Flow In Turbine Cascade Research Articles

Shock waves characteristics and losses estimation of non-equilibrium condensation flow in nozzle and steam turbine cascade

The investigation of transonic non-equilibrium condensation is paramount due to its profound influence on the shock patterns and the distribution of losses. This study numerically investigates the shock wave morphology, evolution, and quantitative loss calculation under the influence of non-equilibrium condensation within the Moses-Stein nozzle and Dykas cascade. The results indicate that the vapor near the nozzle wall undergoes phase transition first and forms “X-shaped” condensation shock, which impervious to back pressure variations. Conversely, the “λ-shaped” aerodynamic shock moves towards the throat with increasing back pressure, triggering boundary layer separation. The entropy generation of “λ-shocks” accounts for over 98% and represents the primary source of shock losses. Strong pressure side shock induces shock wave-boundary layer interactions with the blade suction wall, resulting in reflected shocks. However, the latent heat released by non-equilibrium condensation mitigates this effect, increasing the total pressure loss coefficient by 0.188. The decrease in Mach number under high back pressure causes a notable increase in the trailing edge shock angle, with the wave foot shifting upstream. Notably, the proportion of shock losses attributed to the suction side of trailing edge exceeds 80%, significantly surpassing other regions, which progressively increases with rising back pressure. Therefore, it is crucial for cascade optimization. The findings can provide references for the optimization design of low-pressure steam turbine blade profiles. The results can serve as a guide for optimizing the blade profiles of low-pressure steam turbine.

Numerical Study on the Influence of Inlet Turbulence Intensity on Turbine Cascades

The turbulence intensity of the high-pressure turbine inlet plays an important role in the development of secondary flow and boundary layer evolution in the turbine passage. Unfortunately, current research often overlooks the coupling effect between boundary layer separation and endwall secondary flow, and lacks comprehensive exploration of loss variation. To complement existing research, this study utilizes numerical simulation techniques to investigate the evolution of the boundary layer and secondary flow in high-pressure turbine cascades under varying turbulence intensities, with experimental research results as the basis. Furthermore, the relationship between profile loss and endwall secondary flow loss is analyzed. The research results indicate that higher turbulence intensity can enhance the anti-separation ability of the boundary layer, thereby reducing the blade profile loss caused by separation in the boundary layer. However, higher turbulence intensities (Tu) enhance the development of secondary flow within the cascade, leading to a significant increase in secondary flow losses. Q-criterion methods are employed to display the vortex structures within the passage, while loss decomposition is leveraged to uncover the variations of different losses under different turbulence intensities (Tu of 1% and 6%).With the exception of a minor decrease in total pressure loss (Yp) when Tu increases from 1% to 2%, Yp demonstrates a substantial increase in all other cases with increasing Tu. Additionally, this study explains why the loss of high-pressure turbine cascades shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing with the increase in inlet turbulence intensity.

Experimental study of flow control on tip leakage flow in variable geometry linear turbine cascades with different pivot layouts

Variable geometry turbines are essential for adjusting operational conditions in industrial gas turbines and variable cycle engines. These adjustments necessitate partial gaps at both ends of the variable guide vanes to alter the turning angle, consequently introducing an aerodynamic performance penalty. Moreover, the pivot layout profoundly influences aerodynamic losses. Research on turbine cascades that considers various partial gap layouts is limited, particularly in terms of experimental studies, which are rarely conducted. This study aims to diminish aerodynamic losses and augment the efficiency of gas turbines by examining the impact of pivot layouts on partial gap clearance and secondary flow. It further investigates the effectiveness of flow control strategies at the blade tip across different pivot configurations within a variable geometry turbine cascade, utilizing pneumatic probe scanning and surface oil flow visualization techniques. The results reveal that employing a cavity at the tip can significantly reduce aerodynamic losses in schemes both with and without a pivot, achieving maximum loss reductions of 15.8% and 3.7%, respectively. Additionally, a narrower squealer width can further decrease these losses. However, with a pivot located at the tip, the resulting separation flow and wake vortex become predominant sources of losses. The presence of the pivot weakens the tip leakage flow rate and the intensity of the tip leakage vortex (TLV), thus diminishing the effectiveness of cavity tip flow control. The cavity moderates TLV and enhances the interaction between TLV and the wake vortex, leading to increased aerodynamic losses.

