Cornelia Santner

Turning Mid Turbine Frame Behavior for Different HP Turbine Outflow Conditions

The design of turbine frames with turning vanes, known as turning mid-turbine frames (TMTF), becomes of great importance for high by-pass ratio engines with counter-rotating turbines. To achieve a more efficient low-pressure turbine the overall diffusion and radial offset should be increased. One goal of the EU project DREAM is to analyse the flow through a TMTF and a downstream arranged counter rotating LP rotor. The investigation of these complex interrelationships has been performed in the unique two-spool continuously operating transonic test turbine facility at Graz University of Technology. The test setup consists of an unshrouded HP stage, the TMTF and a shrouded LP rotor. The shafts of both turbines are mechanically independent, so the test rig allows a realistic two shaft turbine operation. The TMTF flow field is highly complex. It is a turbulent and unsteady flow dominated by strong secondary flows and vortex-interactions. The upstream transonic high pressure turbine stage produces a complex inflow with high levels of turbulence, stationary and rotating wakes and vortical structures. Therefore the application of advanced measurement techniques is necessary. To describe the HP-TMTF interaction time-resolved pressure measurements have applied within the project. The TMTF was instrumented with 10 fast response pressure transducers; static pressure tap recordings on the strut and on the TMTF end-walls have been also applied. Five hole probe, total pressure and total temperature rakes have been additionally acquired in the planes just in front of the struts and downstream to evaluate the performance of the TMTF. The results of these conventional techniques are presented in this work and they represent the necessary starting point for the evaluation and the description of the flow field. The idea is to start the study analysing the mean quantities and the overall performance of the two stages for different conditions and to leave the analysis of the time-resolved results for further investigation. Detailed investigations will start from the data presented in this paper; indeed, the use of unsteady measurement techniques is time consuming and cannot be performed for such a large amount of flow conditions, radial planes and HP vane - TMTF relative positions. Three operating conditions for different clocking positions have been considered. The variation of the operating conditions has been achieved by varying the HP shaft velocity and pressure ratio, with a consequence change of pressure ratio in the LP rotor. For this analysis the LP shaft velocity was kept constant. The TMTF performance variations will be analysed in terms of total pressure loss coefficient and exit flow angle; the mean interaction between the structures coming from the HP stage and the struts will represent the interpretation key to explain these variations. This work is part of the EU project DREAM (ValiDation of Radical Engine Architecture SysteMs, contract No. ACP7-GA-2008-211861).Copyright

Experimental Investigation of the Unsteady Flow Field Downstream of a Counter-Rotating Two-Spool Turbine Rig

The paper presents an experimental investigation of the unsteady flow field in the two-spool counter-rotating transonic turbine at Graz University of Technology. The test setup consists of a high pressure (HP) stage, a diffusing mid turbine frame with turning struts (TMTF) and a shrouded low pressure (LP) rotor. The two rotors are mounted on mechanically independent shafts in order to provide engine-representative operating conditions. The rig was designed in cooperation with MTU Aero Engines and Volvo Aero within the EU project DREAM (ValiDation of Radical Engine Architecture SysteMs).A two-sensor fast response aerodynamic pressure probe (2S-FRAP) has been employed to provide time-resolved aerodynamic area traverses downstream of the LP turbine. Such measurement allows estimating the total deterministic unsteadiness transported through the duct. In particular, it has been possible to isolate the structures induced by each rotor by means of the encoders mounted on the two shafts. A global ensemble averaged field, which takes into account the rotor-rotor interactions, is also provided. The time resolved distributions of the flow quantities are then discussed in details. The perturbations due to the HP rotor in terms of velocity and flow angle are negligible in this downstream plane. Indeed, the largest fluctuations of velocity are due to the TMTF-LP rotor interaction, they occur in the wake and secondary flows of the TMTF. Large fluctuations of static and total pressure are instead due to both rotors to the same extent.Copyright

On the Flow Evolution Through a LP Turbine With Wide-Chord Vanes in an S-Shaped Channel

The paper discusses the time averaged flow field in a test facility located at the Institute for Thermal Turbomachinery and Machine Dynamics (ITTM) of Graz University of Technology. The rig was designed in order to reproduce the flow leaving a transonic turbine through a following counter rotating low pressure stage. This configuration is common in modern multi-shaft jet engines and will become a standard in the future.The discussion on the flow field is based on numerical results obtained by a commercial CFD code and validated by aerodynamic measurements and oil flow visualization performed on the facility itself. The meridional flow path of the machine is characterized by a diffusing S-shaped duct between the two rotors. Within the duct turning struts lead the flow to the following rotor. The LP stage inlet condition is given by the outlet flow of the high pressure turbine whose spanwise distribution is strongly affected by the shape of the downstream S-channel. A special focus is concentrated on the generation and propagation of secondary flows in such a turning mid turbine frame (TMTF). The aim of the present work is to isolate the flow structures moving from the outlet of the transonic stage through the low pressure stage and identify their effect on the time-averaged flow.The main outcome of this paper is that, whenever a TMTF is placed between counter-rotating high pressure and low pressure turbines, the structures coming from the upstream rotor will not decay (like in a co-rotating setup), but they will be convected and transported towards the downstream rotor. Moreover, the turning of the struts will enhance the vorticities generated by the upstream turbine. The application of technical solutions such as embedded TMTF designs or endwall contouring should be aimed to reach LP rotor uniform inlet conditions, minimize the TMTF secondary flows and thus to damp the rotor-rotor interaction.© 2012 ASME

The Application of Low-Profile Vortex Generators in an Intermediate Turbine Diffuser

The demand of further increased bypass ratios for turbofan engines will lead to low pressure turbines with larger diameter and lower rotational speed in conventional high-bypass aero engine architectures. Due to that, it is necessary to guide the flow leaving the high pressure turbine to the low pressure turbine at a larger diameter without any severe loss generating separation or flow disturbances. To reduce costs and weight this turbine duct has to be as short as possible. This results in super-aggressive (very high diffusion) s-shaped geometries where the boundary layers are not able to withstand the strong adverse pressure gradient which results in flow separation. This paper describes the flow through a fully separated duct as a baseline configuration. In a next step the influence of passive flow control devices onto this separation has been investigated. Therefore, low-profile vortex generators were applied within the first bend of this s-shaped intermediate turbine diffuser in order to energize the boundary layer and further reduce or even suppress the occurring separation. This configuration was investigated downstream a transonic turbine stage. Measurements were performed by means of five-hole-probes, static wall pressure taps and oil flow visualization at the duct endwalls. For a better understanding of the flow behavior the vortex generators were also investigated in a two-dimensional rectangular s-shaped duct using the same Mach number level. Results showed that the vortex generators reduce the separation in the 2D-duct but have no distinct influence on the separation within the turbine duct due to wakes as well as strong secondary flow effects. This work is part of the European project AIDA (Contract: AST3-CT-2003-502836).Copyright