Investigations of Interaction of the Main Flow with Root and Tip Leakage Flows in an Axial Turbine Stage by Means of a Source/Sink Approach for a 3D Navier-Stokes Solver

The effect of interaction of the main flow with root and tip leakage flows on the performance of an high pressure (HP) stage of an impulse turbine is studied numerically. The flow in blade-to-blade channels and axial gaps is computed with the aid of a 3D Navier-Stokes solver FlowER. The numerical scheme is modified to include the source/sink-type boundary conditions in places at the endwalls referring to design locations of injection of leak- age and windage flows into, or extract from, the blade-to-blade passage. The turbine stage is computed in three configurations. First, computations are made without tip leakage and windage flows with source/sink slots closed. Second, tip leakage slots are open. Third, both tip leakage and windage flow slots are open, and the obtained flow characteristics including kinetic energy losses in the stage are compared so as to estimate the interaction of the main and leakage flows.