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Cis De Maesschalck
Sergio Lavagnoli
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SEE PROFILE
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Guillermo Paniagua
Purdue University
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SEE PROFILE
Turbomachinery and Propulsion Department, von Karman Institute, Chausse de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Gense, Belgium
Faculty of Applied Sciences, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Triomaan 43, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
h i g h l i g h t s
Publication on the thermal effects of tight gaps in rotating uid machinery.
Tight clearances (0.1% of the airfoil height) revealed novel reversed ow topology.
Heavily altered thermal eld due to increased importance of the viscous effects.
Identied optimal clearance height for suction side heat load.
Accurate prediction of the adiabatic efciency through isothermal simulations.
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 26 August 2013
Accepted 11 January 2014
Available online 23 January 2014
The inevitable clearance between stationary and rotating parts in any uid machinery gives rise to
leakage ows, which strongly affect the overall performance of the machine. In modern gas turbine
engines, the existing gap between the rotor airfoil tip and the shroud is responsible for about one third of
the total aerodynamic losses. Additionally, this leakage ow induces erce unsteady heat loads onto the
rotor casing and provokes signicant thermal stresses at the airfoil tip. One can attempt to curtail these
detrimental effects by running tight clearances; however, the meager number of publications on this
topic presents an obstacle to exploiting the design opportunities.
This paper presents the outcome of an extensive numerical investigation of a high pressure turbine
stage operating at engine-representative non-dimensional parameters (Reynolds and Mach number,
temperature ratios). RANS calculations were performed using the Numeca FINE/Turbo suite, adopting the
keu SST turbulence model to investigate the aerodynamic and heat transfer characteristics in the tip
region. Five clearances, ranging from 0.1% to 1.9% of the rotor channel height, were simulated at adiabatic
and isothermal (Ttotal,in/Tw 1.57) conditions. The detailed ow analysis revealed an unexpected aerodynamic ow topology at tight clearances (h/H < 0.5%), characterized by a reverse ow over a signicant
part of the tip gap region. The heat transfer on the airfoil tip, shroud and near-tip regions was examined
in detail, with emphasis on the different driving phenomena. This elaborate numerical study provides a
deeper insight into the complex aerothermal physics of leakage ows occurring for tight clearances in a
high-speed environment relevant to any uid machinery design and analysis.
2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Turbine aerothermodynamics
Tight clearances
Heat transfer
Tip leakage ows
Rotor gap
Transonic
1. Introduction
1359-4311/$ e see front matter 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.01.015
344
thermal loads onto the side surfaces [4]. The abatement of the
detrimental effects demands for enhanced sealing methods and
compels to run at tighter gap sizes without deteriorating the mechanical integrity and reliability of the machine.
In gas turbines, the pressure difference between both sides of
the rotor blade forces a portion of the ow to travel over the tip
through the clearance gap, giving rise to a leakage jet and a leakage
vortex. The cross ow inside the tip gap generates erce unsteady
heat loads onto the rotor casing and severe thermal stresses in the
blade tip; consequently, the aerothermal issues have been the
subject of many noteworthy experimental and numerical investigations in the past [5]. Several tip design approaches have
been proposed [6] to mitigate tip leakage effects at the behest of the
turbine durability [7] and aerothermal performance improvement.
Squealer tips adopting rims are proven to enhance the aerodynamic
performance [8] and reduce the average heat loads [9] compared to
a plain tip. To further increase the efciency, a winglet shaped tip
[10] can be considered as a suitable alternative. Due to the mechanical simplicity, robustness, ease of cooling and machinability,
tight running at tips are desirable solutions to turbine manufacturers. Bunker [11] presented an extensive review of the research,
mainly performed in low-speed environments, on the aerothermal
performance of the plain turbine tips in a high pressure environment. Subsonic tip gap ows are characterized by the formation of a
recirculation bubble followed by a ow reattachment onto the
blade tip. Creating thereafter a mixing zone up to the suction side of
the blade, this leakage ow is mainly dominated by the pressure
loading across the tip and the maximum channel ow contraction
over the bubble.
Current turbine designs tend to adopt higher stage loadings and
rotational speeds which result in a supersonic overtip leakage ow.
Oblique shock waves originate at the reattachment point and are
reected between the rotor tip and casing [12], setting an effective
limiter on the leakage mass ow [13]. Enhanced heat transfer levels
are observed at the reattachment line on the tip pressure side [14]
and on the rotor shroud, just above the pressure side edge of the
airfoil [15]. Zhang et al. [16] observed parallel lines of high heat
transfer due to the shock impingement. Additionally, an increase in
clearance height was found to give rise to increased leakage ow
Fig. 1. Turbine stage geometry and computational mesh: (a) meridional view and mesh at the mid-height meridional surface; (b) rotor shroud mesh; (c) rotor blade mesh, including
detail of the tip gap mesh.
