Numerical simulation on impact-contact between the tips of a pair of blades

To study the dynamic characteristics and damping mechanism of impact-contact between the tips of blades further more,the impact-contact between the tips of a pair of blades was studied through numerical simulation.In this paper,the dynamic equation of contact-impact between the tips was established and Newmark direct integration method was adopted in numerical simulation.The nonlinear response characteristics and damping mechanism of impact-contact system are obtained.The results of numerical simulation were obtained as follows:As the clearance between blade shrouds is smaller,the vibration amplitude is smaller.The clearance between blade shrouds has a great influence on the input energy of the aerodynamic-excitation-vibration force.As the clearance of blade shrouds increases,the input energy of the aerodynamic-excitation-vibration force increases rapidly.

Vibrations measurements for shrouded blades of steam turbines based oneddy current sensors with high frequency response

With the development of power plants towards high power and intelligent operation direction,the vibrations or failures of blades,especially the last stage blades in steam turbines,happen more frequently due to the unstable operating conditions brought by flexible operation.A vibration measuring method for the shrouded blades of a steam turbine based on eddy current sensors with high frequency response is proposed,meeting the requirements of non-contact heath monitoring.The eddy current sensors produce the signals which are related to the area changing of every blade’s shroud resulting from the rotation of stator.Then an improved blade tip timing(BTT)technique is proposed to detect the vibrations of shrouded blades by measuring the arrival time of each area changing signal.A structure of eddy current sensors is developed in steam turbines and an amplitude modulation/demodulation circuit is designed to improve the response bandwidth up to 250 kHz.Vibration tests for the last stage blades of a steam turbine were carried out and the results validate the efficiency of the improved BTT technique and the high frequency response of the eddy current sensors presented.

Validation of actuator disc circulation distribution for unsteady virtual blades model

The actuator disc method is an engineering approach to reduce computer resources in computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulations of helicopter rotors or aeroplane propellers.Implementation of an actuator disc based on rotor circulation distribution allows for approximations to be made while reproducing the blade tip vortices.Radial circulation distributions can be formulated according to the nonuniform Heyson-Katzoff“typical load”in hover.In forward flight,the nonuniform disk models include“azimuthal”sin and cos terms to reproduce the blade cyclic motion.The azimuthal circulation distribution for a forward flight mode corresponds to trimmed conditions for the disk rolling and pitching moments.The amplitude of the cos harmonic is analysed and compared here with presented in references data and CFD simulations results.

3D LDV MEASUREMENTS OF ROTOR BLADE TIP VORTEX IN HOVER

An investigation made on the rotor blade tip vortex through use of a Three Dimensional Laser Doppler Velocimetry(3D LDV) is described. The experiment is conducted with a 2 m in diameter model helicopter rotor. By a series of measurements near blade tip, the velocity field near blade tip is documented, and through which, the tip vortex rollup and development are presented. The radial distribution of instantaneous velocities at various levels above and under the rotor disc is also measured in this investigation. Using this distribution, the influence of the tip vortex from the preceding blade on the follow up blade is discussed.

Topology and Vortex Structures of Turbine Cascade with Different Tip Clearances

This paper uses the topology theory to analyze the surface flowspectrums of straight, positively curved and negatively curvedcascades with relative tip clearances of 0.023 and 0.036, findsapparent differences of topology and vortex structures in the bladetip and the suction side wall corner of single type of cascade withthis two clearances, and studies the mechanism of the differenceformation as well as their effects o the energy loss.

ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HELICOPTER ROTOR WITH ANHEDRAL TIP SHAPE

A new analytical approach, based on a lifting surface model and a full span free wake analysis using the curved vortex element on the circular arc, is established for evaluating the aerodynamic characteristics of the helicopter rotor with an anhedral blade tip and is emphasized to be applicable to various blade tip configurations, such as the tapered, swept, anhedral and combined shapes. Sample calculations on the rotor aerodynamic characteristics for different anhedral tips in both hover and forward flight are performed. The results on the induced velocity, blade section lift distribution, tip vortex path and rotor performance are presented so that the effect of the anhedral tip on the rotor aerodynamic characteristics is fully analyzed.

