Showing papers by "Terrence W. Simon published in 2001"

Measurements Over a Film-Cooled, Contoured Endwall With Various Coolant Injection Rates

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study of film coverage for coolant injection through an axisymmetric, contoured endwall of a high-pressure turbine first stage vane row. Tests are done on a low speed, linear cascade. The injection is either through a single slot upstream of the leading edges of the vanes or through two slots, one upstream of the other. Because the contouring begins upstream of the leading edges, injection is in an accelerating flow region. The effects of such injection on the secondary flows within the vane cascade are inferred by means of contours of dimensionless temperature. These thermal measurements are made by slightly heating the injection stream above the main flow temperature and documenting the temperatures inside the coolant-mainstream mixing zone. The thermal results are complemented with three-component, hot-wire measurements taken near the exit plane. Performance with different injection rates is discussed. The secondary flow seems to affect the cooling flow strongly when the momentum of the injected flow is small, compared to the main flow momentum. As a result, coolant coverage is non-uniform, with most of the coolant accumulating near the suction side of the passage. As the injection momentum is increased, some pressure-side accumulation of coolant is observed. However, non-uniformity still exists, with a lesser amount of coolant in the central region and more near the suction and pressure surfaces. For the same ratio of coolant to mainstream mass flow rates, cooling through a single slot seems to give more cooling towards the pressure side than does cooling through two slots. With the same mass flow rate, the one-slot case has higher injection momentum than does the two-slot case. This indicates that momentum flux is an important parameter in establishing the distribution of the coolant within the passage.Copyright © 2001 by ASME

Measurements in a Turbine Cascade Flow Under Ultra Low Reynolds Number Conditions

Abstract: With the new generation of gas turbine engines, low Reynolds number flows have become increasingly important. Designers must properly account for transition from laminar to turbulent flow and separation of the flow from the suction surface, which is strongly dependent upon transition. Of interest to industry are Reynolds numbers based upon suction surface length and flow exit velocity below 150,000 and as low as 25,000. In this paper, the extreme low end of this Reynolds number range is documented by way of pressure distributions, loss coefficients, and identification of separation zones. Reynolds numbers of 25,000 and 50,000 and with 1 percent and 8-9 percent turbulence intensity of the approach flow (free-stream turbulence intensity, FSTI) were investigated. At 25,000 Reynolds number and low FSTI, the suction surface displayed a strong and steady separation region. Raising the turbulence intensity resulted in a very unsteady separation region of nearly the same size on the suction surface. Vortex generators were added to the suction surface, but they appeared to do very little at this Reynolds number. At the higher Reynolds number of 50,000, the low-FSTI case was strongly separated on the downstream portion of the suction surface. The separation zone was eliminated when the turbulence level was increased to 8-9 percent. Vortex generators were added to the suction surface of the low-FSTI case. In this instance, the vortices were able to provide the mixing needed to re-establish flow attachment. This paper shows that massive separation at very low Reynolds numbers (25,000) is persistent, in spite of elevated FSTI and added vortices. However, at a higher Reynolds number, there is opportunity for flow reattachment either with elevated free-stream turbulence or with added vortices. This may be the first documentation of flow behavior at such low Reynolds numbers. Although it is undesirable to operate under these conditions, it is important to know what to expect and how performance may be improved if such conditions are unavoidable.

Experimental investigation of transition to turbulence as affected by passing wakes

Abstract: Experimental results from a study of the effects of passing wakes upon laminar-to-turbulent transition in a low-pressure turbine passage are presented. The test section geometry is designed to simulate the effects of unsteady wakes resulting from rotor-stator interaction upon laminar-to-turbulent transition in turbine blade boundary layers and separated flow regions over suction surfaces. Single-wire, thermal anemometry techniques were used to measure time-resolved and phase-averaged, wall-normal profiles of velocity, turbulence intensity, and intermittency at multiple streamwise locations over the turbine airfoil suction surface. These data are compared to steady state, wake-free data collected in the same geometry to identify the effects of wakes upon laminar-to-turbulent transition. Results are presented for flows with a Reynolds number based on suction surface length and exit velocity of 50,000 and an approach flow turbulence intensity of 2.5 percent. From these data, the effects of passing wakes and associated increased turbulence levels and varying pressure gradients on transition and separation in the near-wall flow are presented. The results show that the wakes affect transition both by virtue of their difference in turbulence level from that of the free-stream but also by virtue of their velocity deficit relative to the freestream velocity, and the concomitant change in angle of attack and temporal pressure gradients. The results of this study seem to support the theory that bypass transition is a response of the near-wall viscous layer to pressure fluctuations imposed upon it from the free-stream flow. The data also show a significant lag between when the wake is present over the surface and when transition begins. The accompanying CD-ROM includes tabulated data, animations, higher resolution plots, and an electronic copy of this report.

CFD Modeling of Free-Piston Stirling Engines

Abstract: NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is funding Cleveland State University (CSU) to develop a reliable Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code that can predict engine performance with the goal of significant improvements in accuracy when compared to one-dimensional (1-D) design code predictions. The funding also includes conducting code validation experiments at both the University of Minnesota (UMN) and CSU. In this paper a brief description of the work-in-progress is provided in the two areas (CFD and Experiments). Also, previous test results are compared with computational data obtained using (1) a 2-D CFD code obtained from Dr. Georg Scheuerer and further developed at CSU and (2) a multidimensional commercial code CFD-ACE+. The test data and computational results are for (1) a gas spring and (2) a single piston/cylinder with attached annular heat exchanger. The comparisons among the codes are discussed. The paper also discusses plans for conducting code validation experiments at CSU and UMN.