Tip Clearance Flow Research Articles

Experimental investigation of unsteady flow phenomena in a three-stage axial compressor

In the past years, a three-stage axial compressor equipped with a modern controlled diffusion airfoil (CDA) blading has been investigated in much detail, applying state-of-the-art steady and unsteady measurement techniques, at RWTH Aachen University. The compressor under investigation exhibits design features of real industrial compressors. By performing high-resolution measurements both in space and time, a thorough insight into various flow phenomena in the compressor has been achieved, leading to a better understanding of various flow phenomena such as rotor—stator interaction, tip clearance flow and viscous flow effects in a multistage compressor environment. After a short summary of some performance characteristics at design and off-design, this paper focuses on the analysis of interaction phenomena present in the three-stage axial compressor. The interaction phenomena are described on a more global scale. In order to quantify the upstream and downstream influence of the three rotor blades, a suitable parameter is presented.

천음속 회전익에서의 누설유동

It is known that tip clearance flows reduce the pressure rise, flow range and efficiency of the turbomachinery. So, the clear understanding about flow fields in the tip region is needed to efficiently design the turbomachinery. The Navier-Stokes code with the proper treatment of the boundary conditions has been developed to analyze the three-dimensional steady viscous flow fields in the transonic rotating blades and a numerical study has been conducted to investigate the detail flow physics in the tip region of transonic rotor, NASA Rotor 67. The computational results in the tip region of transonic rotors show the leakage vortices, leakage flow from pressure side to suction side and their interaction with a shock. Depen ding on the operating conditions, toad distributions and the position of shock-wave on the blade surface are very different close to the blade tip of the transonic compressor rotor. The load distribution and the shock-wave position close to the blade tip had the close relationship with the starting position of leakage vortex and the direction of leakage flow.

An Experimental and Numerical Investigation into the Mechanisms of Rotating Instability

This paper reports on an experimental and numerical investigation aimed at understanding the mechanisms of rotating instabilities in a low speed axial flow compressor. The phenomena of rotating instabilities in the current compressor were first identified with an experimental study. Then, an unsteady numerical method was applied to confirm the phenomena and to interrogate the physical mechanisms behind them. The experimental study was conducted with high-resolution pressure measurements at different clearances, employing a double phase-averaging technique. The numerical investigation was performed with an unsteady 3-D Navier-Stokes method that solves for the entire blade row. The current study reveals that a vortex structure forms near the leading edge plane. This vortex is the result of interactions among the classical tip-clearance flow, axially reversed endwall flow, and the incoming flow. The vortex travels from the suction side to the pressure side of the passage at roughly half of the rotor speed. The formation and movement of this vortex seem to be the main causes of unsteadiness when rotating instability develops. Due to the nature of this vortex, the classical tip clearance flow does not spill over into the following blade passage. This behavior of the tip clearance flow is why the compressor operates in a stable mode even with the rotating instability, unlike traditional rotating stall phenomena.

Experimental study of endwall and tip clearance flows in a two - dimensional turbine rotor blade cascade - effect of incidence angle

Experimental investigations were carried out on a two-dimensional cascade fitted with a 120° deflection rotor blades to study the effect of incidence angle on the endwall flow in the presence of tip clearance. A total of five incidence angles, namely: -10°, -5°, 0°, 5°, 10° were chosen and for each incidence angle, the experiments were conducted for five tip clearance values at a constant space -chord ratio of 0.79. The results are presented in the form of contours of static pressure coefficient on the endwall and the blade tip surface. In addition, the variation of static pressure coefficient ahead of the blade leading edge and from the pressure surface to the suction surface at various axial stations, and discharge coefficient at different axial stations are presented. The results indicate that the adverse pressure gradient upstream of the leading edge is reduced as tip clearance is increased. The contours of static pressure coefficient on the endwall indicate a deep low-pressure trough near the suction surface in comparison to the normal trough for zero clearance. Loading also increases as incidence changes from the negative to positive values. Due to area contraction caused by the tip separation vortex, the fluid moving towards the tip gap from the pressure side is accelerated. Downstream of the tip separation vortex, the endwall pressure increases due to flow mixing. The maximum value of discharge coefficient increases and the point at which maximum value occurs shifts towards leading edge when incidence is changed from -10° to 10°.

