Tip Clearance Flows in Turbine Cascades

This article describes the effects of some factors on the tip clearance flow in axial linear turbine cascades. The measurements of the total pressure loss coefficient are made at the cascade outlets by using a five-hole probe at exit Mach numbers of 0.10, 0.14 and 0.19. At each exit Mach number, experiments are performed at the tip clearance heights of 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5% and 3.0% of the blade height. The effects of the non-uniform tip clearance height of each blade in the pitchwise direction are also studied. The results show that at a given tip clearance height, generally, total pressure loss rises with exit Mach numbers proportionally. At a fixed exit Mach number, the total pressure loss augments nearly proportionally as the tip clearance height increases. The increased tip clearance heights in the tip regions of two adjacent blades are to be blame for the larger clearance loss of the center blade. Compared to the effects of the tip clearance height, the effects of the exit Mach number and the pitchwise variation of the tip clearance height on the cascade total pressure loss are so less significant to be omitted.

The Tip Leakage Flow Structure of an Axial Fan with Tip Clearance

Experiment and numerical simulation technique are used to investigate the tip leakage flow in an axial fan with tip clearance at the design condition. The flow field in the tip region of fan is measured using a PDA (Particle Dynamics Analysis) system. The flow is surveyed across the whole passage at fifteen axial locations (from the 100% axial chord in front of the leading edge to the 100% axial chord behind the trailing edge), mainly focusing on the outer 90% blade span. Both experiment measurement and numerical simulation indicates the leakage flow originated from the tip clearance along the chord rolls up into three dimensional spiral structure to form leakage flow vortex. The interaction of leakage flow and main flow will produce the low velocity zone, and block the flow. The leakage flow almost occupies the most part of flow passage behind the trailing edge.

EFFECT OF TIP CLEARANCE ON PERFORMANCE AND FLOW FIELD OF SMALL SIZED HIGH SPEED CENTRIFUGAL FAN

A centrifugal fan with the high speed and compact dimensions is studied numerically and experimentally. The centrifugal fan consists of a shrouded impeller rotating at 34 000 r/min with a small tip clearance 0.7 mm to the fixed outer casing. Computational models with/without the tip clearance are built and the κ-ω shear stress transport （SST） turbulence model and the unstructured mesh are applied to the numerical simulation for unsteady solutions. The overall performance is measured on a standard experimental bench and the major flow feature of each component inside the centrifugal fan is numerically investigated. In the presence of the tip clearance due to the difference of static pressure between leading and trailing edges of the clearance, i. e. , leading and trailing edges of the impeller, a strong return flow exists inside the clearance passage and re-circulates the main stream inside the impeller passage, and produces the strong flow interaction, thus changing the flow field and influencing the overall performance.

Influence of Tip Clearance on the Flow Field and Aerodynamic Performance of the Centrifugal Impeller

This paper studies numerically the influence of the tip clearance on the three dimensional viscous flowfield and performance of the NASA Low Speed Centrifugal Compressor (LSCC) impeller with a vaneless diffuser A three dimensional viscous code developed by the authors is applied with several acceleration methods: local time step, multigrid and residual smoothing The computations were performed under several operating conditions with four different tip clearance sizes(0 0%,50%,100% and 200% design t...

COMPARISON OF TWO METHODS TO INCREASE TIP CLEARANCE AND ITS EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE OF TURBOCHARGER CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR STAGE

Tip clearance between the blade tip and casing of a centrifugal compressor can be varied through two methods： by changing the blade height （MI） or by changing the casing diameter （M2）. Numerical simulations are carried out to compare these two methods and their effect on the stage and impeller performance. The impeller and diffuser are connected through rotor stator boundary using frozen rotor approach. Overall stage performance and the flow configuration have been investigated for nine tip clearance levels from no gap to 1 mm. Impeller and diffuser performances are also presented separately. It has been found that the overall and impeller performance are comparatively better for MI below tip clearance of 0.5 mm whereas M2 is found advantageous above 0.5 mm of tip clearance. Both MI and M2 show performance degradation with the increase in tip clearance. Two models have been proposed for the stage total pressure ratio and efficiency, which are found to be in agreement with experimental results. The impeller efficiency and the pressure ratio are found to be maximum at tip clearance of 0.1 mm for both the cases however minimum diffuser effectiveness is also observed at the same clearance level. Diffuser effectiveness is found to be maximum at zero gap for both cases. As it is practically impossible to have zero gap for unshrouded impellers so it is concluded that the optimum thickness is 0.5 mm onwards for MI and 0.5 mm for M2 in terms of diffuser effectiveness. Mass averaged flow parameters, entropy, blade loading diagram and relative pressure fields are presented, showing the loss production within the impeller passage with tip clearance.

