Clocking Effect in a Two-Stage Compressor with Different Inter-Blade-Row Gaps

A multi-stage axial compressor has inherently unsteady flow fields because of the following main reasons: (1) relative positions between rotor and stator airfoil; (2) the buildup of converted wakes lead to complex wake/wake and wake/airfoil interactions. The distributions of the potential flows and wakes in the flow passage are depended on the relative positions of blade rows in axial and circumference direction, so variations in the relative axial positions (axial gap) and circumferential positions (clocking effect) of stators or rotors can change these distributions, leading to different compressor efficiency. The current study presents the experimental/numerical result of a low-speed axial compressor, considering the combined effects of stator clocking and variation of axial gaps. Testing was conducted in Two-Stage Axial Compressor Facility in Harbin Institute of Technology. In the test, time averaged data were collected. The results of experimental and time accurate flow calculation for 2 axial gaps, 8 clocking positions for each gap are compared. It is shown that clocking determines the degree of interaction of a stator with the wake of another upstream stator for different gaps between the blade rows.     

Pressure measurement on casing wall and blade rows interaction of contra-rotating axial flow pump

An application of contra-rotating rotors has been proposed against a demand for developing higher specific speed axial flow pump. The blade rows interaction between front and rear rotors should be clarified for its stable operation and reduction of unsteady losses. In this paper, the static pressure distributions on casing wall are provided by measuring with the phase locked sampling method. The measurements are carried out for two types of the rear rotors with different blade number and chord length, and it is found that, for both types of rotors, the unsteady pressure fluctuations are more remarkable in the front rotor than in the rear rotor and they are caused by the rear rotor pressure field. The effects of pressure fluctuations will be discussed in more details toward understanding the blade rows interaction in the contra-rotating axial flow pump.     

Investigation on centrifugal impeller in an axial-radial combined compressor with inlet distortion

Assembling an axial rotor and a stator at centrifugal compressor upstream to build an axial-radial combined compressor could achieve high pressure ratio and efficiency by appropriate size augment.Then upstream potential flow and wake effect appear at centrifugal impeller inlet.In this paper,the axial-radial compressor is unsteadily simulated by three-dimensional Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations with uniform and circumferential distorted total pressure inlet condition to investigate upstream effect on radial rotor.The results show that spanwise nonuniform total pressure distribution is generated and radial and circumferential combined distortion is formed at centrifugal rotor inlet.The upstream stator wake deflects to rotor rotation direction and decreases with blade span increases.Circumferential distortion causes different separated flow formations at different pitch positions.The tip leakage vortex is suppressed in centrifugal blade passages.Under distorted inlet condition,flow direction of centrifugal impeller leading edge upstream varies evidently near hub and shroud but varies slightly at mid-span.In addition,compressor stage inlet distortion produces remarkable effect on blade loading of centrifugal blade both along chordwise and pitchwise.     

Experimental analysis of flow structure in contra-rotating axial flow pump designed with different rotational speed concept

As a high specific speed pump, the contra-rotating axial flow pump distinguishes itself in a rear rotor rotating in the opposite direction of the front rotor, which remarkably contributes to the energy conversion, the reduction of the pump size, better hydraulic and cavitation performances. However, with two rotors rotating reversely, the significant interaction between blade rows was observed in our prototype contra-rotating rotors, which highly affected the pump performance compared with the conventional axial flow pumps. Consequently, a new type of rear rotor was designed by the rotational speed optimization methodology with some additional considerations, aiming at better cavitation performance, the reduction of blade rows interaction and the secondary flow suppression. The new rear rotor showed a satisfactory performance at the design flow rate but an unfavorable positive slope of the head-flow rate curve in the partial flow rate range less than 40% of the design flow rate, which should be avoided for the reliability of pump-pipe systems. In the present research, to understand the internal flow field of new rear rotor and its relation to the performances at the partial flow rates, the velocity distributions at the inlets and outlets of the rotors are firstly investigated. Then, the boundary layer flows on rotor surfaces, which clearly reflect the secondary flow inside the rotors, are analyzed through the limiting streamline observations using the multi-color oil-film method. Finally, the unsteady numerical simulations are carried out to understand the complicated internal flow structures in the rotors.     

