Francesco Soranna

The Effect of Inlet Guide Vanes Wake Impingement on the Flow Structure and Turbulence Around a Rotor Blade

The flow structure and turbulence around the leading and trailing edges of a rotor blade operating downstream of a row of inlet guide vanes (IGV) are investigated experimentally. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed in a refractive index matched facility that provides unobstructed view of the entire flow field. Data obtained at several rotor blade phases focus on modification to the flow structure and turbulence in the IGV wake as it propagates along the blade. The phase-averaged velocity distributions demonstrate that wake impingement significantly modifies the wall-parallel velocity component and its gradients along the blade. Due to spatially non-uniform velocity distribution, especially on the suction side, the wake deforms while propagating along the blade, expanding near the leading edge and shrinking near the trailing edge. While being exposed to the nonuniform strain field within the rotor passage, the turbulence within the IGV wake becomes spatially nonuniform and highly anisotropic. Several mechanisms, which are consistent with rapid distortion theory (RDT) and distribution of turbulence production rate, contribute to the observed trends. For example, streamwise (in rotor frame reference) diffusion in the aft part of the rotor passage enhances the streamwise fluctuations. Compression also enhances the turbulence production very near the leading edge. However, along the suction side, rapid changes to the direction of compression and extension cause negative production. The so-called wall blockage effect reduces the wall-normal component.

The Effects of Inlet Guide Vane-Wake Impingement on the Boundary Layer and the Near-Wake of a Rotor Blade

This paper examines the response of a rotor blade boundary layer and a rotor near-wake to an impinging wake of an inlet guide vane (IGV) located upstream of the rotor blade. Two-dimensional particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed in a refractive index matched turbomachinery facility that provides unobstructed view of the entire flow field. Data obtained at several rotor phases enable us to examine the IGV-wake-induced changes to the structure of the boundary layer and how these changes affect the flow and turbulence within the rotor near-wake. We focus on the suction surface boundary layer, near the blade trailing edge, but analyze the evolution of both the pressure and suction sides of the near-wake. During the IGV-wake impingement, the boundary layer becomes significantly thinner, with lower momentum thickness and more stable profile compared with other phases at the same location. Analysis of available terms in the integral momentum equation indicates that the phase-averaged unsteady term is the main contributor to the decrease in momentum thickness within the impinging wake. Thinning of the boundary/shear layer extends into the rotor near-wake, making it narrower and increasing the phase-averaged shear velocity gradients and associated turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) production rate. Consequently, the TKE increases during wake thinning, with as much as 75% phase-dependent variations in its peak magnitude. This paper introduces a new way of looking at the PIV data by defining a wake-oriented coordinate system, which enables to study the structure of turbulence around the trailing edge in great detail.

Rotor Boundary Layer Response to an Impinging Wake

This paper presents results of an experimental investigation on the response of a rotor boundary layer to an impinging Inlet Guide Vane (IGV) wake. High resolution two-dimensional Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements are conducted in a refractive index matched facility that provides an unobstructed view of the entire flow field. Data obtained at four different rotor phases, as the wake is chopped and passes by the rotor blade, allows us to examine the response of the rotor boundary layer to the mean flow and turbulence associated with the impinging wake. We focus on the suction side boundary layer in regions with adverse pressure gradients, from mid chord to the trailing edge. The phase-averaged velocity profiles are used for calculating the momentum and displacement thicknesses of the boundary layer, and for estimating the pressure gradients along the wall. Distributions of Reynolds stresses are also provided. The phase-averaged velocity profiles in the rotor boundary layer vary significantly with phase. During wake impingement the boundary layer becomes significantly thinner and more stable compared to other phases at the same location. Analysis of the possible causes for this trend suggests that the dominant contributors are unsteady, phase-dependent variation in pressure gradients along the wall.Copyright

Cavitation in the Tip Region of the Rotor Blades Within a Waterjet Pump

Recent upgrades to the turbomachinery facility at JHU enable measurements of performance, as well as flow structure, turbulence and cavitation within a water-jet pump. The rotor, stator and pump casing in this optically index-matched facility are made of acrylic that has the same optical index of refraction as the working fluid, a concentrated solution of NaI in water. The essentially “invisible” blades allow unobstructed view and access to optical flow measurement techniques. Initial tests in water focus on observations on occurrence of cavitation in the vicinity of the narrow tip-gap. For the present design and operating conditions, near the leading edge, cavitation in the tip corner of the pressure side causes accumulation of bubbles along the pressure side that extends to mid blade. As rollup of a tip vortex starts, these bubbles cross the tip gap to the suction side, and become primary nuclei for cavitation inception within the tip leakage vortex (TLV). Bursting of this tip vortex as it migrates towards the pressure side of the neighboring blade generates a cloud of bubbles along the aft section of the passage. As the flow in the tip gap increases upstream of the trailing edge, cavitation also develops within the gap, along the pressure side corner.Copyright