Unsteady Effects in Turbine Tip Clearance Flows

The present study is concerned with the unsteady flow field on the blade outer air seal segments of high-work turbines; these segments are installed between the blade tip and outer casing and are usually subjected to extreme heat loads. Time-resolved measurements of the unsteady pressure on the blade outer air seal are made in a low-speed turbine rig. The present measurements indicate the existence of a separation zone on the blade tip, which causes a vena contracta to form at the entrance of the tip gap. In addition, a careful comparison between the ensemble-averaged pressure measurement and the corresponding result from steady computation suggests that the pressure on the blade outer air seal can largely be described as being due to a steady flow (in the rotating frame) sweeping past a stationary probe. The ensemble deviation measurement indicates that unsteadiness (from one revolution to the next) is confined to the tip gap. [S0889-504X(00)02304-7]

Tip Clearance Effects in a Turbine Rotor: Part I—Pressure Field and Loss

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the effects of the tip clearance flow in an axial turbine rotor. The effects investigated include the distribution and the development of the pressure, the loss, the velocity, and the turbulence fields. These flow fields were measured using the techniques of static pressure taps, rapid response pressure probes, rotating five-hole probes, and Laser Doppler Velocimeter. Part I of this paper covers the loss development through the passage, and the pressure distribution within the passage, on the blade surfaces, on the blade tip, and on the casing wall. Regions with both the lowest pressure and the highest loss indicate the inception and the trace of the tip leakage vortex. The suction effect of the vortex slightly increases the blade loading near the tip clearance region. The relative motion between the turbine blades and the casing wall results in a complicated pressure field in the tip region. The fluid near the casing wall experiences a considerable pressure difference across the tip. The highest total pressure drop and the highest total pressure loss were both observed in the region of the tip leakage vortex, where the loss is nearly twice as high as that near the passage vortex region. However, the passage vortex produces more losses than the tip leakage vortex in total. The development of the loss in turbine rotor is similar to that observed in cascades. Part II of this paper covers the velocity and the turbulence fields.

A Transport Model for the Deterministic Stresses Associated With Turbomachinery Blade Row Interactions

The unsteady process resulting from the interaction of upstream vortical structures with a downstream blade row in turbomachines can have a significant impact on the machine efficiency. The upstream vortical structures or disturbances are transported by the mean flow of the downstream blade row, redistributing the time-average unsteady kinetic energy (K) associated with the incoming disturbance. A transport model was developed to take this process into account in the computation of time-averaged multistage turbomachinery flows. The model was applied to compressor and turbine geometry. For compressors, the K associated with upstream two-dimensional wakes and three-dimensional tip clearance flows is reduced as a result of their interaction with a downstream blade row. This reduction results from inviscid effects as well as viscous effects and reduces the loss associated with the upstream disturbance. Any disturbance passing through a compressor blade row results in a smaller loss than if the disturbance was mixed-out prior to entering the blade row. For turbines, the K associated with upstream two-dimensional wakes and three-dimensional tip clearance flows are significantly amplified by inviscid effects as a result of the interaction with a downstream turbine blade row. Viscous effects act to reduce the amplification of the K by inviscid effects but result in a substantial loss. Two-dimensional wakes and three-dimensional tip clearance flows passing through a turbine blade row result in a larger loss than if these disturbances were mixed-out prior to entering the blade row. [S0889-504X(00)01804-3]