Investigation of the Unsteady Disturbance in Tip Region of a Contra-Rotating Compressor near Stall

The present study investigated the spectrum characteristics of unsteady disturbance and the tip leakage vortex evolution during pre-stall process for a contra-rotating axial compressor(CRAC). Transient numerical simulation was carried out in a single passage of the CRAC. The original transient fluctuation and oscillation of the tip leakage vortex structure with varying flow capacity of the CRAC were revealed using circle-like pattern figure and phase-locked root mean square(PLRMS). Additionally, the tip leakage flow in terms of vortex structure evolution was visualized for the sake of revealing the flow mechanism during pre-stall process. Results show that the unsteady fluctuation first appears at φ=0.3622, and the fluctuation frequency is 2.86 BPF. Unsteady disturbance source is mainly located at the tip side of the downstream rotor leading edge. From the choking point to the near stall condition, tip leakage vortex is always found in the tip leading edge of the upstream rotor. In addition, the tip leakage vortex of upstream rotor remains in the same place over time, i.e., no fluctuation, even when the downstream rotor entered into stall state. Such a phenomenon indicates that the stall point of the contra-rotating compressor is determined by the downstream rotor. Moreover, the maximum fluctuation position is mainly concentrated on the interface between the mainstream and the tip leakage vortex of the downstream rotor. By throttling the compressor, the angle between the main leakage vortex and the circumferential direction decreases gradually. When the main leakage vortex touches and continuously impacts on the leading edge of the adjacent blade, the unsteady disturbance, which is different from that of BPF, appears firstly.     

Effects of Width Variation of Pressure-Side Winglet on Tip Flow Structure in a Transonic Rotor

Tip leakage flow has become one of the major triggers for rotating stall in tip region of high loading transonic compressor rotors.Comparing with active flow control method,it’s wise to use blade tip modification to enlarge the stable operating range of rotor.Therefore,three pressure-side winglets with the maximum width of 2.0,2.5 and 3.0 times of the baseline rotor,are designed and surrounded the blade tip of NASA rotor 37,and the three new rotors are named as RPW1,RPW2,and RPW3 respectively.The numerical results show that the width of pressure-side winglet has significant influence on the stall margin and the minimum throttling massflow of rotor,while it produces less effect on the choking massflow and the peak efficiency of new rotors.As the width of the pressure-side winglet increases from new rotor RPW1 to RPW3,the strength of leakage massflow has been attenuated dramatically and a reduction of 20%in leakage massflow rate has appeared in the new rotor RPW3.By contrast,the extended blade tip caused by winglet has not introduced much more aerodynamic losses in tip region of rotor,and the new rotors with different width of pressure-side winglet have the similar peak efficiency to the baseline.The new shape of the leakage channel over blade tip which replaces of the static pressure difference near blade tip has dominated the behavior of the leakage flow in tip gap.As both the new aerodynamic boundary and throat in tip gap have reshaped by the low-velocity flow near the solid wall of extended blade tip,the discharging velocity and massflow rate of leakage flow have been suppressed obviously in new rotors.In addition,the increasing inlet axial velocity at the entrance of new rotor has increased slightly as well,which is attributed to the less blockage in the tip region of new rotor.In consideration of the increased inlet axial velocity and the weakened leakage flow,the new rotor presents an appropriately linear increase of the stall margin when the width of pressure-side winglet increases,and has a nearly 15%increase in new rotor RPW3.     

Control of LP Turbine Rotor Blade Underloading Using Stator Blade Compound Lean at Root

IntroductionLP turbines operate over some range of flow regimeson both sides of the nominal operating conditions. Acharacteristic feature of LP tUrbines are strong radial gradients of pressure, Mach number and flow angle, especially downstream of the stator, Where these gradientsdetechne inlet now conditions for the moving bladerow. The changing swirl velocity and swirl angle spanwise require considerable twist of the rotor blades. Forlow loads, low pressures at the inlet to the rotor at th…     

Numerical simulation of clocking effect on blade unsteady aerodynamic force in axial turbine