Mesh parameters
0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 1.9%a
0.9%a
Rotor
No. of blades
42
64
Stator divisionsb
Inlet channel
50.7
51.97 Rotor divisionsb
height (H) [mm]
Aspect ratio (H/C)
0.704 1.053 No. of cells
a
b
61
80
33 (gap)
2.68 106
61
80
53 (gap)
3.1 106
% h/H.
In the radial direction.
ain
Based on aexit.
Isothermal, based on W and h.
2.93
1.57
0
5
6790
0.78
350e14,000
e
e
deg.
%
RPM
e
e
345
decreasing from left (h/H 1.9%) to right (h/H 0.1%). For the two
largest clearances (i.e. 0.9% and 1.9% of the blade span), the tip
leakage ow shows a conventional ow pattern with streamlines
crossing the blade tip region from pressure to suction side, driven
by the differential blade loading across the tip gap. For such
clearances, the ow angle across the gap can be predicted using the
correlation developed by Heyes and Hodson [23]. However, at
clearances lower than 0.9% a striking feature is observed: a part of
the ow enters the gap from the suction side and bends back to
leave the gap again at the suction side. For the two smallest
clearances, the ow direction over the front part of the blade prole
is fully reversed, even though the driving pressure gradient is still
directed in the opposite direction, from the pressure to the suction
side.
This novel ow behavior is induced by the effect of the casing
proximity which becomes signicant only at very tight clearances.
The uid near the casing has a quasi-zero velocity in the absolute
frame of reference due to the presence of the inlet velocity
boundary layer. In the rotating frame this corresponds to a relative
velocity nearly equal in magnitude to the rotor tips absolute peripheral velocity, but opposite in direction, i.e. from the blade
suction side to the pressure side. Fig. 3(a) shows the tangentially
(mass ow) averaged aerodynamic and thermal boundary layer
proles close to the casing endwall, 10% Cax,r upstream the rotor LE.
These proles were hardly affected by the gap size; the maximum
variation in temperature and velocity between the lowest and
highest clearance remains below 1% at the considered radial positions. Therefore, only the radial proles for the largest gap are
displayed in the gure. The ow exits the stator vane with a total
absolute velocity V to which corresponds a tangential component
Vt. As the ow approaches the rotating blade, the uid heading
towards the tip gap is subjected to a momentum component
generated by the relative movement of the casing endwall. The
casing applies a force on a uid element in the tip channel along the
peripheral direction and so proportional to the rotor speed. The
relative movement of the casing wall therefore acts in opposition to
the airfoil rotation which causes the uid to cross the overtip gap
from the pressure towards the suction side. The casing effect on the
clearance ow becomes more signicant as the tip gap gets tighter.
Additionally, Fig. 3(a) shows that at a clearance of about
h/H 0.55%, the absolute tangential velocity approaching the rotor
leading edge is balancing the peripheral velocity u. As the tip
clearance grows beyond that, the tangential velocity of the uid
entering the rotor gap becomes higher than the rotor peripheral
speed. Hence, the relative movement of the rotor casing is not
sufcient to counteract the effect of the blade loading which pushes
uid over the tip from the pressure side to the suction side. This
case describes the physics of tip leakage ows at relatively large
tip gaps, as commonly found in gas turbine engines and reported on
in scientic publications.
However, when the tangential ow momentum at the rotor tip
gap inlet and the blade tip peripheral speed are of comparable
magnitude (the ratio Vt/u is close to unity), parts of the overtip gap
ow cannot travel across the entire airfoil thickness. Hence, the
uid enters the gap suction side, moves along the channel and exits
again at the airfoil suction side further downstream. This scenario
has been observed for the investigated tip clearances smaller than
0.5% of the channel height, as shown in Fig. 2. This ow pattern is
particularly evident near the leading edge of the rotor blade, where
the pressure differential between the pressure and the suction side
is weak.
As the clearance is reduced further below 0.2%, the uid above
almost the whole blade tip surface undergoes fully reversed ow
(Vt/u < 1). An explanatory sketch representing the three distinct
overtip ow topologies is provided by Fig. 3(b). The momentum
346
Fig. 2. Representation of the streamlines entering the tip region in the middle of the gap and static pressure distribution on the tip surface.
per unit time and mass along a streamline. In Equation (1), let us
consider as reference the stationary frame. The rst term in the
right-hand side, vQi/vxi, expresses the inuence of the heat transfer.
The second one, v(sijvi)/vxj, concerns the viscous effects, and the
third part, vPs/vt, represents the impact of the static pressure.