Effective Estimation for UAV Propeller Performance

A new effective propeller performance estimation method is employed to calculate the propeller performance in the preliminary design of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs).The propeller three-dimensional aerodynamic characteristics leading to the blade tip vortices are considered to improve the blade element theory.The rule of the airfoil lift coefficient is summarized to enhance the calculation speed and the universality of this method.Then,wind tunnel test data of the propellers are used to verify the correctness of the approach.The error is less than9%,which is accurate enough in the preliminary design of UAVs.Sensitivity analysis is carried out with the variable empirical parameters,and the values of which only have slight influence on the calculated results.Compared with the strip theory,the proposed method avoids a very high number of iterations and complicated integral.Furthermore,only a few measurable data are needed to get a relatively accurate result.The calculation examples demonstrate excellent effectiveness in obtaining the propeller performance to improve the design of UAVs.

Improved mechanical properties of Ni-rich Ni3Al coatings produced by EB-PVD for repairing single crystal blades

Active control of turbine blade tip clearance for aircraft engine continues to be a concern in engine opera- tion, because turbine blades are subjected to wear and therefore cause an increasing tip clearance between the rotating blades and the shroud and also reduce the engine efficiency. In this work, a Ni-rich Ni3A1 coating with γ＇/γ two-phase microstructure was deposited by electron beam physical vapor deposition （EB-PVD）, which worked as repairing the worn blade tips of single crystal blades. Nb molten pool was used to increase the molten pool tem- perature and thus to enhance the deposition rate. The microstructures and mechanical properties can be modified by the deposition temperatures and the following heat treatments. All coatings consist of γ＇ and γ phases. At deposition temperature of 600 ℃, a dense microstructure can be achieved to produce a coating with grain size of 1 μm and microhardness of -HV 477. After being heated for 4 h at a temperature of 1,100 ℃, the coatings have a more uniform microstructure, and microhardness maintains at a high level of -HV 292. Effect of Hf and Zr on EB-PVD Ni3Al repair coating will be further investigated.

Numerical analysis on noise of rotor with unconventional blade tips based on CFD/Kirchhoff method

A solver is developed aiming at efficiently predicting rotor noise in hover and forward flight. In this solver, the nonlinear near-field solutions are calculated by a hybrid approach which includes the Navier–Stokes and Euler equations based on a moving-embedded grid system and adaptive grid methodology. A combination of the third-order upwind scheme and flux-difference splitting scheme, instead of the second-order center-difference scheme which may cause larger wake dissipation, has been employed in the present computational fluid dynamics （CFD） method. The sound pressure data in the near field can be calculated directly by solving the Navier–Stokes equations, and the sound propagation can be predicted by the Kirchhoff method. A harmonic expansion approach is presented for rotor far-field noise prediction, which gives an analytical expression for the integral function in the Kirchhoff formula. As a result, the interpolation process is simplified and the efficiency and accuracy of the interpolation are improved. Then, the high-speed impulsive （HIS） noise of a helicopter rotor at different tip Mach numbers and on different observers is calculated and analyzed in hover and forward flight, which shows a highly directional characteristic of the rotor HIS noise with a maximum value in the rotor plane, and the HSI noise weakens rapidly with the increasing of the directivity angle. In order to investigate the effects of the rotor blade-tip shape on its aeroacoustic characteristics, four kinds of blade tips are designed and their noise characteristics have been simulated. At last, a new unconventional CLOR-II blade tip has been designed, and the noise characteristics of the presented CLOR-II model rotor have been simulated and measured compared to the reference rotors with a rectangular or swept-back platform blade tip. The results demonstrate that the unconventional CLOR-II blade tip can significantly reduce the HSI noise of a rotor.

