Guang Liu

Effects of axial length and integrated design on the aggressive intermediate turbine duct

With the increasing demand of high bypass ratio and thrust-to-weight ratio in civil aero-engine, the intermediate turbine duct between the high pressure and low pressure turbines of a modern gas turbine tends to shorter axial length, larger outlet-to-inlet area ratio and high pressure-to-low pressure radial offset. This paper experimentally and numerically investigated the three-dimensional flow characteristics of traditional (ITD1) and aggressive intermediate turbine duct (ITD2) at low Reynolds number. The baseline case of ITD1 is representative of a traditional intermediate turbine duct of aero-engine design with non-dimensional length of L/dR = 2.79 and middle angle of 20.12°. The detailed flow fields inside ITD1 and flow visualization were measured. Results showed the migration of boundary layer and a pair of counter-rotating vortexes were formed due to the radial migration of low momentum fluid. With the decreasing axial length of intermediate turbine duct, the radial and streamwise reverse pressure gradient in aggressive intermediate turbine duct (ITD2) were increased resulting in severe three-dimensional separation of boundary layer near casing surface and higher total pressure loss. The secondary flow and separation of boundary layer near the endwall were deeply analyzed to figure out the main source of high total pressure loss in the aggressive intermediate turbine duct (ITD2). Based on that, employing wide-chord guide vane to substitute “strut + guide vane”, this paper designed the super-aggressive intermediate turbine duct and realized the suppression of the three-dimensional separation and secondary flow.With the increasing demand of high bypass ratio and thrust-to-weight ratio in civil aero-engine, the intermediate turbine duct between the high pressure and low pressure turbines of a modern gas tu...

Numerical investigation of the effects of ITD length on low pressure nozzle

The advantage of high efficiency, low SFC (Specific Fuel Consumption), ultra-high bypass ratio turbofan engine attracts more and more attention in modern commercial engine. The intermediate turbine duct (ITD), which connects high pressure turbine (HPT) with low pressure turbine (LPT), has a critical impact on the overall performance of turbine by guiding flow coming from HPT to LPT without too much loss. Therefore, it becomes more and more urgent to master the technique of designing aggressive, even super-aggressive ITD.Much more concerns have been concentrated on the duct. However, in order to further improve turbine, LPT nozzle is arranged into ITD to shorten low pressure axle. With such design concept, it is obvious that LPT nozzle flow field is easily influenced by upstream duct structure, but receives much less interests on the contrary. In this paper, numerical method is used to investigate the effects of length of ITD with upstream swirl blades on LPT nozzle. Nine models with the same swirl and nozzle blades, while the length of ITD is the only parameter to be changed, will be discussed. Finally, several conclusions and advices for designers are summarized.After changing axial length of ducts, inlet and outlet flow field of nozzle differs, correspondingly. On the other hand, the shearing stress on nozzle blade (suction and pressure) surface presents individual feature under various inlet flow. In addition to that, “Clocking-like effect” is described in this paper, which will contribute much to the pressure loss and should be paid enough attention.