Effects of axial turbine tip shroud cavity flow on performance and durability

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Palmer, Timothy R. (Timothy Richard)
Other Authors: Choon S. Tan.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97771
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author Palmer, Timothy R. (Timothy Richard)
author2 Choon S. Tan.
author_facet Choon S. Tan.
Palmer, Timothy R. (Timothy Richard)
author_sort Palmer, Timothy R. (Timothy Richard)
collection MIT
description Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015.
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spelling mit-1721.1/977712019-04-12T14:39:59Z Effects of axial turbine tip shroud cavity flow on performance and durability Palmer, Timothy R. (Timothy Richard) Choon S. Tan. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering. Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-228). Flow through tip shroud cavity in a representative axial turbine vane-rotor stage environment is assessed for its role in loss generation and turbine durability. Steady and unsteady three-dimensional flow computations, complemented by control volume analyses, for varying shroud configurations provided results for establishing quantitative links between loss and ow processes as well as loss level scalings. Specifically tip shroud cavity flow is dominated by two counter-rotating vortices upstream, and a free expansion leakage jet downstream, of the tip seal, followed by a mixing shear layer at cavity exit. One of the vortices, the cavity inlet toroidal vortex, sets the loss level within the cavity inlet and the mass ow recirculated out of the cavity into the main flow path. It is found that tip shroud cavity flow incurs a 0:85% debit in stage eciency per 1% of main flow fluid through the cavity with approximately 50% generated in the free expansion of the tip seal leakage jet and 50% from cavity exit mixing. The proportion of total loss attributable to cavity exit mixing increases with tip seal gap. In addition, vane-rotor unsteady interaction induces an additional 0:25% debit in eciency per 1% of main flow fluid through the cavity. The additional efficiency penalty induced by vane-rotor unsteady interaction results from an enhancement of the cavity inlet toroidal vortex and associated recirculated mass flow. Overall cavity loss is set by cavity mass flow fraction, stagnation pressure ratio across tip seal, velocity disparity between cavity exit flow and rotor exit flow, and cavity inlet vortex strength. These findings were used to formulate a modified tip shroud configuration that nearly eliminates cavity exit mixing loss, but it incurs a penalty associated with cavity flow low Reynolds number effects and induced mismatching between vane and modified tip shroud. In the process of designing this modified tip shroud, it was found that the turbine main flow perceives the cavity as a line sink-source pair, permitting estimation of flow redistribution in the main flow path. Finally, any operational transients which eliminate tip seal clearance would lead to enhanced impingement heat transfer at blade tip due to recirculating ow from cavity inlet; this can increase the likelihood of blade failure. by Timothy R. Palmer. Ph. D. 2015-07-17T19:13:28Z 2015-07-17T19:13:28Z 2015 2015 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97771 913415654 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 228 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering.
Palmer, Timothy R. (Timothy Richard)
Effects of axial turbine tip shroud cavity flow on performance and durability
title Effects of axial turbine tip shroud cavity flow on performance and durability
title_full Effects of axial turbine tip shroud cavity flow on performance and durability
title_fullStr Effects of axial turbine tip shroud cavity flow on performance and durability
title_full_unstemmed Effects of axial turbine tip shroud cavity flow on performance and durability
title_short Effects of axial turbine tip shroud cavity flow on performance and durability
title_sort effects of axial turbine tip shroud cavity flow on performance and durability
topic Mechanical Engineering.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97771
work_keys_str_mv AT palmertimothyrtimothyrichard effectsofaxialturbinetipshroudcavityflowonperformanceanddurability