Experimental study of the effect of blade tip clearance and blade angle error on the performance of mixed-flow pump

The hydraulic performance test of the mixed-flow pump has been carried out through selecting different blade tip clearances and various blade angle errors.The ratio of the mixed-flow pump efficiency reduction and the blade tip clearance variation(η/δ) varies with the flow rate coefficient revealing a parabolic trend.An empirical equation has been developed for the mixed-flow pump model by parabolic fitting.For the same blade tip clearance variation δ,the mixed-flow pump efficiency reduction η increases rapidly as the flow rate rises.For any given flow rate,the efficiency,the head and the shaft power of the mixed-flow pump all decrease with the increase of the blade tip clearance.Among them,the efficiency reduction η varies approximately linearly with the blade tip clearance variation δ.When the angle of an individual blade of the mixed-flow pump has a deviation,the performance curves will move and change.These curves have consistent change directions with the performance curves under the condition of all the blades rotated at the same time,but have smaller offset and lower range of variation.When an individual blade angle error changes to ±2°,the optimal efficiency of the mixed-flow pump will have no significant difference.When the individual blade angle error increases to ±4°,the optimal efficiency will decrease by 1%.

An Innovative Passive Tip-Leakage Control Method for Axial Turbines:Basic Concept and Performance Potential

The present paper introduces a new concept for passive turbine tip-leakage control. The basic idea of the method is the connection of the blade leading edge and the blade tip by an internal channel. Due to the difference between the stagnation pressure at the leading edge and the low pressure at the blade tip, a small amount of the working fluid is extracted from the blade passage. At the blade tip, a jet is injected roughly perpendicular to the tip gap flow driven by the blade pressure difference. It is proposed that the jet blocks at least a part of the tip gap flow. Since the tip-leakage losses are proportional to the tip gap mass flow rate, the tip injection results in a reduction of the associated losses. After the introduction of the concept, an analytical model is presented which describes the reduction of the tip gap discharge coefficient due to the tip injection. Furthermore, the analytical model is supported by the results of a preliminary CFD analysis. Finally, the potential of the efficiency improvement by the passive blade tip injection method is reported.

Effect of blade tip geometry on tip leakage vortex dynamics and cavitation pattern in axial-flow pump

A series of blade tip geometries, including original plain tip, rounded tip on the pressure side and diverging tip towards the suction side, were adopted to investigate the effect of blade geometry on tip leakage vortex dynamics and cavitation pattern in an axial-flow pump. On the basis of the computation, it clearly shows the flow structure in the clearance for different tip configurations by the detailed data of axial velocity and turbulent kinetic energy. The in-plain trajectory, in aspects of the angle between the blade suction side and vortex core and the initial point of tip leakage vortex, was presented using the maximum swirling strength method. The most striking feature is that the inception location of tip leakage vortex is delayed for chamfered tip due to the change of blade loading on suction side. Some significant non-dimensional parameters, such as pressure, swirling strength and turbulent kinetic energy, were used to depict the characteristics of tip vortex core. By the distribution of circumferential vorticity which dominates the vortical flows near the tip region, it is observed that the endwall detachment as the leakage flow meets the mainstream varies considerably for tested cases. The present study also indicates that the shear layer feeds the turbulence into tip leakage vortex core, but the way is different. For the chamfered tip, high turbulence level in vortex core is mainly from the tip clearance where large turbulent kinetic energy emerges, while it is almost from a layer extending from the suction side corner for rounded tip. At last, the visualized observations show that tip clearance cavitation is eliminated dramatically for rounded tip but more intensive for chamfered tip, which can be associated with the vortex structure in the clearance.

A novel none once per revolution blade tip timing based blade vibration parameters identification method

The vibration caused blade High Cycle Fatigue(HCF)is seriously affects the safety operation of turbomachinery especially for aero-engine.Thus,it is crucial important to identify the blade vibration parameters and then evaluate the dynamic stress amplitude.Blade Tip Timing(BTT)method is one of the promising method to solve these problems.While,it need a high resolution Once Per Revolution(OPR)signal which is difficult to get for the aero-engine.Here,a Coupled Vibration Analysis(CVA)method for identifying blade vibration parameters by a none OPR BTT is proposed.The method assumes that every real blade has its own vibration performance at a given speed.Whereby,it can take any blade as the reference blade,and the other blades using the reference blade as the OPR for vibration displacement calculating and further parameter identifying.The proposed method is validated by numerical model.Also,experimental studies are carried out on a straight blade and a twisted three dimensional blade test rig as well as a large industrial axial compressor respectively.The results show that the proposed method can accurately identify the blade synchronous vibration parameters and quantitatively evaluate the mistuning in bladed disks,which lays a foundation for the reliability improvement of aero-engine.

