M. T. Schobeiri

GETRAN: A Generic, Modularly Structured Computer Code for Simulation of Dynamic Behavior of Aero- and Power Generation Gas Turbine Engines

The design concept, the theoretical background essential for the development of the modularly structured simulation code GETRAN, and several critical simulation cases are presented in this paper. The code being developed under contract with NASA Lewis Research Center is capable of simulating the nonlinear dynamic behavior of single- and multispool core engines, turbofan engines, and power generation gas turbine engines under adverse dynamic operating conditions. The modules implemented into GETRAN correspond to components of existing and new-generation aero- and stationary gas turbine engines with arbitrary configuration and arrangement. For precise simulation of turbine and compressor components, row-by-row diabatic and adiabatic calculation procedures are implemented that account for the specific turbine and compressor cascade, blade geometry, and characteristics. The nonlinear, dynamic behavior of the subject engine is calculated solving a number of systems of partial differential equations, which describe the unsteady behavior of each component individually. To identify each differential equation system unambiguously, special attention is paid to the addressing of each component. The code is capable of executing the simulation procedure at four levels, which increase with the degree of complexity of the system and dynamic event. As representative simulations, four different transient cases with single- and multispool thrust and power generation engines were simulated. These transient cases vary from throttling the exit nozzle area, operation with fuel schedule, rotor speed control, to rotating stall and surge.

Effect of Unsteady Wake Passing Frequency on Boundary Layer Transition, Experimental Investigation, and Wavelet Analysis

Detailed experimental and theoretical investigations were carried out to study the effect of unsteady wake passing frequency on the boundary layer transition along the concave surface of a curved plate wider a zero longitudinal pressure gradient. Periodic unsteady flow with different passing frequencies is generated utilizing an unsteady flow research facility with a rotating cascade of rods positioned upstream of the curved plate. Extensive unsteady boundary layer measurements are carried out. The data are analyzed using conventional and wavelet-based methods. Local time scales are defined as those of the most energetic fluctuations. and are calculated from wavelet transforms of the velocity signals. The dominant time scales are mapped as functions of the distance to the plate the downstream location, and the phase relative to the wake-passing. Furthermore, conditional sampling is applied laminar and turbulent time scales are calculated and the effects of wake passing frequency on these scales are shown

Film-Cooling Effectiveness on a Rotating Blade Platform

Film cooling effectiveness measurements under rotation were performed on the rotor blade platform using a pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. The present study examines, in particular, the film cooling effectiveness due to purging of coolant from the wheel-space cavity through the circumferential clearance gap provided between the stationary and rotating components of the turbine. The experimental investigation is carried out in a new three-stage turbine facility, recently designed and taken into operation at the Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory (TPFL) of Texas A&M University. This new turbine rotor has been used to facilitate coolant injection through this stator-rotor gap upstream of the first stage rotor blade. The gap was inclined at 25 deg to mainstream flow to allow the injected coolant to form a film along the passage platform. The effects of turbine rotating conditions on the blade platform film cooling effectiveness were investigated at three speeds of 2550 rpm, 2000 rpm, and 1500 rpm with corresponding incidence angles of 23.2 deg, 43.4 deg, and 54.8 deg, respectively. Four different coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios varying from 0.5% to 2.0% were tested at each rotational speed. Aerodynamic measurements were performed at the first stage stator exit using a radially traversed five-hole probe to quantify the mainstream flow at this station. Results indicate that film cooling effectiveness increases with an increase in the coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios for all turbine speeds. Higher turbine rotation speeds show more local film cooling effectiveness spread on the platform with increasing magnitudes.