An investigation comparing various numerical approaches for simulating the behaviour of condensing flows in steam nozzles and turbine cascades

The process of condensation takes place within the low-pressure stages of the steam turbine when undergoing rapid expansion. The dry supercooled steam turns into very tiny liquid droplets, and the resulting wet steam mixture causes additional losses and maintenance problems. Accurate simulation of steam condensing flows helps to obtain accurate information about the thermodynamics of such flows and use this information in the design of highly efficient steam turbine stages. In this study, by using the available numerical models in commercial CFD codes, seven cases are considered for simulating steam condensing flows. The important difference between these cases is the use of different condensation models and different equations of state to calculate the thermodynamic properties of wet steam. The objective of this research is to identify an appropriate model that can be used to simulate the flow of steam condensation effectively. In recent studies, it is still necessary for further improvement of the modelling methods because the numerical results did not fully match the experimental findings, underscoring the persisting uncertainties within this domain. The current study explores various condensation models and equations of state for calculating the thermodynamic properties of wet steam. This diversity of approaches is novel and allows for the comparison of different models to determine the most suitable one for effective flow simulation. The geometries of the IWSEP nozzle (International Wet Steam Experimental Project) and linear cascade of the last-stage rotor blades were considered. To identify the most appropriate model for the simulation of steam condensing flows, the numerical results are validated against in-house experiments. The results indicate that combining the Young droplet growth model with the Vukalovich and Young equations in cases 1 and 2 is not a suitable method for modelling steam condensing flows. However, cases 3 & 4, which are the combination of Gyarmathy and Fuchs-Sutugin droplet growth models with NIST real gas models, are the most appropriate ones. The findings of this research confirm the high sensitivity of the modelling of such flows, and emphasize that the necessary care should be taken in choosing the appropriate numerical model.

Effect of Incoming Vortex on Secondary Flows in Turbine Cascades with Planar and Non-Axisymmetric Endwall

Effect of Incoming Vortex on Secondary Flows in Turbine Cascades with Planar and Non-Axisymmetric Endwall

Numerical analysis method for intra-stage non-equilibrium two-phase condensing flow in wet steam turbine and its application

To improve the numerical calculation performance of the intra-stage wet steam non-equilibrium condensing flow in a wet steam turbine, this paper proposed a numerically modified wet steam non-equilibrium condensation (NEC) model by considering the interphase heat and mass transfer in the Euler/Euler coordinate system. The model was developed based on nucleation kinetics, and the expressions of the critical droplet formation free energy and the nucleation rate were given. First, combining the experimental data, the non-isothermal effect nucleation model was modified by the surface tension coefficient method. Then, the low-pressure modified droplet growth model, which is suitable for describing any range of Knudsen numbers, was employed to calculate the droplet surface heat and mass transfer process, and the steam/liquid two-phase control equations and the turbulence model were presented. Meanwhile, the parameter transfer and coupling problem between the vapor and liquid phases was solved. Subsequently, the modified model and the original model were adopted to solve the wet steam condensing flow at the 1D Moses-Stein nozzle numerically, and the results showed that the modified model could calculate the distribution characteristics of pressure and droplet radius more accurately and fit the experimental results better. Afterward, the characteristicsof the non-equilibrium condensing flow of wet steam in the steam turbine cascade were investigated. Finally, combined with the experimental result on the pressure distribution in the steam turbine plane static cascade, the validity of the proposed numerically modified model was further verified, which provided a theoretical basis for the high-accuracy numerical analysis of the condensing flow in the nuclear power wet steam turbine cascade.