To give an insight into the clocking effect and its influence on the wake transportation and its interaction, the unsteady three-dimensional flow through a 1.5-stage axial low pressure turbine is simulated numerically by using a density-correction based, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations commercial CFD code. The 2nd stator clocking is applied over ten equal tangential positions. The results show that the harmonic blade number ratio is an important factor affecting the clocking effect. The clocking effect has very small influence on the turbine efficiency in this investigation. The difference between the maximum and minimum efficiency is about 0.1%. The maximum efficiency can be achieved when the 1st stator wake enters the 2nd stator passage near blade suction surface and its adjacent wake passes through the 2nd stator passage close to blade pressure surface. The minimum efficiency appears if the 1st stator wake impinges upon the leading edge of the 2nd stator and its adjacent wake of the 1st stator passes through the mid-channel in the 2nd stator. The wake convective transportation and the blade circulation variation due to its impingement on the subsequent blade are the main mechanism affecting the pressure variation in blade surface.     

Performance test and flow measurement of contra-rotating axial flow pump

An application of contra-rotating rotors has been proposed against a demand for developing higher specificspeed axial flow pump.In the present paper,the advantage and disadvantage of using contra-rotating rotorsare described in comparison with conventional type of rotor-stator,based on theoretical and experimentalinvestigations.The advantages are as follows:(1)The pump is inherently designed as smaller sized and atlower rotational speed.(2)A stable head-characteristic curve for flow rate with negative slope appears.(3)As the rear rotor rotational speed is varied as independent control of front rotor,the wider range of highperformance operation is obtained by rear rotor speed control in addition to front rotor speed control.Thedisadvantages are as follows:(1)The structure of double shaft system becomes complex.(2)The pumpperformance is inferior at over flow rate as the rear rotor loading is weakened.(3)The blade rows interac-tion from rear rotor to front rotor more strongly appears.Then the rear rotor design is a key to achievehigher pump performance.Some methods to overcome these disadvantages will be discussed in more detailstoward wider usage of contra-rotating axial flow pump in various industrial fields.     

Numerical investigations on the steady and unsteady leakage flow and heat transfer characteristics of rotor blade squealer tip

The steady and unsteady leakage flow and heat transfer characteristics of the rotor blade squealer tip were conducted by solving Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) equations with k-ω turbulence model.The first stage of GE-E3 engine with squealer tip in the rotor was adopted to perform this work.The tip clearance was set to be 1% of the rotor blade height and the groove depth was specified as 2% of the span.The results showed that there were two vortexes in the tip gap which determined the local heat transfer characteristics.In the steady flow field,the high heat transfer coefficient existed at several positions.In the unsteady case,the flow field in the squealer tip was mainly influenced by the upstream wake and the interaction of the blades potential fields.These unsteady effects induced the periodic variation of the leakage flow and the vortexes,which resulted in the fluctuation of the heat transfer coefficient.The largest fluctuation of the heat transfer coefficient on the surface of the groove bottom exceeded 16% of the averaged value on the surface of the squealer tip.     

一级半轴流式透平级内部若干非定常流动现象的试验研究

设计研制了具有亚音速透平高压级气动特性的一级半轴流式试验透平,采用试验方法对时序效应、叶栅壁面非定常静压幅频特性以及动叶出口非定常速度场进行了研究。结果表明:时序效应具有改善轴流式透平气动性能的潜力;动、静叶排压力有势场干涉引发的基频信号和上游静叶尾迹片段引发的两阶倍频信号,构成了第二列静叶壁面静压非定常分量的基本频率特征,其间还伴随高达六阶的倍频信号,主要由动叶尾缘高频脱落的涡街扰动产生;尚未完成掺混的第一列静叶尾迹片段出现在动叶出口,由其引发的负射流显著改变了动叶出口局部位置处的气流偏转角。     

小流量工况汽轮机末级流动不稳定数值研究

针对汽轮机低压末级在小负荷工况下出现的流动不稳定现象,进行了非定常数值模拟研究和分析。对末三级叶片耦合排气缸进行建模,其中末级采用整圈形式,对17%设计质量流量工况进行非定常计算,小流量工况下汽轮机末级表现出类似于压气机旋转失速的现象,对流场监控数据进行周向模态分解及相关分析,确定了扰动的数目为30个,其周向传播速度约为转子转速的56%。最后,结合内部流动特征对非稳定现象的形成机理进行了探讨,小流量下由于径向流动阻塞了通道,并在叶顶间隙射流的作用下形成了通道内的周期性高压区,而前缘溢流和叶顶间隙射流耦合作用促成了叶顶进口附近周期性低压区的形成。     