The Effect of IGV Wake Impingement on the Flow Structure and Turbulence Around a Rotor Blade

The flow structure and turbulence around the leading and trailing edges of a rotor blade operating downstream of a row of Inlet Guide Vanes (IGV) are investigated experimentally. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed in a refractive index matched facility that provides unobstructed view of the entire flow field. Data obtained at several rotor blade phases focus on modification to the flow structure and turbulence in the IGV wake as it propagates along the blade. The phase-averaged velocity distributions demonstrate that wake impingement significantly modifies the wall-parallel velocity component and its gradients along the blade. Due to spatially non-uniform velocity distribution, especially on the suction side, the wake deforms while propagating along the blade, expanding near the leading edge and shrinking near the trailing edge. While being exposed to the non-uniform strain field within the rotor passage, the turbulence within the IGV wake becomes spatially non-uniform and highly anisotropic. Several mechanisms, which are consistent with rapid distortion theory (RDT) and distribution of turbulence production rate, contribute to the observed trends. For example, streamwise (in rotor frame reference) diffusion in the aft part of the rotor passage enhances the streamwise fluctuations. Compression also enhances the turbulence production very near the leading edge. However, along the suction side, rapid changes to the direction of compression and extension cause negative production. The so-called wall blockage effect reduces the wall-normal component.Copyright

The Effects of IGV Wake Impingement on the Boundary Layer and the Near-Wake of a Rotor Blade

This paper examines the response of a rotor blade boundary layer and a rotor near-wake to an impinging wake of an Inlet Guide Vane (IGV) located upstream of the rotor blade. Two-dimensional Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed in a refractive index matched turbomachinery facility that provides unobstructed view of the entire flow field. Data obtained at several rotor phases enables us to examine IGV-wake-induced changes to the structure of the boundary layer and how these changes affect the flow and turbulence within the rotor near-wake. We focus on the suction surface boundary layer, near the blade trailing edge, but analyze the evolution of both the pressure and suction sides of the near-wake. During IGV-wake impingement, the boundary layer becomes significantly thinner, with lower momentum thickness and more stable profile compared to other phases at the same location. Analysis of available terms in the integral momentum equation indicates that the phase-averaged unsteady term is the main contributor to the decrease in momentum thickness within the impinging wake. Thinning of the boundary/shear layer extends into the rotor near wake, making it narrower and increasing the phase averaged shear velocity gradients and associated turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) production rate. Consequently, the TKE increases during wake thinning, with as much as 75% phase-dependent variations in its peak magnitude. The paper introduces a new way of looking at PIV data by defining a wake oriented coordinate system which enables to study the structure of turbulence around the trailing edge in great detail.© 2008 ASME

Flow Structure and Turbulence in the Tip Region of a Turbomachine Rotor Blade

The flow structure and turbulence in the tip region of a rotor blade operating downstream of a row of Inlet Guide Vanes (IGVs) are investigated experimentally in a refractive index matched facility that provides unobstructed view of the entire flow field. Stereo-PIV measurements are performed in closely spaced radial planes near the blade tip in a region extending from (slightly upstream of) the blade trailing edge to about 40% of the chord downstream of it. The data enable calculations of all the components of the phase-averaged velocity and vorticity vectors, as well as the strain rate, Reynolds stress, and turbulent diffusion tensors. Each rotor blade is confined between two tip-leakage vortices, a right hand vortex (RHV), generated by the subject blade and propagating along its right hand side, and a left hand vortex (LHV), generated by the previous blade in the same row and propagating along the left hand side of the subject blade. In addition, a trailing edge vortex (TEV) lays underneath the LHV and is subject to intense shearing/deformation by the LHV. RHV-induced radial gradients of radial phase-averaged velocity cause negative turbulence production, P, along the RHV-axis, and formation of a region of low P in the gap between the RHV and the blade suction surface. Trends of turbulent kinetic energy k and P within the RHV do not agree due to the effects of advection by the phase-averaged flow. To the left of the blade, shearing of the TEV by the LHV enhances turbulence production in the region between the two vortices and the rotor wake. Trends of turbulent kinetic energy and its production rate are in good agreement and peaks of k and P occur at the same location. As the TEV migrates away from the LHV, shearing effects become weaker and the dominant contributors to production are terms containing vortex-induced radial gradients of axial and radial velocities. Turbulent diffusion is a minor contributor to the evolution of turbulent kinetic energy in the tip region. It is also shown that the tip-leakage flow/vortex deteriorates the rotor blade performance, causing a ∼66% increase in shaft power input (per unit mass flow-rate) in the tip region in comparison with midspan.Copyright