Indeed, the stagnation enthalpy of an isentropic uid is modulated
by the temporal variation of the static pressure. In this case, a xed
point in the stationary frame, e.g. on the casing, will rst sense the
pressure eld from the rotor tip SS and then from the PS. One can
get an estimation of the contribution of the pressure term to the
stagnation enthalpy by monitoring the temporal pressure variation
(in the xed frame of reference) at the different locations along a
streamline, or similarly, on the absolute total temperature (generally negative in the blade passage indicating the turbine work
extraction, but positive in the tip region). It is exactly this inherent
unsteadiness of the pressure eld which is at the base of the work
extraction in rotating uid machinery [17].
Dhtotal
1 vQi 1 v sij vi
1 vPs
r vxi r vxj
r vt
Dt
(1)
The second term in the right-hand-side of Equation (1) represents the viscous work done on or by the uid. In the casing frame
of reference, the shroud cannot perform any work. By contrast, near
the blade, the tip movement contributes to the work process. Previous investigations did not elaborate on this term, arguing that
since the tip moves with a velocity less than the uid, the inuence
on the total temperature would be negative. However, in modern
turbines operating at high peripheral speeds and tight clearances,
the effect of the moving wall may represent a signicant contribution to the temperature eld. Since a considerable portion of the
ow is traveling in the rotor frame of reference from the suction to
Fig. 3. (a) Aerodynamic and thermal boundary layer 10% Cax,r upstream of the rotor LE; (b) effect of clearance height on overtip ow topology.
347
Fig. 4. Radial distribution, within the tip gap, of the axial and tangential components of the ow velocity in the rotor frame of reference for the investigated clearance heights.
Fig. 5. Ps and Ttotal eld in the mid-gap region for different tip clearances and boundary conditions.
348
Fig. 6. Heat transfer for the 5 different clearances: (a) heat ux to the tip, shroud, and upper part of the blade suction side (75%e100% of blade height); (b) the extraction zones; (c)
Mach contours and density gradient at cut section A together with tip and shroud heat ux.
between 25% and 40% of the Cax,r due to the scraping of the
boundary layer and uid ingestion into the suction side marked as
zone C in the gure. The zones labeled D exhibit low levels of heat
ux and are located at the inection point of the streamlines that
enter from the suction side and also exit at the suction side.
5. Aerothermal performance budget
The clearance between the rotating blade and the stationary
casing induces a leakage ow traveling over the tip, resulting in a
loss of the potential work that could be extracted by the rotor and
hence, a decrease in efciency. Consequently, keeping the rotor
clearance as tight as possible is of utmost importance to limit the
leakage mass ow and the induced aerodynamic losses. The aerodynamic losses are shown in Fig. 7(a), where the relative total
pressure contours are shown in a cutting plane located at 95% of the
rotors axial chord (Cax,r). The clearance ow creates a leakage
vortex near the suction side which causes a considerable entropy
rise. There is a signicant reduction of the leakage vortex size with
decreasing clearance height. This effect is also visible in the circumferentially averaged relative total pressure values downstream
of the rotor (Fig. 7(b), left). The tip leakage ow governs the pressure levels even down to about 60% of the blade height. While the
vortex for the largest clearance penetrates the passage up to 25% of
the blade height and gives rise to a spanwise-averaged pressure
decit of over 15%, the vortex in the h/H 0.4% case has almost
vanished and its core barely affects the overall total pressure losses.
Moreover, the leakage vortex alters signicantly the exit ow swirl
(Fig. 7(b), right) which will be felt by the following turbine stage.
Lowering the clearance from 1.9% to 0.4% of the blade span reduces
the absolute outlet ow angle variations in the upper half of the
passage by more than a factor of two.
349
hISO;corr:
"
_
_
Ttotal;3 Q_ stator
W
shaft Q stage
Dhtotal;is
Dhtotal;is Ttotal;1
#
Q_ rotor
1
2 Ttotal;2 Ttotal;3
(2)
Fig. 7. Aerodynamic performance for different clearances: (a) contours of Ptotal,relative at 95% Cax,r; (b) pitchwise-averaged Ptotal,relative and absolute ow angle downstream of the
rotor; (c) losses, efciency and pressure-side gap mass ow.
350
Fig. 8. Turbine heat transfer budget: (a) breakdown for the entire stage; (b) heat transfer levels on the rotor surfaces as a function of the tip clearance, normalized by the heat
transfer for the h 1.9% H case.
Fig. 7(c) also shows the rotor (mass ow averaged) aerodynamic losses u (dened as the drop in relative total pressure
across the rotor row normalized by the difference between the
total relative and static pressure downstream the rotor) and the
amount of leakage mass ow passing through the pressure side
section. Both trends are similar and illustrate the essentially mass
ow-driven loss mechanism. Moreover, for very tight clearances
(e.g. 0.1% and 0.2% of the blade span), the mass ow going through
the gap becomes considerably small and even negative. This can
be explained through the reversed ow (cfr. Fig. 2), which (over)
compensates for the ow entering through the pressure side
section of the gap.
