Radial Inflow Turbine Study.

Abstract

Abstract : Small radial inflow turbines have various applications in industry and are successfully being used as a major component of gas turbines and turbochargers. The performance of the turbine is of great importance for the success of these systems. Although the design of radial inflow turbines has improved in the last few years, the detailed aerodynamic study of these components still needs considerable attention. Better understanding of the flow processes involved in these machines will provide a good basis for the design of improved components and for this purpose a joint research programme has been undertaken by Cranfield, the US Army Research Office and Turbomach (San Diego). The main objective of the study was to investigate the flow processes involved in the radial inflow turbine using experimental methods. The work presented in this report describes the various steps undertaken to perform these studies together with results. The project involved two phases, the first measurements downstream of the rotor and the second measurements between the nozzle guide vanes and rotor inlet. The scope of the study was limited to two man years during which considerable success was achieved in obtaining the desired measurement but more time to further reduce this data and to compare with computational results, which was outside the scope of the present study, would have been advantageous. The studies using laser anemometry undertaken downstream of the turbine rotor indicated a swirling flow with a region of counter-rotating flow in the centre. A cobra probe was used to compare with the laser anemometry results. Both measuring techniques show similar trends of flow velocity and flow angle at various running conditions.... Radial Turbines, Laser Anemometry.