Circumferential propagation of tip leakage flow unsteadiness for a low-speed axial compressor

Full-annulus three-dimensional unsteady numerical simulations were conducted for a low-speed isolated axial compressor rotor, intending to identify the behavior of self-induced unsteady tip leakage flow within multi-blade passages. There is a critical mass flow rate near stall point, below it, the self-induced unsteadiness of tip leakage flow can propagate circumferentially and thus initiates two circumferential waves. Otherwise, the self-induced unsteady tip leakage flow oscillates synchronously in each single blade passage. The major findings are: 1) while the self-induced unsteadiness of tip leakage flow is a single-passage phenomenon, there exist phase shifts among blade passages in multi-passage environments then evolving into the first short length wave propagating at about two times of rotor rotation speed after the transient period ends; and 2) the time traces of the pseudo sensors located on the rotor blade tips reveal another much longer length-scale wave modulated with the first wave due to phase shift propagating at about half of rotor rotation speed. Features of the short and long length-scale circumferential waves are similar to those of rotating instability and modal wave, respectively.     

多级压气机动叶不同CLOCKING位置下尾迹/附面层干扰分析

采用harmonic非定常计算方法模拟了某型燃气轮机中间三级轴流压气机流场,研究第二级动叶处于不同CLOCKING位置下尾迹输运机理,指出在非定常条件下,叶片排之间干扰主要来自于尾迹和势流对叶片排的交替作用。在CLK0位置,上游尾迹的输运主要表现为单个尾迹向下游的传播过程。在CLK2位置,上游动、静叶片尾迹掺混发生显著不同,上游尾迹的输运呈现多个尾迹的传播过程,进而导致下游叶片非定常气动负荷的波动幅值出现显著差异。     

Experimental analysis of the aerodynamic performance of an innovative low pressure turbine rotor

In the present work the aerodynamic performances of an innovative rotor blade row have been experimentally investigated. Measurements have been carried out in a large scale low speed single stage cold flow facility at a Reynolds number typical of aeroengine cruise, under nominal and off-design conditions. The time-mean blade aerodynamic loadings have been measured at three radial positions along the blade height through a pressure transducer installed inside the hollow shaft, by delivering the signal to the stationary frame with a slip ring. The time mean aerodynamic flow fields upstream and downstream of the rotor have been measured by means of a five-hole probe to investigate the losses associated with the rotor. The investigations in the single stage research turbine allow the reproduction of both wake-boundary layer interaction as well as vortex-vortex interaction. The detail of the present results clearly highlights the strong dissipative effects induced by the blade tip vortex and by the momentum defect as well as the turbulence production, which is generated during the migration of the stator wake in the rotor passage. Phase-locked hot-wire investigations have been also performed to analyze the time-varying flow during the wake passing period. In particular the interaction between stator and rotor structures has been investigated also under off-design conditions to further explain the mechanisms contributing to the loss generation for the different conditions.     

Numerical analysis of 3-D unsteady flow in a vaneless counter-rotating turbine

To reveal the unsteady flow characteristics of a vaneless counter-rotating turbine (VCRT), a three-dimensional, viscous, unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed. The results show that unsteady simulation is superior to steady simulation because more flow characteristics can be obtained. The unsteady effects in upstream airfoil rows are weaker than those in downstream airfoil rows in the VCRT. The static pressure distribution along the span in the pressure surface of a high pressure turbine stator is more uniform than that in the suction surface. The static pressure distributions along the span in the pressure surfaces and the suction surfaces of a high pressure turbine rotor and a low pressure turbine rotor are all uneven. The numerical results also indicate that the load of a high pressure turbine rotor will increase with the increase of the span. The deviation is very big between the direction of air flow at the outlet of a high pressure turbine rotor and the axial direction. A similar result can also be obtained in the outlet of a low pressure turbine rotor. This means that the specific work of a high pressure turbine rotor and a low pressure turbine rotor is big enough to reach the design objectives. Translated from Journal of Engineering Thermophysics, 2006, 27(1): 35–38 [译自: 工程热物理学报]