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.

Influence of Tip Clearance on Unsteady Flow in Automobile Engine Pump

The automobile engine pump is an important part of the automobile cooling system,and has a direct influence on the engine performance.Based on the SST k-ωturbulence model,unsteady numerical simulation for an automobile engine pump with different tip clearances was carried out by Fluent.To study the flow field characteristics and pressure fluctuation,the characteristics of secondary flow distribution in volute are also analyzed.The result shows that the pressure fluctuation characteristics of the flow field show obvious periodic variation at different levels of tip clearances.The peak value of pressure fluctuation at each monitoring point is dependent on the blade frequency.At the same time,with the increase of the tip clearance,the pressure fluctuation in the blade and volute is gradually increased,while the pressure fluctuation at the tip is reduced clearance.The pressure gradient in the pump also varies periodically with the rotation of the impeller.With the increase of the tip clearance,the pressure of the impeller,volute and tip clearance is gradually decreased.There are secondary flow vortexes inside the impeller,volute outlet and volute section.With the increase of tip clearance,the vortex intensity in the impeller channel is weakened,and the vortex strength at the volute outlet is intensified.On the cross section of the volute,the morphology of most vortexes has insignificant changes,but the vortex intensity decreased.

TOPOLOGY AND VORTEX STRUCTURES OF A CURVING TURBINE CASCADE WITH TIP CLEARANCE (Ⅰ)- EXPERIMENTAL MODEL AND TOPOLOGICAL FLOW PATTERNS ON BOTH ENDWALLS AND BLADE SURFACES

By means of ink trace visualization of the flows in conventional straight, positively curved and negatively curved cascades with tip clearance, and measurement of the aerodynamic parameters in the transverse section, and by appling topology theory, the structures on both endwalls and blade surfaces were analyzed. Compared with conventional straight cascade, blade positive curving eliminates the separation line of the upper passage vortex and leads the secondary vortex to change from close separation to open separation, while blade negative curving effects merely the positions of singular points and the intensities and scales of vortex.

TOPOLOGY AND VORTEX STRUCTURES OF A CURVING TURBINE CASCADE WITH TIP CLEARANCE (Ⅱ)- TOPOLOGICAL FLOW PATTERN AND VORTEX STRUCTURE IN THE TRANSVERSE SECTION OF A BLADE CASCADE

By means of ink trace visualization of the flows in conventional straight, positively curved and negatively curved cascades with tip clearance, and measurement of the aerodynamic parameters in transverse section, and by appling topology theory, the topological structures and vortex structure in the transverse section of a blade cascade were analyzed. Compared with conventional straight cascade, blade positive curving eliminates the separation line of the upper passage vortex, and leads the secondary vortex to change from close separation to open separation, while blade negative curving effects merely the positions of singular points and the intensities and scales of vortex.

An experimental study on the impact behavior of cavitation inside tip clearance of a hydrofoil

Tip clearance cavitation is one of the most common cavitation phenomena exist on duct propellers,pumps and some hydraulic turbines,which may lead to erosion of the components.Due to the influence of the nearby wall,cavitation inside the tip clearance is more complicated than other cases without interaction.So far,the understanding about the impact mechanism of tip clearance cavitation is still limited.In this paper,to obtain the impact behavior of tip clearance cavitation,a high-speed camera was used to capture the cavitation behavior inside the tip clearance of a hydrofoil,and surface paint coating peeling method was applied to show the impact region.Results indicated that cavitation around the tip of the hydrofoil was composed of a tip separation cavity and a tip leakage vortex cavity,and the one with contribution to impact was the tip separation cavity.Through the comprehensive analysis of the paint peeling region and dynamic behavior of tip separation cavity,the impact was found to be related to the local collapse and rebound of the cloud cavitation shed from the attached part.In addition,the influence of tip clearance size on the behavior of tip clearance cavitation was also investigated.As the tip clearance size increased,the tip separation cavity tended to transfer from sheet cavitation to vortex cavitation.These findings can provide a sound basis for evaluating the erosion risk arising from the tip clearance cavitation.

