Influence of exit-to-throat width ratio on performance of high pressure convergent-divergent rotor in a vaneless counter-rotating turbine

Abstract

This paper describes the redesign of a high pressure rotor (with exit Mach number around 1.5) for the vaneless counter-rotating turbine by choosing adequate exit-to-throat width ratio. Based on the previous design analysis and test results, effects of the exit-to-throat width ratio on the performance of the transonic turbine cascade were proposed. In order to investigate the influence of the exit-to-throat width ratio on the performance of the turbine cascade, a flow model of the convergent-divergent turbine cascade was constructed by using the theory of Laval nozzle. Then a method on how to choose the adequate exit-to-throat width ratio for the turbine cascade was proposed. To validate the method, it was used to calculate the adequate exit-to-throat width ratio for the high pressure rotor of the vaneless counter-rotating turbine. The high pressure turbine rotor was redesigned with the new exit-to-throat width ratio. Numerical simulation results show that the isentropic efficiency of the redesigned vaneless counter-rotating turbine under the design condition has increased by 0.9% and the efficiencies under the off-design conditions are also improved significantly.