3D Measurements of the Mean Velocity and Turbulence Structure Within the Near Wake of a Rotor Blade

Stereoscopic PIV measurements examine the flow structure and turbulence within a rotor near wake located in a non-uniform field generated by a row of Inlet Guide Vanes (IGVs). The experiments are performed in a refractive index matched facility that provides unobstructed view of the entire flow field. The data are acquired at 10 closely spaced radial planes located near mid-span, which enable measurements of all the components of the mean strain rate and Reynolds stress tensors. Chopping and variations of advection speed of the upstream IGV wakes, as they pass along the rotor blade, create a non-uniform flow that shears the rotor wake. However, the phase averaged flow at mid span remains almost two-dimensional. Due to the overwhelming effects of the non-uniform strain field, the presently observed trends of the Reynolds stresses within the sheared wake differ from those measured in previous studies of curved wakes. The axial velocity fluctuations increase along the suction/outer side of the wake, while the other components decay. On the pressure/inner part of the wake the circumferential velocity fluctuations are higher. The shear stress has a complex distribution, but is also higher on the suction side. To explain these trends the stresses and production rates are examined in coordinate systems aligned with the principal strain directions. As expected, the production is high along the compressive directions and low, even negative, in the extensive directions. Accordingly, the compressed normal stress component increases along the wake, while the extended component decays. The in-plane shear stress component and its associated production remain very high in the principal coordinate system of the strain. Projecting the stresses back to the laboratory coordinate system explains the observed inhomogeneous anisotropic distribution of Reynolds stresses within the kinked wake.Copyright

Structure of Turbulence Within a Sheared Wake of a Rotor Blade

Stereoscopic PIV measurements examine the flow structure and turbulence within a rotor near wake located within a non-uniform field generated by a row of Inlet Guide Vanes (IGVs). The experiments are performed in a refractive index matched facility that provides unobstructed view of the entire flow field. The data are acquired at 10 closely spaced radial planes located near mid-span, enabling measurements of all the components of the phase averaged velocity and strain rate, as well as the Reynolds stress and the triple correlation tensors. The rotor wake is sheared and bent towards the pressure (inner) side by a non-uniform flow field generated by IGV wake segments that propagate along the suction and pressure sides of the rotor passage with different speeds. The axial velocity fluctuations increase along the suction/outer side of the wake, while the other components decay. On the pressure/inner part of the bent wake the circumferential velocity fluctuations are higher. The Reynolds shear stress has a complex distribution, but is higher on the suction side. The turbulent kinetic energy is also consistently higher on the outer (suction) side of the wake. This trend is fundamentally different from those observed in prior studies of curved wakes where turbulence is enhanced on the inner side of the wake due to the destabilizing effect of curvature. To explain the difference, we examine the contributors to turbulent kinetic energy production rate in a curvilinear coordinate system aligned with the wake-centerline. The contribution of streamwise curvature to the production rate of turbulent kinetic energy, although consistent with expected trends, is overwhelmed by effects of wake shearing. The primary contributor to turbulent kinetic energy production rate is the product of Reynolds shear stress with cross-stream gradients of streamwise (in a frame of reference relative to the rotor blade) velocity in the wake. The location of peak in turbulent kinetic energy is almost aligned with that of production rate. The turbulence diffusion term opposes the production rate peaks, but also has high values along the edge of the wake.Copyright

The Effect of IGV Wake Impingement on a Rotor Boundary Layer

This paper examines the response of a rotor boundary layer on a rotor blade to an impinging wake of an Inlet Guide Vane (IGV) located upstream of this blade. High resolution two-dimensional Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements are conducted in a refractive index matched facility that provides an unobstructed view of the entire flow field. Analysis of data obtained at several rotor phases enables us to examine the changes in the boundary layer structure as the rotor blade dissects the impinging wake. We focus on the suction side boundary layer near the trailing edge of the blade, in regions with adverse pressure gradients. The results show that during wake impingement the boundary layer becomes significantly thinner, and has a more stable profile compared to other phases at the same location. We measure the phase-averaged momentum and displacement thicknesses, and show that they indeed decrease in the regions impinged by the wake. In an attempt to explain this trend, we examine different terms in the integral momentum equation that can be determined from planar PIV data. The results show that the phase-averaged unsteady term is a primary contributor to the decrease in momentum thickness within the impinging wake, and that the terms involving Reynolds stresses are small. Curvature effects play a significant role in the analysis. The estimated Coriolis force is small but not negligible.