Feasibility Analysis of Back-Pressure Steam Feeding Water Pump for Direct Air-Cooled Unit

As the performance of an air-cooled condenser is apt to be affected by the fluctuating ambient condition, some difficulties are brought to the use of a steam feeding water pump in an air-cooled unit. This paper introduces a new design of for steam feeding the water pump of an air-cooled unit using the back-pressure steam turbine as the prime motor. Using variable condition analysis on a 600 MW direct air-cooled unit, and with consideration of the effect on the ambient conditions, the feasibility, economy, and adaptability of the design are verified.

BEM/FDM Conjugate Heat Transfer Analysis of a Two-dimensional Air-cooled Turbine Blade Boundary Layer

A coupled boundary element method （BEM） and finite difference method （FDM） are applied to solve conjugate heat transfer problem of a two-dimensional air-cooled turbine blade boundary layer. A loosely coupled strategy is adopted, in which each set of field equations is solved to provide boundary conditions for the other. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved by HIT-NS code. In this code, the FDM is adopted and is used to resolve the convective heat transfer in the fluid region. The BEM code is used to resolve the conduction heat transfer in the solid region. An iterated convergence criterion is the continuity of temperature and heat flux at the fluid-solid interface. The numerical results from the BEM adopted in this paper are in good agreement with the results of analytical solution and the results of commercial code, such as Fluent 6.2. The BEM avoids the complicated mesh needed in other computation method and saves the computation time. The results prove that the BEM adopted in this paper can give the same precision in numerical results with less boundary points. Comparing the conjugate results with the numerical results of an adiabatic wall flow solution, it reveals a significant difference in the distribution of metal temperatures. The results from conjugate heat transfer analysis are more accurate and they are closer to realistic thermal environment of turbines.

Effects of swirl and hot streak on thermal performances of a high-pressure turbine

Advanced civil aero-engines tend to adopt lean burn combustors to meet emission requirements.The exit of a lean burn combustor experiences highly non-uniformities in both temperature(Hot Streak,HS)and flow(swirl).This paper presents a numerical investigation on the behaviors of a High-Pressure(HP)turbine under a combined effect of swirl and hot streak.The investigation was conducted on a GE-E3 HP turbine with unsteady numerical simulations,which considered the realistic clocking position of the HP Nozzle Guide Vane(NGV)relative to the combustor.The influences of swirl orientations on the HS migration and thermal performances on the blade surface were examined.Results indicate that,inside the NGV passage,the swirl’s induced incidence angle effect dominates the HS radial migration.The transversal movement of HS follows the cross flow and thus makes itself approach the Suction Side(SS)and keep away from the Pressure Side(PS)as passing through the NGV,so that HS near the SS is more influenced by the incidence angle effect than that near the PS.As for the heat transfer,swirl affects the Heat Transfer Coefficient(HTC)on the NGV’s PS and SS mainly through the incidence angle effect.Different from the NGV,the inlet swirl and HS have limited effect on the HTC on the rotor blade’s PS,while on the rotor blade’s SS,the original vortex system dominates;therefore,the inlet non-uniformities merely enhance the HTC on the SS rather than alter its distribution characteristics.

3D modeling of transformation of gaseous pollutants in the high-pressure turbine of an aircraft engine

Aircraft emissions contribute to global climate change and regional air pollution near airports.Understanding the formation and the transformation of emissions in the aircraft engine is essential to properly quantify the environmental impact and air pollution.However,precise investigation of chemical process in the turbine is challenging because of the complexity of the transformation process in the complex flow relating to the moving blade at high temperature and high pressure.We present here,the first published model study of 3D chemical formations inside a high-pressure turbine and first time to compare three numerical solutions(1D,2D and 3D calculations)of transformation of trace species inside an aircraft engine.The model has simulated the evolution of principal precursor pollutant gases(NOx and SOx)and other species(hydrogen,oxygen species and carbon oxides).Our results also indicated strong dissimilarities in chemical transformations of 3D calculations.In comparing the three solutions,the results obtained showed that the difference of mole fractions of species can be under predicted by 75%between 1D and 2D calculations and in the comparison of 2D and 3D calculation,the under predicted difference may be 90%.

Influences of Lateral Double-Layered Deflectors on Cooling Performance of Air-Cooled Condenser

The cooling performance of air-cooled condenser(ACC)is susceptible to adverse impacts of ambient winds.In this work,three kinds of lateral double-layered deflectors installed under the ACC platform are proposed to weaken the unfavorable effects of cross winds.Through CFD simulation methods,the main parameters of thermo-flow performances of a 2×660 MW direct dry cooling system are obtained,by which it can be concluded that the deflectors can effectively reduce the inlet air temperatures while enhance the mass flow rates of upwind fans due to the guiding effect,especially at high wind speeds,while the improvement of cooling capacity of ACCs in the 0°wind direction is weak.The inclined-vertical deflectors are superior to others in performance improvement of ACCs for all cases,which can reduce the turbine back pressure by 12.15%when the wind speed is 12 m/s,so they can be applied to the performance enhancement of ACCs under windy conditions in practical engineering.

Simulation of 3D Flow in Turbine Blade Rows including the Effects of Coolant Ejection

This paper describes the numerical simulation of three-dimensional viscous flows in fir-cooled turbine blade rows with the effects of coolant ejection. A TVD Navier-Stokes flow solver incorporated with Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model and multi-grid convergence acceleration algorithm are used for the simulation. The influences of coolant ejection on the main flow are accounted by volumetric coolant source terms. Numerical results for a four-stage turbine are presented and discussed.

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.