Aerodynamic Performance and Leakage Flow in Turbine Cascades With Sweeping Jet Actuators

Abstract In recent years, unsteady flow-control technology has been considered as more promising for reducing secondary flow loss in turbines. Sweeping jet actuators (SJAs), in particular, have steadily been used in turbomachinery to reduce loss due to their wide sweeping range. However, most of the preliminary studies were focused mainly on computational fluid dynamics calculations, with very few on wind tunnel experiments to verify the flow-control effectiveness. To fill this gap, an innovative attempt to investigate experimentally the influences of SJAs on the aerodynamic performance and leakage flow is presented in a high-pressure turbine cascade. Comparing SJAs and hole-type steady jet actuators (HSJAs), the influence on the tip leakage flow and the loss characteristics at various incidences and injection frequencies are discussed in detail. The results indicate that the SJAs effectively reduce the magnitude and extension of the leakage vortex and the passage vortex, and weaken the interactions between them. The loss at the cascade outlet drops by up to 10.3% when the jet flow of an SJA equals 0.2% of the inlet flow, which is significantly better than that with an HSJA (6.3%).

LES prediction of transitional flows in LP turbine cascades: effects of blade loading, flow phenomena and numerical setup

This paper presents detailed validations of a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) methodology for various transitional phenomena in low pressure turbines. The results are discussed to identify key phenomena to be resolved accurately toward future industrial use of LES. Detailed comparisons between experimental and CFD results are made on three different 2D cascades with different blade loading. One is low-lift and fully laminar design, while the others are moderate- and high-lift designs with boundary layer transition. The experimental data are obtained in a low speed linear cascade at Iwate University. All computations are conducted by a carefully-designed overset LES code. For the high-load design with a distinct laminar separation on the suction side, the LES result shows satisfactory agreement with the test. However, although the peak of total pressure loss distribution is predicted quite accurately, integrated cascade losses are over-predicted in the other two cases. For the laminar blade, the LES result implies some differences can exist in the state of wake, while the transitional blade shows delay of transition in the boundary layer. The effects of inflow turbulence intensity, length scale, and stream tube contraction are discussed in detail to improve LES prediction.

Effect of NaCl presence caused by salting out on the heterogeneous-homogeneous coupling non-equilibrium condensation flow in a steam turbine cascade

Steam turbine is one of the most important components in fossil-fired and nuclear power plants, its efficiency is of great importance for saving energy and decreasing consumption. The steam density rapidly decreases when the steam expanses, and NaCl dissolved in steam starts precipitating. However, the presence of NaCl will not only affect the non-equilibrium condensation decreasing the steam turbine efficiency, but also erode the steam turbine blade reducing the steam turbine safety and shortening maintenance cycle. The main objective of the current work is to investigate the effect of the NaCl presence on the non-equilibrium condensation process and the loss in steam turbine cascade. Firstly, a non-equilibrium condensation model including homogeneous and heterogeneous condensation process is presented and its accuracy is checked in a steam turbine cascade by comparing with available experimental data. And the results show the accuracy and robustness of the model is quite trustworthy. Secondly, the influence of NaCl concentration on the non-equilibrium condensation flow is investigated in a steam turbine cascade. The results show that the NaCl presence has a significant effect on condensation flow. With the NaCl concentration increasing, the droplets nucleation rate decreases, diminishing the tiny droplet emerging, which weakens homogeneous condensation. As a result, the condensation loss caused by the homogeneous condensation decreases, and even the condensation loss caused by the homogeneous condensation becomes zero when the NaCl particle number reaches 7.5×1014 per kilogram in steam flow. However, the condensation loss caused by the heterogeneous condensation shows a reverse tendence, which increases with the NaCl concentration. At last, the condensation loss and entropy generation caused by the non-equilibrium condensation are checked in steam turbine cascade under different NaCl concentration conditions. The results show that the condensation loss reduces by 9.2% and increases by 42% at the 7.5×10141/kg and 10171/kg NaCl concentrations, respectively. Meanwhile, when the NaCl particle number reaches 7.5×1014 per kilogram, the isentropic efficiency is highest, about 0.884, compared with other cases considering condensation effect. This study proves that the NaCl concentration has a nonnegligible effect on the condensation loss and entropy generation, which must be considered in future steam turbine study.

