Numerical investigation on flow control effects of dynamic hump for turbine cascade at different Reynolds number and hump oscillating frequency

Abstract

From takeoff to cruise, the operating Reynolds number (Re) of the low-pressure turbine (LPT) in an aero-engine decreases significantly, making the boundary layer near the aft portion of the blade surface susceptible to separation. This paper discusses the feasibility of using local dynamic surfaces as an active flow control method to suppress the laminar flow separation on the suction surface in PAKB LPT cascade at low Re. A local dynamic surface, shaped as a half-sinusoidal hump with an oscillation amplitude of 1 mm, was positioned just upstream of the peak velocity point. Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations were performed to investigate the aerodynamic performance of the cascades with and without dynamic hump. At first, the effect of Re was studied with the hump oscillating frequency at 200 Hz. Compared with uncontrolled cascade at various Re from 25,000 to 150,000, the profile losses of the cascade controlled by dynamic hump reduced significantly at low Re condition where the separation bubble was very large, and increased slightly at high Re condition where the separation bubble was small. Then the effect of the hump oscillation frequency was investigated under the Re of 25,000. It was found that the controlled cascade loss reached a minimum in a certain hump oscillating frequency range. At low Re of 25,000, the loss of controlled cascade was mainly composed of low-loss continuous laminar vortices that were attached to the suction surface. Continuous vortices with a certain spacing confined the low-energy fluid near the suction surface by energy exchange between the free flow and near-wall flow, which suppressed the large-scale flow separation.