared. In detail the time-dependent interaction of periodically passing bar wakes with the boundary layers and secondary flow structures of the T106RUB stator row is investigated. Special emphasis is put on time-varying dilatation and location of individual components of the vortex system and on potential flow separation along the blade suction surface. It is evaluated how these factors can contribute to a time-dependent homogenization of stator exit flow and a consequent loss reduction in the present configuration.