Development and application of a profile loss model considering the low-Re effect in low-pressure turbine

Abstract To improve the prediction accuracy of profile loss at low Reynolds number, a typical low-pressure turbine cascade T106D-EIZ was selected to numerically investigate the effect of Reynolds number on turbine cascade flow. A detailed analysis of profile loss was performed and a profile loss model considering the low-Re effect was developed. Results showed that the incidence angle has a great effect on the inlet and outlet Mach number at low Reynolds number, and the variation of inlet and outlet Mach number further affects the blade profile loss. A correction factor was introduced to consider the effect of incidence angle and Mach number on the profile loss. The profile loss coefficient and stalling incidence angle were both extended to lower Reynolds number based on the numerical results. A Smart Through Flow Analysis Program (STFAP) was developed using the finite volume method to solve the circumferentially averaged Euler equations of S2 surface. Aerodynamic performance of E3 5-stage low-pressure turbine was predicted by STFAP coupled with low-Re profile loss model. Compared with K-O model, the prediction accuracy of efficiency of low-pressure turbine last stage is improved by nearly 1.1 percentage points when the 5-stage low-pressure turbine is in a low Reynolds number state.

Development and application of a profile loss model considering the low-Re effect in low-pressure turbine

Abstract To improve the prediction accuracy of profile loss at low Reynolds number, a typical low-pressure turbine cascade T106D-EIZ was selected to numerically investigate the effect of Reynolds number on turbine cascade flow. A detailed analysis of profile loss was performed and a profile loss model considering the low-Re effect was developed. Results showed that the incidence angle has a great effect on the inlet and outlet Mach number at low Reynolds number, and the variation of inlet and outlet Mach number further affects the blade profile loss. A correction factor was introduced to consider the effect of incidence angle and Mach number on the profile loss. The profile loss coefficient and stalling incidence angle were both extended to lower Reynolds number based on the numerical results. A Smart Through Flow Analysis Program (STFAP) was developed using the finite volume method to solve the circumferentially averaged Euler equations of S2 surface. Aerodynamic performance of E3 5-stage low-pressure turbine was predicted by STFAP coupled with low-Re profile loss model. Compared with K-O model, the prediction accuracy of efficiency of low-pressure turbine last stage is improved by nearly 1.1 percentage points when the 5-stage low-pressure turbine is in a low Reynolds number state.

Effects of suction surface near tip coolant injection on the aerodynamics of tip leakage flow in a high-pressure turbine cascade

The current study explores the possibility of using the coolant injected from the near tip suction side of a turbine blade to reduce the tip leakage loss. Each case studied has a cooling hole injecting a coolant stream. To model the mixing of the coolant at different axial locations, each of four cases is investigated with a cooling hole located at 10% blade axial chord [Formula: see text], 20% [Formula: see text], 30% [Formula: see text] or 40% [Formula: see text] from the leading edge. In computational fluid dynamics simulation, the exit area of the cooling hole is defined with mass flow inlet boundary condition to simulate a coolant injection. It is found that the tip leakage loss of the case with a cooling hole located at 10% [Formula: see text] is the lowest and is 3.2% lower than that of the uncooled baseline case. The tip leakage loss increases as the cooling hole located further downstream. For the case with cooling hole at 40% [Formula: see text], the loss is 1.5% higher than the uncooled baseline case. The effect of the blowing ratio on the tip leakage loss is also investigated. For the case with the cooling hole located at 10% [Formula: see text], the tip leakage loss first decreases and then increases as the blowing ratio increases. When the tip leakage loss of one case is less than that of baseline case, it is found that mixing of the coolant and the low-energy fluid in the tip leakage vortex core reduces the stagnation pressure difference between mainstream and the fluid within the vortex core, and thus reducing the mixing loss within the blade passage.