Review: Recent Investigations on Tip Clearance Flows in Centrifugal Compressors

Review: Recent Investigations on Tip Clearance Flows in Centrifugal Compressors

1998 Turbomachinery Committee Best Paper Award: An Experimental Study of Tip Clearance Flow in a Radial Inflow Turbine

This paper describes an experimental investigation of tip clearance flow in a radial inflow turbine. Flow visualization and static pressure measurements were performed. These were combined with hot-wire traverses into the tip gap. The experimental data indicate that the tip clearance flow in a radial turbine can be divided into three regions. The first region is located at the rotor inlet, where the influence of relative casing motion dominates the flow over the tip. The second region is located toward midchord, where the effect of relative casing motion is weakened. Finally, a third region exists in the exducer, where the effect of relative casing motion becomes small and the leakage flow resembles the tip flow behavior in an axial turbine. Integration of the velocity profiles showed that there is little tip leakage in the first part of the rotor because of the effect of scraping. It was found that the bulk of tip leakage flow in a radial turbine passes through the exducer. The mass flow rate, measured at four chordwise positions, was compared with a standard axial turbine tip leakage model. The result revealed the need for a model suited to radial turbines. The hot-wire measurements also indicated a higher tip gap loss in the exducer of the radial turbine. This explains why the stage efficiency of a radial inflow turbine is more affected by increasing the radial clearance than by increasing the axial clearance.

Endwall Blockage in Axial Compressors

This paper presents a new methodology for quantifying compressor endwall blockage and an approach, using this quantification, for defining the links between design parameters, flow conditions, and the growth of blockage due to tip clearance flow. Numerical simulations, measurements in a low-speed compressor, and measurements in a wind tunnel designed to simulate a compressor clearance flow are used to assess the approach. The analysis thus developed allows predictions of endwall blockage associated with variations in tip clearance, blade stagger angle, inlet boundary layer thickness, loading level, loading profile, solidity, and clearance jet total pressure. The estimates provided by this simplified method capture the trends in blockage with changes in design parameters to within 10 percent. More importantly, however, the method provides physical insight into, and thus guidance for control of, the flow features and phenomena responsible for compressor endwall blockage generation.

Recommendations for Achieving Accurate Numerical Simulation of Tip Clearance Flows in Transonic Compressor Rotors

The tip clearance flows of transonic compressor rotors are important because they have a significant impact on rotor and stage performance. A wall-bounded shear layer formed by the relative motion between the overtip leakage flow and the shroud wall is found to have a major influence on the development of the tip clearance flow field. This shear layer, which has not been recognized by earlier investigators, impacts the stable operating range of the rotor. Simulation accuracy is dependent on the ability of the numerical code to resolve this layer. While numerical simulations of these flows are quite sophisticated, they are seldom verified through rigorous comparisons of numerical and measured data because these kinds of measurements are rare in the detail necessary to be useful in high-speed machines. In this paper we compare measured tip-clearance flow details (e.g., trajectory and radial extent) with corresponding data obtained from a numerical simulation. Laser-Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) measurements acquired in a transonic compressor rotor, NASA Rotor 35, are used. The tip clearance flow field of this transonic rotor is simulated using a Navier–Stokes turbomachinery solver that incorporates an advanced k–ε turbulence model derived for flows that are not in local equilibrium. A simple method is presented for determining when the wall-bounded shear layer is an important component of the tip clearance flow field. [S0889-504X(00)02504-6]

Viscous Throughflow Modeling of Axial Compressor Bladerows Using a Tangential Blade Force Hypothesis

This paper describes the modeling of axial compressor blade rows in an axisymmetric viscous throughflow method. The basic method, which has been reported previously, includes the effects of spanwise mixing, using a turbulent diffusion model, and endwall shear within the throughflow calculation. The blades are modeled using a combination of existing two-dimensional blade performance predictions for loss and deviation away from the annulus walls and a novel approach using tangential blade forces in the endwall regions. Relatively simple assumptions about the behavior of the tangential static pressure force imposed by the blades allow the secondary deviations produced by tip clearance flows and the boundary layer flows at fixed blade ends to be calculated in the axisymmetric model. Additional losses are assigned in these regions based on the calculated deviations. The resulting method gives realistic radial distributions of loss and deviation across the whole span at both design and off-design operating conditions, providing a quick method of estimating the magnitudes of these effects in the preliminary design process. Results from the method are compared to measured data in low and high-speed compressors and multistage three-dimensional viscous CFD predictions.

