Efficiency Of Low Pressure Turbines Research Articles

LPT rotor speed after low-pressure shaft failure

When designing engine safety and compliance with airworthiness regulations, it is important to determine the variation of rotor rotational speed and other parameters of aero-engine under shaft failure scenarios. In this paper, a transient process simulation model is established using the component method for a high bypass ratio two-shaft direct-drive turbofan engine. It helps analyze the response of engine rotor speed and key temperature parameters after the failure of the low-pressure shaft, the influence of the fuel supply, low-pressure turbine efficiency, and rotor resistance torque on the response of the parameters. The results demonstrate that the sudden increase of the low-pressure shaft speed at the turbine end after the failure of the low-pressure shaft is the most important factor affecting the engine safety design. The fuel supply, LPT efficiency, and resistance torque have significant effects on this sudden increase in speed.

Investigation of inter-stage passive flow control for turbine performance improvement on regulated two-stage turbocharger

Abstract The flow field coupling effect between the HPT (high pressure turbine) and LPT (low pressure turbine) introduces a particular flow structure to the two-stage turbocharging system. Compared to the isolated turbines, the performance of these two connected turbines will inevitably be affected by each other. However, in the open state of the bypass valve, the influence of the bypass flow on this flow field coupling effect is still unknown. In this study, the inter-stage performance interaction of regulated two-stage turbocharger was investigated through the three-dimensional numerical method. With the bypass valve open, the influence of different positions of the bypass branch on the inter-stage coupling effects is investigated. The results manifest that the different positions of the bypass branch significantly change the performance of low pressure turbine and the flow interactions within the inter-stage. When the bypass branch is on the right, the LPT efficiency improves by approximately 2.2%. The detailed flow field analysis of the inter-stage pipe, volute and rotor is conducted to reveal the flow mechanism behind the inter-stage interactions. Based on this investigation, a new passive flow control scheme is proposed to ameliorate the swirling flow at the LPT inlet and improve the performance of LPT.

Numerical analysis of flow interaction of turbine system in two-stage turbocharger of internal combustion engine

To reach the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction, high intake pressure is needed to meet the demand of high power density and high EGR rate for internal combustion engine. Present power density of diesel engine has reached 90KW/L and intake pressure ratio needed is over 5. Two-stage turbocharging system is an effective way to realize high compression ratio. Because turbocharging system compression work derives from exhaust gas energy. Efficiency of exhaust gas energy influenced by design and matching of turbine system is important to performance of high supercharging engine. Conventional turbine system is assembled by single-stage turbocharger turbines and turbine matching is based on turbine MAP measured on test rig. Flow between turbine system is assumed uniform and value of outlet physical quantities of turbine are regarded as the same as ambient value. However, there are three-dimension flow field distortion and outlet physical quantities value change which will influence performance of turbine system as were demonstrated by some studies. For engine equipped with two-stage turbocharging system, optimization of turbine system design will increase efficiency of exhaust gas energy and thereby increase engine power density. However flow interaction of turbine system will change flow in turbine and influence turbine performance. To recognize the interaction characteristics between high pressure turbine and low pressure turbine, flow in turbine system is modeled and simulated numerically. The calculation results suggested that static pressure field at inlet to low pressure turbine increases back pressure of high pressure turbine, however efficiency of high pressure turbine changes little; distorted velocity field at outlet to high pressure turbine results in swirl at inlet to low pressure turbine. Clockwise swirl results in large negative angle of attack at inlet to rotor which causes flow loss in turbine impeller passages and decreases turbine efficiency. However negative angle of attack decreases when inlet swirl is anti-clockwise and efficiency of low pressure turbine can be increased by 3% compared to inlet condition of clockwise swirl. Consequently flow simulation and analysis are able to aid in figuring out interaction mechanism of turbine system and optimizing turbine system design.

The Effect of Surface Roughness on Efficiency of Low Pressure Turbines

The effect of surface roughness on the efficiency of low pressure turbines (LPTs) was experimentally investigated in a multistage turbine high-speed rig. The rig consisted of three stages of a state-of-the-art LPT. The stages were characterized by a very high wall-slope angle, reverse cut-off design, very high lift, and very high aspect ratio airfoils. Two sets of airfoils (both stators and rotors) were tested. The first set was made of airfoils with a roughness size of 0.7 μm Ra (25–35 × 10−5 ks/Cm), which was representative of LPT polished airfoils. The surface finish for the second set of airfoils was 1.8 μm Ra for blades and 2.5 μm Ra for stators (approximately 90 × 10−5 in terms of ks/Cm for both stators and blades). The resulting roughness of this set was representative of “as-cast” airfoils of low pressure turbines. The airfoil geometries, velocity triangles, leading and trailing edge locations, and flowpath were maintained between both sets. They were tested with the same instrumentation and at the same operating conditions with the intention of determining the isolated impact of the surface roughness on the overall efficiency. The turbine characteristics: sensitivity to speed, specific work, Reynolds number, and purge flows, were obtained for both sets. The comparison of the results suggests that the efficiency and capacity of both types of airfoils exhibit the same behavior. No significant differences in the results can be distinguished for the range of operating conditions in this study. The results agree with previous studies of distributed roughness in turbines: the use of as-cast rough airfoils in some low pressure turbines at high altitude does not introduce additional pressure losses.