Transition-based constrained large-eddy simulation method with application to an ultrahigh-lift low-pressure turbine cascade flow

A transition-predictive Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) model is introduced as the Reynolds controlling condition to constrained large-eddy simulation (TrCLES) to improve the ability of this method to predict wall-bounded laminar–turbulent transition flows. In the TrCLES method, the constraint conditions for total Reynolds stress and heat flux are only imposed to the near-wall region in transitional and turbulent boundary layer. The newly proposed method recovers direct numerical simulation in the laminar boundary region, and retrieves the traditional large-eddy simulation method in the far-wall regions. The TrCLES method is validated in simulations of external flow around the Eppler 387 (E387) airfoil and internal flow past the ultrahigh-lift low-pressure turbine T106C cascade. The improved delayed detached-eddy simulation (IDDES) method, CLES method based on full-turbulence shear stress transport model and RANS method with a three-equation transition model are also evaluated in comparison with the available experimental and numerical data. As expected, the TrCLES method can predict laminar separation bubble and separation-induced transition process in both the E387 and T106C flows pretty well. In contrast, neither IDDES nor the original CLES can provide reasonable prediction for the laminar separation-induced transition phenomenon. The validity and fidelity of the TrCLES method are further verified by simulations of the T106C cascade flows in a wider range of exit Reynolds and Mach numbers. It is shown that the TrCLES method can not only predict the time-averaged aerodynamic quantities such as isentropic Mach number and exit kinetic energy loss very well, but also capture the laminar separation bubble and unsteady flow structures with satisfactory accuracy.

Applying Ensemble Kalman Filter to Transonic Flows Through a Two-Dimensional Turbine Cascade

Abstract Turbulence is one of the most important phenomena in fluid dynamics. Large eddy simulation (LES) generally allows us to analyze smaller eddies than when using simulations based on unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (URANS). In addition, the numerical solutions of LES show good agreements with experiments and numerical solutions based on direct numerical simulation. URANS simulations are, however, frequently used in academia and industry because LES computations are much more expensive compared with URANS simulations. In this investigation, an optimization of unsolved coefficients of the k–ω two equations model is performed on the transonic flow around T106A low-pressure turbine cascade to improve the accuracy of turbulence prediction with URANS. For the optimization approach, two-dimensional URANS is combined with ensemble Kalman filter which is one of the data assimilation techniques. In the assimilation process, a time- and spanwise-averaged LES result is used as pseudo-experimental data. Three-dimensional URANS simulations are performed for the evaluation of the optimization effect. URANS simulations are also applied to a different turbine cascade flow for the evaluation of the robustness of the optimized coefficients. These URANS results confirmed that the optimized coefficients improve the accuracy of turbulence prediction.

A pressure based solver for simulation of non-equilibrium wet steam flows

This paper describes a pressure-based solver based on the finite volume approach for the simulation of high-speed wet steam flows with non-equilibrium condensation. The governing mathematical model consists of the system of Navier–Stokes equations for common mixture density, velocity, and enthalpy equipped with an appropriate nonlinear equation of state based on IAPWS formulation and with additional equations for liquid mass fraction and droplet radius distribution. The proposed method has been implemented into open-source package OpenFOAM and validated using available experimental data for nozzle flows. Finally, it was used for simulations of flows in turbine cascades.

