Characterization of Flow Interactions in a One-Stage Shrouded Axial Turbine

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to characterize the steady and unsteady flow interactions through a one-stage high-pressure (hp) shrouded axial turbine with a tip cavity. The vane and blade passages were reduced based on the scaling technique, and the domains of compromise were identified and used in the flow computations. The flow structures are mainly in the form of vanes’ wakes and vortices inducing circumferential distortions and interacting with the rotor blades. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the static pressure fluctuations recorded at the selected points and lines through the turbine stage revealed high unsteadiness characterized by a space-time periodic behavior, and described by the double Fourier decomposition. The vane-rotor interactions (VRI) appeared in the form of a potential flow field about the blades extending both upstream and downstream and correlated with the rotational speed. The other sources of unsteadiness are induced in the rotor blades by the vanes’ wakes and referred to as the wake interaction, in addition to the secondary flows and vortices in endwall regions.