New model-based method for aero-engine turbine blade tip clearance measurement

Active control of aero-engine turbine tip clearance is one of the best chances for engine performance uplift currently.To do that,the first requirement is real-time measurement of tip clearance in aero-engine working environment.However,turbine complexity makes it unlikely for tip clearance sensors to be loaded.In recognition of that,this paper proposed a model-based method for tip clearance measurement.Firstly,by considering previously wrongly neglected factors such as load deformation,a mathematical model to monitor dynamic tip clearance changes is built to improve calculation accuracy.Then,after clarifying the coupling relationship between engine models and tip clearance models,this paper builds a component-level mathematical model integrating dynamic characteristics of turbine tip clearance,which helps realize accurate measurement of tip clearance in working environment.How tip clearance affects turbine efficiency is studied afterwards and reported to aero-engine model,so as to mitigate performance difference between aero-engine model and real engines caused by turbine tip clearance.Lastly,by hardware-in-the-loop simulation,tip clearance model demonstrates 15.9%better accuracy than previously built models in terms of turbine centrifugal deformation calculation.As tip clearance measurement model takes averagely 0.34 ms in calculation,meeting the operation requirement,it proves to be an effective new way.

Experimental Research on Inlet Steady Swirl Distortion in an Axial Compressor with Non-Uniform Tip Clearance

The inlet swirl distortion and non-uniform tip clearance have great effects on aero-engine performance and stall margin.In this paper,the effects of paired swirl distortion on the aerodynamic stability and stall inception of a single stage axial compressor with non-uniform tip clearance are quantitatively analyzed by using the swirl distortion descriptors.The experimental results show that the paired swirl distortion dominated by co-rotating swirl improves the stability of the axial compressor.For a single-stage axial compressor with eccentricity of 100%,the stall inception starts at the maximum tip clearance with clean inlet.The initial position of the stall inception is determined by the maximum tip clearance when the small intensity paired swirl distortion exists at the compressor inlet.As the swirl intensity increases,it shifts towards the position of the counter rotating swirl vortex core.The inlet swirl will not change the type of stall inception.

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE TIP CLEARANCE FLOWS ON THE UNSTEADY CAVITATING FLOWS IN A THREE- D IMENSIONAL INDUCER

To clarify the influences of the tip clearance flows on the unsteady cavitating flow, the three-dimensional unsteady cavitating flows through both the two-dimensional cascades and the three-dimensional inducer with and without tip clearance are performed numerically. The governing equations for the compressible fluid flow with the DES turbulence model are employed with the assumption of the isentropic process of liquid phase. The evolution of cavities is represented as the source/sink of vapor phase. The basic equations in the curve linear coordinate are solved by the finite difference method. As the results of the three-dimensional cavitating flows through the two-dimensional cascades, the tip clearance flows from the pressure side to the suction side of the blade produces the tip vortex cavitation, which affects the sheet cavitation on the leading edge of the next blade and enhances the blockage effect near the casing than the flows without tip clearance. On the other hand, in the case of the three-dimensional inducer, the large backflow cavitation is observed around the inlet of the inducer, where the cavities are developed on the casing by the tip clearance flows. The large pressure gradient between the non-cavitating pressure side and the cavitating suction side enhances the tip clearance flows. The calculation considering the tip clearance reproduces the developed cavitation region similar to that of experimental visualizations. Additionally, the backflow cavitation rotates with the speed slower than the rotation speed of the inducer. Then, the rotation of backflow cavitation causes the periodic fluctuation of the outlet pressure greater than that of the inlet pressure.

Effect of tip geometry and tip clearance on aerodynamic performance of a linear compressor cascade

The tip leakage flow between a blade and a casing wall has a strong impact on compressor pressure rise capability, efficiency, and stability. Consequently, there is a strong motivation to look for means to minimize its impact on performance. This paper presents the potential of passive tip leakage flow control to increase the aerodynamic performance of highly loaded compressor blades. Experimental investigations on a linear compressor cascade equipped with blade winglets mounted to the blade tips have been carried out. Results for a variation of the tip clearance and the winglet geometry are presented. Current results indicate that the use of proper tip winglets in a compressor cascade can positively affect the local aerodynamic field by weakening the tip leakage vortex. Results also show that the suction-side winglets are aerodynamically superior to the pressure-side or combined winglets. The suction-side winglets are capable of reducing the exit total pressure loss associated with the tip leakage flow and the passage secondary flow to a significant degree.