The Effects of Inlet Boundary Layer Condition and Periodically Incoming Wakes on Secondary Flow in a Low Pressure Turbine Cascade

AbstractA particular turbine cascade design is presented with the goal of providing a basis for high quality investigations of endwall flow under high-speed conditions with unsteady inflow. The key feature of the design is an integrated two-part flat plate serving as a cascade endwall at part-span, which enables a variation of the inlet endwall boundary layer conditions. The new design is applied to the T106A low pressure turbine cascade for endwall flow investigations in the High-Speed Cascade Wind Tunnel of the Institute of Jet Propulsion at the Bundeswehr University Munich. Measurements are conducted under realistic flow conditions (M2th = 0.59, Re2th = 2 · 105) in three cases of varying endwall boundary layer conditions with and without periodically incoming wakes. The endwall boundary layer is characterized by 1D-CTA measurements upstream of the blade passage. Secondary flow is evaluated by five-hole-probe measurements in the turbine exit flow. A strong similarity is found between the time-averaged effects of unsteady inflow conditions and the effects of changing inlet endwall boundary layer conditions regarding the attenuation of secondary flow. Furthermore, the experimental investigations show that all design goals for the improved T106A cascade are met.

Calculating Incidence Losses in the Turbine Cascade

The flow in turbine cascades with incidences is accompanied by a separated flow around the airfoils, which is difficult to calculate with acceptable accuracy. Therefore, in practice, empirical formulas are used to estimate losses from the incidence. The analysis of these formulas made it possible to identify the geometric and operating parameters of the cascade that have the greatest influence on the losses: the inlet metal angle, thickness of the leading edge of the profile, thickness of the profile, relative pitch, incidence, and exit flow velocity. It is unrealistic to obtain a reliable analytical expression for losses that takes into account the influence of all these parameters. Therefore, the path consisting in creating a program that uses the data of numerous experiments and finds an equation for calculating the losses in a group of cascades close to the specified one in terms of geometric parameters was chosen. Accordingly, a bank of experimental data on losses in a large number of cascades was formed and tested at different incidences and flow velocities. According to the test results, an increase in the flow velocity out of the cascade leads to a decrease in losses from a positive incidence. All cascades are clearly divided into three large groups according to the nature of losses. For the cascades of each group, the ranges of variation of the angles of the flow inlet and outlet and the thickness of the profile and its leading edge are determined. The set of these parameters determines the form of the approximating polynomial for each given cascade. To reflect the effect of the pitch and exit velocity and find the design equation, cascades with narrow deviations of the parameters from the given value are selected from the group, and the unknown polynomial coefficients are calculated using the least squares method. Calculations according to the developed program give smaller deviations from experiments than the known formulas.

Aerodynamic performance of profiled endwalls with upstream slot purge flow in a linear turbine cascade having pressure side separation

In aeroengines, purge flow directly fed from the compressor (which bypasses the combustor) is introduced through the disk space between blade rows to prevent the hot ingress. Higher quantity of purge gas fed through the wheel space can provide additional thermal protection to the passage endwall and blade surfaces. However, the interaction of purge flow with the mainstream flow leads to higher secondary losses. Secondary losses inside a turbine blade passage can be reduced effectively by endwall contouring. This paper presents computational investigation on the influence of non-axisymmetric endwall contouring over endwall secondary flow modification in the presence of purge flow with the pressure side bubble (PSB). The experimental analysis was conducted for the base case without purge and base case with purge (BCP) configurations having flat endwalls. The total pressure loss coefficient and exit yaw angle deviation were measured with the help of a five-hole pressure probe. Static pressure distribution over the blade midspan was obtained by 16 channel Scanivalve. Aerodynamic performances of three different profiled endwalls are numerically analyzed and are compared against the BCP configuration. The effects of different contoured endwall geometries on endwall static pressure distribution and secondary kinetic energy were also discussed. Analysis shows that in the first contoured endwall configuration (EC1), the formation of stagnation zones at a contour valley close to the suction surface causes the exit total pressure loss coefficient to increase. The shifting of the contour valley near to the pressure surface (EC2 configuration) has resulted in local acceleration of the diverted pressure side leg of the horseshoe vortex over the hump toward the end of the passage. In the third configuration (EC3 configuration), reduced valley depth and optimum hump height have effectively redistributed the endwall pitchwise pressure gradient. The increased static pressure coefficient at the endwall near to the pressure surface has eliminated the PSB formation. In addition, computational results of unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes simulations are obtained for analyzing transient behavior of PSB, with more emphasis on its migration on the pressure surface and transport across the blade passage. The additional work done by the mainstream fluid to transport the low momentum PSB fluid has caused higher aerodynamic penalty at the blade exit region. In this viewpoint, the implementation of contoured endwalls has shown beneficial effects by eliminating the PSB and related secondary vortices. At 27% of axial chord downstream of the blade trailing edge, a 4.1% reduction in the total pressure loss coefficient was achieved with endwall contouring.