An experimental method for squealer tip flow field considering relative casing motion

Squealer tip is widely used in turbines to reduce tip leakage loss.In typical turbine environment,the squealer tip leakage flow is affected by multiple factors such as the relative casing motion and the wide range of variable incidence angles.The development of experimental methods which can accurately model the real turbine environment and influencing factors is of great significance to study the squealer tip leakage flow mechanism.In the present paper,a low-speed turbine cascade test facility which can model the relative casing motion and wide range of variable incidence angles(-25°to 55°)is built.Based on the similarity criteria,a high-low speed similarity transformation method of the turbine cascade is established by considering the thickness of the turbine blade.A combined testing method of Particle Image Velocimetry(PIV)and local pressure measurement is proposed to obtain the complex flow structures within the tip cavity.The results show that the experimental method can successfully model the relative casing motion and the wide range of variable incidence angles.The low-speed cascade obtained by the similarity transformation can model the high-speed flow accurately.The measurement technique developed can obtain the complex flow field and successfully capture the scraping vortex within the squealer tip.

Effect of blade tip winglet on the performance of a highly loaded transonic compressor rotor

The tip leakage flow has an important influence on the performance of transonic com- pressor. Blade tip winglet has been proved to be an effective method to control the tip leakage flow in compressor, while the physical mechanisms of blade tip winglet have been poorly understood. A numerical study for a highly loaded transonic compressor rotor has been conducted to understand the effect of varying the location of blade tip wing]et on the performance of the rotor. Two kinds of tip winglet were designed and investigated. The effects of blade tip winglet on the compressor over- all performance, stability and tip flow structure were presented and discussed, It is found that the interaction of the tip winglet with the flow in the tip region is different when the winglet is located at suction-side or pressure-side of the blade tip. Results indicate that the suction-side winglet （SW） is ineffective to improve the performance of compressor rotor. In addition, a significant stall range extension equivalent to 33.74% with a very small penalty in efficiency can be obtained by the pressure-side winglet （PW）. An attempt has been made to explain the fundamental mechanisms of blade tip winglet in detail.

Research Progress of Tip Winglet Technology in Compressor

In the present study,the research progress of tip winglets that control tip clearance leakage flow in compressors is reviewed.Firstly,the effects of tip leakage flow on the aerodynamic performance of the compressor are presented.Subsequently,the development of tip winglet technology is reviewed.Next,a series of studies on compressor tip winglet technology are conducted.Besides,the effects of tip winglets on the aerodynamic performance of rectangular cascades of low-speed and high-subsonic compressors,subsonic compressor rotor and transonic compressor rotor are discussed,respectively,and the control effect of tip winglet technology combined with tip groove design on tip leakage is investigated.Lastly,the subsequent development direction and research prospect of compressor tip winglet technology are presented.

Experimental Study of Effects of Tip Geometry on the Flow Field in a Turbine Cascade Passage

This study investigates the effects of blade tip geometry on the flow field of a turbine cascade at the incidence angle of 0 degree experimentally. The tests were performed in a low-speed turbine cascade wind tunnel. The Reynolds number based on the blade chord was about 172300 at the exit. Traverses of the exit flow field were made in order to measure the overall performance. The effects of using fiat tip and grooved tip with a chord-wise channel were studied. The case with the flat tip is referenced as the baseline. The tip clearances are all 1 mm measuring 0.84 percent of the blade span. The depth of channel is 2mm.The flow field at 10% chord downstream from the cascade trailing edge was measured at 38 span-wise positions and 26 pitch-wise positions using a mini five-hole pressure probe. The static pressure distribution on the tip end wall is measured at 16 pitch-wise stations and 17 chord-wise stations. Results show that there exists great pressure gradient in the pressure side for the fiat tip and the pressure side squealer tip, which means strong leakage flow. The pressure gradient from the pressure side to the suction side is greatly decreased for the grooved tip, and the resulting leakage flow is weaker. The core of the leakage vortex moves closer to the suction side for the pressure side squealer tip and farther away from the suction side for the suction side squealer tip. The pressure side squealer has little advantages over the fiat tip in improving the flow capacity and reducing the overall losses. The suction side squealer tip and grooved tip can effectively decrease the intensity of the tip leakage vortex, improve the flow capacity and reduce loss of the turbine cascade passage and the grooved tip performs the best.