The Effect of Airfoil Thickness on the Efficiency of Low-Pressure Turbines

The effect of airfoil thickness on the efficiency of low-pressure (LP) turbines has been investigated experimentally in a multistage turbine high-speed rig. The rig consists of three stages of a state of the art LP turbine. The stages are characterized by a very high hade angle, reverse cut-off design, very high lift, and very high aspect ratio airfoils. Two different sets of stators have been designed and tested. The first set of stators is made of airfoils with a thickness to chord ratio around 10% along the span with the exception of a small areas close to the end walls. In those areas, the thickness has been increased above the previous value to reduce the secondary flows. These types of airfoils have been referred to in the literature as “spoon” airfoils. The second set of stators has been designed to have the same spanwise distribution of pressure coefficient (Cp) on the suction surface than the first set. However, the thickness to chord ratio was increased along the span up to values around 20% to raise the velocity of the flow and to remove any separation bubble on the pressure side. The resulting shape of the profiles is representative of “hollow” airfoils. The velocity triangles, chord distribution, leading and trailing edge locations, and flowpath have been maintained between both sets. They have been tested with the same blades and at the same operating conditions with the intention of determining the impact of the profile thickness on the overall efficiency. The turbine characteristics: sensitivity to speed, specific work, Reynolds number, and purge flows have been obtained for both sets. The comparison of the results suggests that the efficiency of both types of airfoils exhibit the same behavior; no significant differences in the results can be distinguished.

Aerodynamic Characteristics of Low Pressure Turbine under the Condition of Altitude Low Reynolds Number

Low pressure turbine(LPT) is an important component of aeroengine.The performance of LPT greatly influences the thrust-weight ratio and specific fuel consumption of aeroengine.It is imperative to investigate the flow and heat transfer characteristics in LPT for improving the aeroengine performance research.Flow characteristics of an aeroengine LPT under altitude low Reynolds number are investigated by conjugate heat transfer methodology,meanwhile the effects of Reynolds number on the LPT efficiency and characteristics of flow are discussed in detail.The results indicate that,with the increasing of Reynolds number( 2×105),the efficiency of the LPT is increasing monotonically because of the decrease of boundary layer separation loss.

Predicting the Profile Loss of High-Lift Low Pressure Turbines

The overall efficiency of low pressure turbines is largely determined by the two-dimensional profile loss, which is dominated by the contribution of the suction surface boundary layer. This boundary layer typically features a laminar separation bubble and is subjected to an inherently unsteady disturbance environment. The complexity of the flow behavior makes it difficult to numerically predict the profile loss. To address this problem, an empirical method is proposed for predicting the boundary layer integral parameters at the suction surface trailing edge, allowing the profile loss to be estimated. Extensive measurements have been conducted on a flat plate simulation of the suction surface boundary layer. The disturbance environment of real machines was modeled using a moving bar wake generator and a turbulence grid. From this data set, empirically based methods have been formulated using physical principles for the prediction of the momentum thickness and shape factor at the suction surface trailing edge. The predictions of these methods may be used to estimate the profile loss of a given cascade, which achieves reasonable agreement with the available data. By parameterizing the shape of the suction surface velocity distribution, the method is recast as a preliminary design tool. Powerfully, this may be used to guide the selection of the key design parameters (such as the blade loading and velocity distribution shape) and enables a reasonable estimation of the unsteady profile loss to be made at a very early stage of design. To illustrate the capabilities of the preliminary design tool, different styles of velocity distribution are evaluated for fixed blade loading and flow angles. The predictions suggest that relatively “flat-top” designs will have the lowest profile loss but good performance can also be achieved with front-loaded “peaky” distributions. The latter designs are more likely to have acceptable incidence tolerance.

Pressure and Suction Surfaces Redesign for High-Lift Low-Pressure Turbines

Abstract Nowadays there is a big effort toward improving the low-pressure turbine efficiency even to the extent of penalizing other relevant design parameters. LP turbine efficiency influences SFC more than other modules in the engine. Most of the research has been oriented to reduce profile losses, modifying the suction surface, the pressure surface, or the three-dimensional regions of the flow. To date, the pressure surface has received very little attention. The dependence of the profile losses on the behavior of both pressure and suction surfaces has been investigated for the case of a high-lift design that is representative of a modern civil engine LP turbine. The experimental work described in this paper consists of two different sets of experiments: the first one concluded an improved pressure surface definition, and the second set was oriented to achieve further improvement in losses modifying the profile suction surface. Three profiles were designed and tested over a range of conditions. The first profile is a thin-solid design. This profile has a large pressure side separation bubble extending from near the leading edge to midchord. The second profile is a hollow design with the same suction surface as the first one, but avoiding pressure surface separation. The third one is also a hollow design with the same pressure surface as the second profile, but more aft loaded suction surface. The study is part of a wider ongoing research program covering the effects of the different design parameters on losses. The paper describes the experiments conducted in a low-speed linear cascade facility. It gathers together steady and unsteady loss measurements by wake traverse and surface pressure distributions for all the profiles. It is shown that thick profiles generate only around 90 percent of the losses of a thin-solid profile with the same suction surface. The results support the idea of an optimum axial position for the peak Mach number. Caution is recommended, as profile aft loading would not be a completely secure method for reducing losses.