On the Physics of Flow Separation Along a Low Pressure Turbine Blade Under Unsteady Flow Conditions

The present study, which is the first of a series of investigations dealing with specific issues of low pressure turbine (LPT) boundary layer aerodynamics, is aimed at providing detailed unsteady boundary flow information to understand the underlying physics of the inception, onset, and extent of the separation zone. A detailed experimental study on the behavior of the separation zone on the suction surface of a highly loaded LPT-blade under periodic unsteady wake flow is presented. Experimental investigations were performed at Texas A&M Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory using a large-scale unsteady turbine cascade research facility with an integrated wake generator and test section unit. To account for a high flow deflection of LPT-cascades at design and off-design operating points, the entire wake generator and test section unit including the traversing system is designed to allow a precise angle adjustment of the cascade relative to the incoming flow. This is done by a hydraulic platform, which simultaneously lifts and rotates the wake generator and test section unit. The unit is then attached to the tunnel exit nozzle with an angular accuracy of better than 0.05 , which is measured electronically. Utilizing a Reynolds number of 110,000 based on the blade suction surface length and the exit velocity, one steady and two different unsteady inlet flow conditions with the corresponding passing frequencies, wake velocities and turbulence intensities are investigated using hot-wire anemometry. In addition to the unsteady boundary layer measurements, blade surface pressure measurements were performed at Re=50,000, 75,000, 100,000, and 125,000 at one steady and two periodic unsteady inlet flow conditions. Detailed unsteady boundary layer measurement identifies the onset and extent of the separation zone as well as its behavior under unsteady wake flow. The results presented in ensemble-averaged and contour plot forms contribute to understanding the physics of the separation phenomenon under periodic unsteady wake flow. Several physical mechanisms are discussed.

Film-Cooling Effectiveness on a Rotating Turbine Platform Using Pressure Sensitive Paint Technique

Film-cooling effectiveness is measured on a rotating turbine blade platform for coolant injection through discrete holes using pressure sensitive paint technique. Most of the existing literatures provide information only for stationary endwalls. The effects of rotation on the platform film-cooling effectiveness are not well documented. Hence, the existing three-stage turbine research facility at the Turbomachinery and Flow Performance Laboratory, Texas A&M University was redesigned and installed to enable coolant gas injection on the first stage rotor platform. Two distinct coolant supply loops were incorporated into the rotor to facilitate separate feeds for upstream cooling using stator-rotor gap purge flow and downstream discrete-hole film cooling. As a continuation of the previously published work involving stator-rotor gap purge cooling, this study investigates film-cooling effectiveness on the first stage rotor platform due to coolant gas injection through nine discrete holes located downstream within the passage region. Film-cooling effectiveness is measured for turbine rotor frequencies of 2400 rpm, 2550 rpm, and 3000 rpm corresponding to rotation numbers of Ro=0.18, 0.19, and 0.23, respectively. For each of the turbine rotational frequencies, film-cooling effectiveness is determined for average film-hole blowing ratios of Mholes=0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5, and 2.0. To provide a complete picture of hub cooling under rotating conditions, simultaneous injection of coolant gas through upstream stator-rotor purge gap and downstream discrete film-hole is also studied. The combined tests are conducted for gap purge flow corresponding to coolant to mainstream mass flow ratio of MFR=1% with three downstream film-hole blowing ratios of Mholes=0.75, 1.0, and 1.25 for each of the three turbine speeds. The results for combined upstream stator-rotor gap purge flow and downstream discrete holes provide information about the optimum purge flow coolant mass, average coolant hole blowing ratios for each rotational speed, and coolant injection location along the passage to obtain efficient platform film cooling.

Film Cooling Effectiveness on the Leading Edge Region of a Rotating Turbine Blade With Two Rows of Film Cooling Holes Using Pressure Sensitive Paint

Detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions are measured on the leading edge of a rotating gas turbine blade with two rows (pressure-side row and suction-side row from the stagnation line) of holes aligned to the radial axis using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Film cooling effectiveness distributions are obtained by comparing the difference of the measured oxygen concentration distributions with air and nitrogen as film cooling gas respectively and by applying the mass transfer analogy. Measurements are conducted on the first-stage rotor blade of a three-stage axial turbine at 2400 rpm (positive off-design), 2550 rpm (design), and 3000 rpm (negative off-design), respectively. The effect of three blowing ratios is also studied. The blade Reynolds number based on the axial chord length and the exit velocity is 200,000 and the total to exit pressure ratio was 1.12 for the first-stage rotor blade. The corresponding rotor blade inlet and outlet Mach numbers are 0.1 and 0.3, respectively. The film cooling effectiveness distributions are presented along with discussions on the influence of rotational speed (off design incidence angle), blowing ratio, and upstream nozzle wakes around the leading edge region. Results show that rotation has a significant impact on the leading edge film cooling distributions with the average film cooling effectiveness in the leading edge region decreasing with an increase in the rotational speed (negative incidence angle).