Variable Clearance Characteristics of High Subsonic Compressor Cascades with Blade Tip Winglets

The gas turbine is the main power equipment for naval ship and special civil ship,while the compressor is one of the core structures of the gas turbine.The existing tip clearance could prevent the compressor blade and casing collision.Therefore,the flow loss in the tip region caused by the tip clearance will degrade the performance of the compressor.To improve the variable clearance characteristics of the high subsonic compressor cascades,the cascades with tip clearances of 1%,2%and 3%chord length are studied through experimental measurements and numerical calculations.The research results prove that the pressure surface tip winglet can cause a significant improvement effect under most working conditions.If the blade tip clearance size is gradually increasing within a reasonable range,the improvement effect becomes more remarkable,and the optimal tip winglet case changes.When tip clearance is 1%chord length,the PTW1.0 case(the width of the pressure surface tip winglet is 1.0 time of the original tip)reduces the flow loss by 3.09%compared with the NTW case(No Tip Winglet).When tip clearance is 2%chord length,the flow loss of PTW1.5 case(the width of the pressure surface tip winglet is 1.5 times of the original tip)is reduced by 3.46%.When tip clearance is 3%chord length,all alternative tip winglets reduce the total pressure loss,and PTW2.0 case(the width of the pressure surface tip winglet is 2.0 times of the original tip)is the best choice,which has a 6.53%degree of improvement.

Flowfield and Heat Transfer past an Unshrouded Gas Turbine Blade Tip with Different Shapes

This paper describes the numerical investigations of flow and heat transfer in an unshrouded turbine rotor blade of a heavy duty gas turbine with four tip configurations. By comparing the calculated contours of heat transfer coefficients on the flat tip of the HP turbine rotor blade in the GE-E3 aircraft engine with the corresponding ex- perimental data, the K：-o~ turbulence model was chosen for the present numerical simulations. The inlet and outlet boundary conditions for the turbine rotor blade are specified as the real gas turbine, which were obtained from the 3D full stage simulations. The rotor blade and the hub endwall are rotary and the casing is stationary. The influ- ences of tip configurations on the tip leakage flow and blade tip heat transfer were discussed. It＇s showed that the different tip configurations changed the leakage flow patterns and the pressure distributions on the suction surface near the blade tip. Compared with the flat tip, the total pressure loss caused by the leakage flow was decreased for the full squealer tip and pressure side squealer tip, while increased for the suction side squealer tip. The suction side squealer tip results in the lowest averaged heat transfer coefficient on the blade tip compared to the other tip configurations.

Multi-probe linear fitting and time of arrival linear correction method to analyze blade vibration based on blade tip timing without once-per-revolution

Blade vibration monitoring can ensure the safe operation of aeroengine rotor blades.Among the methods of blade vibration monitoring,Blade Tip Timing(BTT)method has attracted more and more attention because of its advantages of non-contact measurement.However,it is difficult to install the Once-Per-Revolution(OPR)probe in the confined space of aeroengine,and the failure and instability of the OPR signal will reduce the reliability of the blade vibration analysis results,which directly affects the accuracy of the blade vibration parameters identification.The Multi-Probe linear fitting and Time of Arrival(ToA)Linear Correction method based on the BTT(MP-LC-BTT)without OPR is proposed to reduce the errors of single probe linear fitting method for blade vibration displacement analysis.The proposed method can also correct the calculation error of blade vibration displacement due to the nonlinear change of rotation speed,which can improve the analysis accuracy of the blade vibration displacement.A new blade vibration model conforming to the actual vibration characteristics is established,and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by numerical simulation.Finally,the reliability and accuracy of the MP-LC-BTT method have been verified by the experiments which include two high-speed blade test-benches and an industrial axial fan.This method can be used in the actual aero-engine monitoring instead of the BTT method with OPR.