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%.

On the nature of tip clearance flow in subsonic centrifugal impellers

Increasing demand for downsizing of engines to improve CO2 emissions has resulted in renewed efforts to improve the efficiency and expend the stable operating range of the centrifugal compressors used in petro-chemical equipment and turbochargers. The losses in these compressors are dominated by tip clearance flow. In this paper, the tip clearance flow in the subsonic impeller is numerically investigated. The nature of the tip clearance in inducer, axial to radial bend and exducer are studied in detail at design and off-design conditions by examining the detailed flow field through the clearance and the interaction of the clearance flow with the shear effect with the endwalls. The correlation between blade loading and span wise geometry and clearance flow at different locations are presented.

Experimental investigation of cavitation instabilities in inducer with different tip clearances

To investigate the effect of tip clearance size on cavitation characteristics in a turbopump inducer,a series of experiments have been conducted in a newly developed visualization test facility using room temperature water as working fluid.The pressure fluctuations near the tip region were collected,and the cavity structures under various conditions were documented by a high-speed camera.It is found that large tip clearance distinctly reduces both the non-cavitation and cavitation performance.Three cavitation instabilities,super-synchronous rotating cavitation,synchronous rotating cavitation and cavitation surge have been carefully identified through combination of cross-correlation analysis of pressure signals and visualization results.Large tip clearance displays a remarkable stabilization effect on pressure fluctuation,cavitation surge totally disappears,and the range of occurrence of synchronous rotating cavitation becomes smaller for the large tip clearance,whereas super-synchronous rotating cavitation only occurs in the large tip clearance.The cavitation areas are smaller at large tip clearance,while the flow channels are more seriously choked when cavitation occurs heavily in comparison with those at small tip clearance,which may be responsible for the worse cavitation performance.

Unsteady Tip Clearance Flow in an Isolated Axial Compressor Rotor

The paper investigates effects of operating conditions, tip clearance sizes and external unsteady excitations on the unsteady tip clearance flow in an isolated axial compressor rotor by unsteady 3D Navier-Stokes simulations. The results show that the unsteady tip clearance vortex takes a periodic flow behavior in the rotor tip region. With the decrease of the flow coefficient, the unsteady tip clearance vortex is enhanced and its frequency becomes lower. A larger tip clearance size can cause bigger unsteady fluctuation amplitude and a lower fluctuation frequency of the tip clearance vortex at the near stall operating condition. The unsteady excitation with the natural frequency of the tip clearance vortex can enhance the unsteadiness of the tip clearance vortex and improve the overall rotor performance. The frequency of the unsteady tip clearance vortex is independent of external unsteady excitations with different frequencies.

Numerical Investigation of Tip Clearance Effects in an Axial Transonic Compressor

Numerical investigations of the Darmstadt transonic single stage compressor (DTC), in the Rotor1-Stator1 configuration, aimed at advancing the understanding of the effect of different rotor tip gaps and transition modelling on the blade surfaces are presented. Steady three dimensional Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations were performed to obtain the flow fields for the different configurations at different operating conditions using the RANS-Solver TRACE. The stage geometry and the multi-block structured grid were generated by G3DMESH and a grid sensitivity analysis was conducted. For the clearance gap region, a fully gridded special H-grid was chosen. Comparisons were made between the flow characteristic at design speed, representative for a transonic flow regime, and at 65% speed, representative for a subsonic flow regime. The computations were used to analyse the flow phenomena through the tip clearance region for the different configurations and their impact on the performance of the compressor stage.

Active generalized predictive control of turbine tip clearance for aero-engines

Active control of turbine blade tip clearance continues to be a concern in design and control of gas turbines. Ever increasing demands for improved efficiency and higher operating temperatures require more stringent tolerances on turbine tip clearance. In this paper, a turbine tip clearance control apparatus and a model of turbine tip clearance are proposed; an implicit active generalized predictive control （GPC）, with auto-regressive （AR） error modification and fuzzy adjustment on control horizon, is presented, as well as a quantitative analysis method of robust per- turbation radius of the system. The active clearance control （ACC） of aero-engine turbine tip clear- ance is evaluated in a lapse-rate take-off transient, along with the comparative and quantitative analysis of the stability and robustness of the active tip clearance control system. The results show that the resultant active tip clearance control system with the improved GPC has favorable steadystate and dynamic performance and benefits of increased efficiency, reduced specific fuel consump- tion, and additional service life.