Development of Two-Dimensional Wakes Within Curved Channels: Theoretical Framework and Experimental Investigation

The development of a wake flow downstream of a cylindrical rod within a curved channel under zero streamwise pressure gradient is theoretically and experimentally investigated. The measured asymmetric wake quantities such as the mean velocity and turbulent fluctuations in longitudinal and lateral directions as well as the turbulent shear stress are transformed from the probe coordinate system into the curvilinear wake eigen-coordinate system. For the transformed non-dimensionalized velocity defect and the turbulent quantities, affine profiles are observed throughout the flow regime. Based on these observations and using the transformed equations of motion and continuity, a theoretical frame work is established that generally describes the two-dimensional curvilinear wake flow. The theory also describes the straight wake as a special case, for which the curvature radius approaches infinity. The comparison of the theory with the experimental data pertaining to the curvilinear and straight wakes demonstrate the general validity of the theory.

Film Cooling Effectiveness on the Leading Edge of a Rotating Film-Cooled Blade Using Pressure Sensitive Paint

Detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions were measured on the leading edge region of a rotating blade using a Pressure Sensitive Paint technique. The film cooling effectiveness information was obtained from the oxygen concentration difference between air and nitrogen or air and CO2 injection cases by applying the mass transfer analogy. The blowing ratio was controlled to be 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 while the density ratios of 1.0 and 1.5 were obtained using nitrogen and CO2 as coolant gases, respectively. Tests were conducted on the first stage rotor of a 3-stage axial turbine at 2400, 2550, and 3000 rpm. The Reynolds number based on the axial chord length and the exit velocity was 200,000 and the total to exit pressure ratio was 1.12 for the first rotor. The film cooling effectiveness distributions were presented along with the discussions on the influences of blowing ratio, density ratio, and vortices around the leading edge region at different rotational speeds.Copyright

Dynamic Simulation of a Wave Rotor Topped Turboshaft Engine

The dynamic behavior of a wave-rotor-topped turboshaft engine is examined using a numerical simulation. The simulation utilizes an explicit, one-dimensional, multipassage, computational e uid dynamics- (CFD-) based wave-rotor code in combination with an implicit, one-dimensional, component-level dynamic engine simulation code. Transient responses to rapid fuel e ow rate changes and compressor inlet pressurechanges aresimulated and compared with those of a similarly sized, untopped, turboshaft engine. Resultsindicate that the wave-rotor-topped engine responds in a stable and rapid manner. Furthermore, during certain transient operations, the wave rotor actually tends to enhance engine stability. In particular, there is no tendency toward surge in the compressor of thewave-rotor-topped engine during rapid acceleration. In fact, thecompressor actually movesslightly away from the surge line during this transient. This behavior is precisely the opposite to that of an untopped engine. The simulation is described. Issues associated with integrating CFD and component-level codes are discussed. Results from several transient simulations are presented and discussed.

A Comparative Aerodynamic and Performance Study of a Three-Stage High Pressure Turbine With 3-D Bowed Blades and Cylindrical Blades

To investigate the effect of the blade geometry on blade total pressure loss coefficient, efficiency, and performance, a comparative study is presented that deals with the aerodynamic and performance behavior of three-stage high pressure research turbine utilizing two different blade types. Keeping the initial conditions and the pressure ratio the same, two different rotors with the same hub and tip diameters are experimentally investigated. The first rotor incorporates 3-D convexly bowed blades, where as the second one utilizes a set of fully cylindrical blades. Using shrouded rotors and stators, the stator rings are correspondingly configured. The research turbine incorporates six rows beginning with a stator row. Interstage aerodynamic measurements are performed at design speeds at three stations, namely downstream of the first rotor row, the second stator row, and the second rotor row. For both rotors, the interstage radial and circumferential traversing present detailed flow pictures of the middle stage. Aerodynamic measurements were carried out at the turbine design speed. The experimental investigations have been carried out on a HP 3-stage gas turbine research facility at the Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory of Texas A&M University.Copyright