A Loosely Coupled Unsteady Flow Simulation of a Single Stage Compressor

A steady/unsteady, three-dimensional Navier- Stokes solver that utilizes a semi-implicit, pressure-based solution procedure is developed to simulate the three-dimensional, incompressible flow through a single stage compressor. The present numerical scheme features the implementation of a second-order plus fourth-order artificial dissipation formulation to prevent the numerical oscillation due to central differencing schemes. A low-Reynolds-number form of the two-equation turbulence model is used to account for the turbulence effects. For unsteady flow computations, the coupling between the mean flow properties and the turbulence is enhanced by an inner-iteration procedure during each time step. The steady flow field in the rotor passage is computed first. This is used as input for the computation of the unsteady flow in the subsequent stator. The predicted unsteady pressure on the stator blades and unsteady velocities at several locations inside the passage are compared with the experimental data. The unsteady pressures on the stator blade surfaces are in good agreement with the experimental data. The predicted unsteady velocity components at various locations inside the stator blade rows are generally smaller than the measured values in the endwall regions. The phase, angle variations of the unsteady velocity are in good agreement with the measured values. The effects of the rotor wake, secondary and tip clearance flows on the unsteady flow through the subsequent stator are studied. An attempt is also made to quantify the contributions of incoming tip leakage flows and the endwall boundary layers on the unsteady flow through the downstream stator. It was found that the endwall boundary layers and tip leakage flows have a much stronger influence on the unsteady flow development than the wake.

Application of a Multi-Block CFD Code to Investigate the Impact of Geometry Modeling on Centrifugal Compressor Flow Field Predictions

CFD codes capable of utilizing multi-block grids provide the capability to analyze the complete geometry of centrifugal compressors including, among others, multiple splitter rows, tip clearance, blunt trailing edges, fillets, and slots between moving and stationary surfaces. Attendant with this increased capability is potentially increased grid setup time and more computational overhead—CPU time and memory requirements—with the resultant increase in “wall clock” time to obtain a solution. If the increase in “difficulty” of obtaining a solution significantly improves the solution from that obtained by modeling the features of the tip clearance flow or the typical bluntness of a centrifugal compressor’s trailing edge, then the additional burden is worthwhile. However, if the additional information obtained is of marginal use, then modeling of certain features of the geometry may provide reasonable solutions for designers to make comparative choices when pursuing a new design. In this spirit a sequence of grids were generated to study the relative importance of modeling versus detailed gridding of the tip gap and blunt trailing edge regions of the NASA large low-speed centrifugal compressor for which there is considerable detailed internal laser anemometry data available for comparison. The results indicate: (1) There is no significant difference in predicted tip clearance mass flow rate whether the tip gap is gridded or modeled. (2) Gridding rather than modeling the trailing edge results in better predictions of some flow details downstream of the impeller, but otherwise appears to offer no great benefits. (3) The pitchwise variation of absolute flow angle decreases rapidly up to 8 percent impeller radius ratio and much more slowly thereafter. Although some improvements in prediction of flow field details are realized as a result of analyzing the actual geometry there is no clear consensus that any of the grids investigated produced superior results in every case when compared to the measurements. However, if a multi-block code is available, it should be used, as it has the propensity for enabling better predictions than a single block code, which requires modeling of certain geometry features. If a single block code must be used, some guidance is offered for modeling those geometry features that cannot be directly gridded.

Numerical simulation of turbulent cascade flows involving high turning angles

Numerical simulations of three dimensional turbulent incompressible flows through linear cascades of turbine rotor blades with high turning angles have been performed using a generalized k−ɛ model which is a high Reynolds number form and derived by RNG (renormalized group) method to account for the variation of the rate of strain. The convective terms are approximated by using a second order upwind scheme to suppress numerical diffusion. Boundary-fitted coordinates are adopted to represent the complex cascade geometry accurately. For the case without tip clearance, secondary flows and flow losses are shown to be in good agreement with previous experimental results. For the case with tip clearance, the effects of the passage vortex and tip clearance flow on the total pressure loss as well as their interactions are discussed. The flow within the tip clearance has been analyzed to illustrate the existences of the tip clearance vortex and vena contracta.