Fig. 8(a) presents the distribution of the heat transfer onto the
different turbine parts for a tip clearance of h/H 1.9%. The rst bar
considers the whole stage, the second bar only the rotor domain,
and the third bar shows how the heat load is distributed over the
rotor blade. Even though the wetted surface of the stator is similar
to that of the rotor, the stator extracts 60% more heat than the rotor
section due to the higher driving temperature difference. Within
the rotor section, the airfoil contributes about 66% of the total heat
transfer. Of this, 6% goes to the tip surface while the rest is almost
equally distributed amongst the different pressure and suction side
surfaces.
Fig. 8(b) illustrates the effect of the clearance on the rotor heat
ux across the surfaces of interest, namely the upper part of the
rotor blade, the tip surface, and the shroud. The heat load onto
the other surfaces (PS and SS) showed almost no variation (<3%)
with clearance. One can observe a signicant decrease in blade tip
and shroud heat transfer in the gap region (the same zones as
presented in Fig. 6(a)), due to the combined effect of the ingested
low energy uid and the low aspect ratio of the gap channel.
Hence, for the largest clearance, the tip and shroud heat transfer
is more than twice the value for the lowest gap size. However, the
overtip shroud component shows a peak value at h/H 0.9%
while the tip heat load shows a monotonic increase with the gap
height. This is due to the reduced heat transfer on the shroud in
the case of the highest clearance, where a signicant ow
detachment takes place (cfr. Fig. 6), resulting in lower heat
transfer levels in the aft part of the blade. The heat transfer to the
pressure side remains practically unchanged (variations <2%),
while the suction side reveals a minimum (7%) for h/H 0.4%.
This is the clearance size at which the leakage vortex is diminished signicantly (which is the main reason for the heat transfer
at higher clearances) while the high heat transfer levels due to
the scraping of the boundary layer (important for very low
clearances) are not yet signicant.
6. Conclusion
This paper presents an elaborate numerical investigation of a
high-speed gas turbine stage, operating in the as-yet uninvestigated tight running regime (tip clearances less than 0.5% of the
blade span). In such a regime, the streamlines in the tip gap reveal a
reversed ow (i.e. from the suction side to the pressure side) due to
the low-momentum and -energy uid from the upstream boundary layer ingested through the gap suction side. Moreover, this
aerodynamic ow topology alters signicantly the thermal eld
conventionally expected in the tip region of a rotor blade, through
an important increase of the viscous effects.
Heat transfer distributions show enhanced levels on the shroud
and tip where the uid enters the gap. In the suction side near-tip
region, the inuence of the leakage vortex is predominant for
clearances above 0.5%. However, for lower gap sizes, an important
zone of high heat transfer emerges at 25% Cax,r due to the scraping
of the boundary layer. The dependency of the heat load on clearance size show different trends for the suction side and tip surface,
with a minimum at h/H 0.4% in the former and a maximum at h/
H 0.9% in the latter. The aerodynamic (adiabatic) efciency
proved to be mainly driven by the leakage mass ow and was
predicted accurately from isothermal calculations with an error
lower than 0.17%.
The results showed a novel change in the aerothermal characteristics in the overtip region for tight clearances and provide new
physical insights, indispensable to design efcient rotating machines adopting small leakage paths.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial support of the
Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders
(IWT), the support of Johan Prinsier for the numerical simulations
and John Mcclean for the enhancements in the nal manuscript.
Nomenclature
a
speed of sound
C
blade chord
h
rotor tip clearance height
Dh
enthalpy difference
H
rotor channel height
LE
leading edge
M
Mach number
P
pressure
Pr
Prandtl number
PS
Q
RANS
Re
RPM
SS
t
T
TE
u
v
V
W
y
pressure side
heat transfer
Reynolds-averaged NaviereStokes
Reynolds number
revolutions per minute
suction side
time
temperature
trailing edge
rotor peripheral speed
velocity vector
absolute velocity
relative velocity
dimensionless wall-normal height of rst cell at wall
Greek symbols
absolute ow angle
efciency
boundary layer momentum thickness
density
shear stress
(Ptotal,relative,2 Ptotal,relative,rotor exit)/(Ptotal,relative,rotor
exit Protor exit)
a
h
q
r
s
u
Subscripts
AD
adiabatic
ax
axial component
corr.
corrected to account for the temperature at which the
entropy is generated
exit
outlet of a turbine stage
in
inlet of a turbine stage
ISO
isothermal
PS
pressure side
r
rotor
s
static quantity
sh
turbine casing
SS
suction side
t
tangential component
w
at the wall
1,2,3
inlet, statorerotor interface and outlet of the turbine
stage respectively
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