Particle image velocimetry of vane-rotor interaction in a turbine stage

Abstract

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is an innovative whole field velocimetry technique that provides visualization and quantitative measurement of a two-dimensional velocity field. Although PIV is a powerful measurement technique, the application of PIV to measure complex turbomachine flow fields presents many challenging obstacles. These include optical access, laser energy management, seeding, and the acquisition of rotating frame data. In spite of the difficulties, data resulting from PIV studies of these flow fields can provide information difficult or impossible to achieve with point measurement techniques. This work is directed at providing PIV data describing the vane-rotor interaction event in a low speed research turbine. Specifically, experiments are performed to investigate the unsteady flow field between the trailing edge of the first stage vane and the leading edge of the first stage rotor. The contribution of the moving potential field generated by the rotor blade and mat of the vane wake to the nature of the rotor inlet flow is characterized with these data.