Numerical investigation and loss estimation of high-pressure turbine cascade flow with contoured endwall and incoming wakes

With the aim of suppressing the irreversible losses, the secondary flow at endwall and incoming vortices interactions are assumed to be the most concerned physics in gas turbine for modern aero-engine and military vehicles. However, the combining effect of contoured endwall and incoming periodic wakes were seldom discussed previously. In the present work, the research subject is the high-pressure turbine cascade with non-axisymmetric endwall and incoming wakes induced by moving bar fulfilled with periodic boundary conditions in pitchwise direction. Firstly, the aerodynamics and thermodynamics in the turbine cascade with secondary flow control technique, which denotes to non-axisymmetric endwall, were experimentally and numerically investigated. For what concerns the profile aerodynamic loadings, total pressure loss coefficients and vortices coefficient were surveyed to quantify the influence of interaction between incoming wakes and secondary flow at contoured endwall. The cumulative difference of entropy production rate associated with dissipation is then employed to evaluate the loss under different inflow condition. Combined with dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) method, the energy loss features associated with incoming wakes at different passing frequencies was captured. The results indicated that the flow separation at the suction wall with the axial position of 70%∼80% Cax upstream trailing edge was suppressed in the cases with incoming wakes for high pressure turbine cascade. And stronger incoming wakes tends show better suppression effect on the flow separation. However, when combined with contoured endwall, the negative influence of non-axisymmetric endwall at the middle passage was enlarged. And the general aerodynamics of the cascade flow may not be necessarily improved in term of energy loss characteristics with the increase of passing frequency of incoming wakes. The present work preserves guiding significance for the design and flow control of high pressure turbine cascade.

Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Purge Flow and Main Flow Interaction in a Low-Speed Turbine Cascade Passage.

In order to protect the vulnerable turbine components from extreme high temperature, coolant flow is introduced from the compressor to the disk cavity, inevitably interacting with the main flow. This paper describes an experimental investigation of the interaction between the main flow and the purge flow in a low-speed turbine cascade with three purge flow rates, Cm = 0, Cm = 1%, and Cm = 2%. In order to study the effect of the interaction between the main flow and the purge flow on the secondary flows, a Rortex method developed by Liu Chaoquan is introduced to identify the vortex in the flow field. In the meantime, a method to calculate the mean entropy production rate based on the particle image velocimetry (PIV) result is adopted to investigate the flow loss. The PIV result indicates that the purge flow has a prominent impact on the flow field of the cascade passage, changing the velocity distribution that induces a local blockage area. The results of vortex identification show that the purge flow promotes the generation of the passage vortex near the suction side. In addition, the purge flow makes the passage vortex migrate to the tip wall direction, enlarging the region affected by the secondary flow. The mean entropy production (MEP) result shows that the flow loss is mainly caused by the passage vortex. The coincidence of the high-MEP region and the location of the passage vortex indicates that the purge flow increases the secondary flow loss by affecting the formation and the migration of the passage vortex.