Matched Performance Characteristics of a 16-stage Axial-flow Compressor and a 3-stage Turbine
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A wind tunnel investigation was conducted to determine the performance of a turbine operating as an integral part of a turbojet engine. Data was obtained while the engine was running over full operable range of speeds at various altitudes and flight mach numbers, and with four nozzles of different outlet areas.A maximum turbine efficiency of 0.875 was obtained at altitude of 15 thousand feet, Mach number 0.53, and corrected turbine speed of 5900 rpm.
The compressor from the XT-46 turbine-propeller engine was revised by removing the last two rows of stator blades and by eliminating the interstage leakage paths described in a previous report. With the revised compressor, the flow choking point shifted upstream into the last rotor-blade row but the maximum weight flow was not increased over that of the original compressor. The flow range of the revised compressor was reduced to about two-thirds that obtained with the original compressor. The later stages of the compressor did not produce the design static-pressure increase probably because of excessive boundary-layer build-up in this region. Measurements obtained in the ninth-stage stator showed that the performance up to this station was promising but that the last three stages of the compressor were limiting the useful operating range of the preceding stages. Some modifications in flow-passage geometry and blade settings are believed to be necessary, however, before any major improvements in over-all compressor performance can be obtained.
Finer grid yields more accurate results. Report describes numerical simulation of flow in axial-turbine stage, showing interactions between rotor- and stator-airfoil rows. Complements earlier three-dimensional, time-accurate Navier-Stokes numerical simulation.
Cycle analysis of turbojet and turboprop engines - axial flow compressor requirements for gas turbine engines
Fluid flows within turbomachinery tend to be extremely complex in nature. Understanding such flows is crucial to improving current designs of turbomachinery. The computational approach can be used to great advantage in understanding flows in turbomachinery. A finite difference, unsteady, thin layer, Navier-Stokes approach to calculating the flow within an axial turbine stage is presented. The relative motion between the stator and rotor airfoils is made possible with the use of patched grids that move relative to each other. The calculation includes endwall and tip leakage effects. An introduction to the rotor-stator problem and sample results in the form of time averaged surface pressures are presented. The numerical data are compared with experimental data and the agreement between the two is found to be good.
Fluid flows within turbomachinery tend to be extremely complex. Understanding such flows is crucial to efforts to improve current turbomachinery designs, and the computational approach can be used to great advantage in this regard. This study presents a finite-difference, unsteady, thin-layer Navier-Stokes approach to calculating the flow within an axial turbine stage. The relative motion between the stator and rotor airfoils is made possible with the use of patched grids that move relative to each other. The calculation includes end-wall and tip-leakage effects. Results in the form of time-averaged surface pressures, pressure amplitudes (corresponding to the pressure fluctuation in time), near-surface velocity vectors, and pressure contours in the passage areas are presented. The numerical results are compared with experimental data wherever possible, and the agreement between the two is found to be good.
The topics are presented in viewgraph form and include the following: nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) & detailed nuclear engine modeling; modeling and engineering simulation of nuclear thermal rocket systems; nuclear thermal rocket simulation system; INSPI-NTVR core axial flow profiles; INSPI-NTRV core axial flow profiles; specific impulse vs. chamber pressure; turbine pressure ratio vs. chamber pressure; NERVA core axial flow profiles; P&W XNR2000 core axial flow profiles; pump pressure rise vs. chamber pressure; streamline of jet-induced flow in cylindrical chamber; flow pattern of a jet-induced flow in a chamber; and radiative heat transfer models.
Flows in turbomachinery are generally complex and do not easily lend themselves to numerical computation. The flows are three-dimensional and inherently unsteady. Complicated blade geometries and flow phenomena such as separation and periodic transition from laminar to turbulent flow add to the numerical complexity. Nevertheless, the accurate numerical analysis of such flows is a problem of considerable interest and practical importance to the turbomachinery community. Much of the early work in turbomachinery flow prediction focussed on airfoil cascades. While such analyses of flows in isolated airfoil rows have helped improve understanding of the flow phenomena and have gained widespread acceptance in the industrial community as a design tool, they do not yield any information regarding the unsteady effects arising out of rotor-stator aerodynamic interaction. These interaction effects become increasingly important as the distance between successive stator and rotor rows is decreased. Thus, the need exists for analytical tools that treat the rotor and stator airfoils as a system and provide information regarding the magnitude and the impact of the unsteady effects. The focus a three-dimensional, time-accurate, thin-layer Navier-Stokes code that was recently developed to study rotor-stator interaction problems. A system of patched and overlaid grids that move relative to each other is used to discretize the flow field and the governing equations are integrated using a third-order upwind scheme set in an iterative, implicit framework. The code was used to simulate subsonic flow through an axial turbine configuration for which considerable experimental data exists. Grid refinement studies were also conducted as part of the code validation process. The current status of the research, along with planned future directions, are also discussed.