Numerical simulation of tip clearance flows through linear turbine cascades

Three-dimensional turbulent incompressible flow through the tip clearance of a linear turbine rotor cascade with high turning angle has been analyzed numerically. As a preliminary study to predict the tip clearance loss realistically, a generalized k-.epsilon. model derived by RNG (renormalized group) method is used for the modeling of Reynolds stresses to account for the strain rate of turbulent flow. The effects of the tip clearance flow on the passage vortex, the total pressure loss are considered qualitatively. The existences of vena contract and tip clearance vortex have been confirmed and it has been shown that as the size of the tip clearance increases, the accumulated flow through the tip clearance and the total pressure loss downstream of the cascade increase.

Flow Measurements and Flow Analysis in the ExitRegion of a Radial Turbine

Three‐dimensional flow measurements using LDV system were obtained in the exit region of a radial inflow turbine at an off‐design operating condition. The measurements reveal a complex flow pattern near the tip region at the rotor exit due to the interaction of the tip clearance flow. The effect of the rotor on the exit flow field is observed in the proximity of the rotor exit. Steady axisymmetric, compressible, turbulent flow computations with a two equation turbulence model were performed using the PARC code for the meridional flow in the radial turbine exit region. The computational results obtained in the meridional plane are compared with the experimental results, which are correlated to the rotor blade rotation in the exit region of the radial turbine.A version of this paper was presented at the 30th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, Paper no. AIAA‐94‐3075.

Three-dimensional flow field measurements using LDV in the exit region of a radial inflow turbine

Detailed flow investigation in the downstream region of a radial inflow turbine was performed using a three component Laser Doppler Velocimeter. The flow velocities are measured in the exit region of the turbine at an off-design operating condition. The measured parameters are correlated to the rotor blade rotation to observe any periodic nature of the flow. The measurements reveal a complex flow pattern near the tip region at the rotor exit due to the interaction of the tip clearance flow. The effect of the rotor on the exit flow field is observed in the proximity of the rotor exit.

The Effect of Tip Clearance on a Swept Transonic Compressor Rotor

An experimental and numerical investigation of detailed tip clearance flow structures and their effects on the aerodynamic performance of a modern low-aspect-ratio, high-throughflow, axial transonic fan is presented. Rotor flow fields were investigated at two clearance levels experimentally, at tip clearance to tip blade chord ratios of 0.27 and 1.87 percent, and at four clearance levels numerically, at ratios of zero, 0.27, 1.0, and 1.87 percent. The numerical method seems to calculate the rotor aerodynamics well, with some disagreement in loss calculation, which might be improved with improved turbulence modeling and a further refined grid. Both the experimental and the numerical results indicate that the performance of this class of rotors is dominated by the tip clearance flows. Rotor efficiency drops six points when the tip clearance is increased from 0.27 to 1.87 percent, and flow range decreases about 30 percent. No optimum clearance size for the present rotor was indicated. Most of the efficiency change occurs near the tip section, with the interaction between the tip clearance flow and the passage shock becoming much stronger when the tip clearance is increased. In all cases, the shock structure was three dimensional and swept, with the shock becoming normal to the endwall near the shroud.

Experimental and Computational Investigation of the Tip Clearance Flow in a Transonic Axial Compressor Rotor

Experimental and computational techniques are used to investigate tip clearance flows in a transonic axial compressor rotor at design and part-speed conditions. Laser anemometer data acquired in the endwall region are presented for operating conditions near peak efficiency and near stall at 100 percent design speed and at near peak efficiency at 60 percent design speed. The role of the passage shock/leakage vortex interaction in generating endwall blockage is discussed. As a result of the shock/vortex interaction at design speed, the radial influence of the tip clearance flow extends to 20 times the physical tip clearance height. At part speed, in the absence of the shock, the radial extent is only five times the tip clearance height. Both measurements and analysis indicate that under part-speed operating conditions a second vortex, which does not originate from the tip leakage flow, forms in the end-wall region within the blade passage and exits the passage near midpitch. Mixing of the leakage vortex with the primary flow downstream of the rotor at both design and part-speed conditions is also discussed.