Design approaches and flow analysis techniques currently employed by aircraft engine manufacturers are assessed. Studies were performed to define the characteristics of aircraft and engines for civil missions of the 1990's and beyond. These studies, coupled with experience in recent years, identified the critical technologies needed to meet long range goals in fuel economy and other operating costs. Study results, recent and current research and development programs, and an estimate of future design and analytic capabilities are discussed.
Theoretical aspects of a new capability to determine the vibratory response of turbosystems subjected to aerodynamic excitation are presented. Turbosystems such as advanced turbopropellers with highly swept blades, and axial-flow compressors and turbines can be analyzed using this capability. The capability has been developed and implemented in the April 1984 release of the general purpose finite element program NASTRAN. The dynamic response problem is addressed in terms of the normal modal coordinates of these tuned rotating cyclic structures. Both rigid and flexible hubs/disks are considered. Coriolis and centripetal accelerations, as well as differential stiffness effects are included. Generally non-uniform steady inflow fields and uniform flow fields arbitrarily inclined at small angles with respect to the axis of rotation of the turbosystem are considered sources of aerodynamic excitation. The spatial non-uniformities are considered to be small deviations from a principally uniform inflow. Subsonic and supersonic relative inflows are addressed, with provision for linearly interpolating transonic airloads.
This report is a supplemental NASTRAN document for a new capability to determine the vibratory response of turbosystems subjected to aerodynamic excitation. Supplements of NASTRAN Theoretical, User's, Programmer's, and Demonstration Manuals are included. Turbosystems such as advanced turbopropellers with highly swept blades, and axial-flow compressors and turbines can be analyzed using this capability, which has been developed and implemented in the April 1984 release of the general purpose finite element program NASTRAN. The dynamic response problem is addressed in terms of the normal modal coordinates of these tuned rotating cyclic structures. Both rigid and flexible hubs/disks are considered. Coriolis and centripetal accelerations, as well as differential stiffness effects are included. Generally nonuniform steady inflow fields and uniform flow fields arbitrarily inclined at small angles with respect to the axis of rotation of the turbosystem are considered as the sources of aerodynamic excitation. The spatial nonuniformities are considered to be small deviations from a principally uniform inflow. Subsonic relative inflows are addressed, with provision for linearly interpolating transonic airloads.
Compressor and gas turbine engine matching - power turbine, turbojet, and turboprop engines
The purpose of this engine feasibility study was to determine the benefits that can be achieved by incorporating positive displacement axial vane compression and expansion stages into high bypass turbofan engines. These positive-displacement stages would replace some or all of the conventional compressor and turbine stages in the turbine engine, but not the fan. The study considered combustion occurring internal to an axial vane component (i.e., Diesel engine replacing the standard turbine engine combustor, burner, and turbine); and external continuous flow combustion with an axial vane compressor and an axial vane turbine replacing conventional compressor and turbine systems.
A primary objective of turbine research is to obtain information that will aid in the design of gas turbines for any given application with minimum losses. As part of a program to obtain such information, flow surveys downstream of both the stator and the rotor of an experimental turbine were made in order to obtain detailed information about the flow conditions and the losses within the machine. The single-stage, low-radius-ratio turbine studied is relatively conservative in design, having low rotor-inlet relative Mach number, low turning angle, and high reaction at the rotor-root section. Surveys of the flow conditions and of the losses within the turbine are presented. The measured over-all losses are analyzed in order to approximate the magnitudes of the various components of loss. It was found that the major losses in the turbine were in the rotor near the blade extremities. The losses in the tip region were considerably greater than those near the hub. The existence of secondary flows at the exit of both the stator and the rotor was indicated by the presence of low-velocity cores near both the hub and the tip sections. Analysis of the losses by an empirical method indicated that the rotor-profile and tip-clearance losses are 31 and 9 percent of the adjusted measured total rotor loss, respectively. The remaining 60 percent loss was attributed to secondary flows.
Performance of the compressor, combustor, and turbine operating as integral parts of the XJ34-WE-32 turbojet engine was determined in the Lewis altitude wind tunnel over a range of altitudes from 5000 to 55,000 feet and flight Mach numbers from 0.28 to 1.05. Data were obtained for each of four exhaust-nozzle areas and are presented in graphical and tabular form.
The high-work-output turbine had an experimental efficiency of 0.830 at the design point and a maximum efficiency of 0.857. The downstream stator was effective in providing axial flow out of the turbine for almost the whole range of turbine operation.
A description is given of a two-phase turbine which utilizes a uniform mixture of gas and liquid accelerated in nozzles of the types reported by Elliott and Weinberg (1968). The mixture acts directly on an axial flow or tangential impulse turbine or is separated into gas and liquid streams which operate separately on a gas turbine and a hydraulic turbine. The basic two-phase cycles are examined, taking into account working fluids, aspects of nozzle expansion, details of turbine cycle operation, and the effect of mixture ratio variation. Attention is also given to two-phase nozzle efficiency, two-phase turbine operating characteristics and efficiencies, separator turbines, and impulse turbine experiments.