This paper examines the diffuser flow with consideration to turbine outflow conditions. The setup consists of a low-speed axial diffuser test rig, that represents a 1/10 scaled heavy-duty exhaust diffuser with an annular and a conical diffuser part. In part A of this paper it was shown through experimental investigation that the turbulent kinetic energy as well as the Reynolds shear stresses are the relevant physical parameters that correlate with diffuser pressure recovery. To complement the experimental investigations, unsteady scale-resolving CFD simulations are performed, applying the SST-SAS turbulence model. As a first step, the numerical approach is validated by means of the experimental data with regards to the diffuser’s integral parameters as well as the prediction of local flow characteristics. In a second step, the interaction of coherent vortices generated by the rotor and the diffuser’s boundary layer are analyzed by means of the validated SST-SAS results. These vortices are found to have a major impact on the boundary layer separation in the region immediately downstream of the rotor and at the diffuser inlet.

Exhaust diffusers significantly enhance the available power output and efficiency of gas and steam turbines by allowing lower turbine exit pressures. The residual dynamic pressure of the turbine outflow is converted into static pressure, which is referred to as pressure recovery. Since total pressure losses and construction costs increase drastically with diffuser length, it is strongly preferred to design shorter diffusers with steeper opening angles. However, these designs are more susceptible to boundary layer separation. In this paper, the stabilizing properties of tip leakage vortices generated in the last rotor row and their effect on the boundary layer characteristics are examined. Based on analytical considerations, for the first time, a correlation between the pressure recovery of the diffuser and the integral rotor parameters of the last stage, namely, the loading coefficient, flow coefficient, and reduced frequency, is established. Experimental data and scale-resolving simulations, carried out with the shear stress transport scale-adaptive simulation (SST-SAS) method, both show excellent agreement with the correlation. Blade tip vortex strength predominantly depends on the amount of work exchanged between fluid and rotor, which in turn is described by the nondimensional loading coefficient. The flow coefficient influences mainly the orientation of the vortex, which affects the interaction between vortex and boundary layer. The induced velocity field accelerates the boundary layer, essentially reducing the thickness of the separated layer or even preventing separation locally.

Abstract. Developments of the background oriented schlieren technique (BOS) towards a three-dimensional measurement technique for 3D density fields are presented. The projections of the density are tomographically reconstructed using filtered back-projection. Theoretical investigations show that the sensitivity of the BOS method depends on the geometric setup, the resolution of the camera, the focal length of the lens and the evaluation algorithm whereas the resolution of the method is described by its transfer function. Applications of the method at an under-expanded free jet of air and to the wake of wind tunnel cascade showed good results -qualitatively as well as quantitatively.

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The objective of this study is to quantify the sensitivity of blade roughness on the overall performance of a 10-stage high-pressure compressor of the jet engine type V2500-A1. The Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes flow solver TRACE is used to study the multistage compressor. The three-dimensional numerical setup contains all geometric and aerodynamic features such as bleed ports and the variable stator vanes system. In order to estimate the effect of stage roughness on overall compressor performance, compressor maps of the CFD-model are created by modeling the surface roughness separately for a single stage and combinations of stages. The surface roughness values are applied to the blade's suction side of the first, center and last stage in the CFD-model by setting an equivalent sand-grain value. This equivalent sand-grain roughness is determined from non-intrusive measurements of blade surfaces from an equivalent real aircraft engine for the first, center and last stage. In addition, further simulations are conducted to analyze the performance drop of a fully rough HPC due to surface roughness. The studies are performed at the operating conditions 'cruise' and 'take-off' to cover two different Reynolds number regimes. The results show that the models with roughness in a single stage already lead to significantly lower mass flow rates because of higher blockage compared to the smooth compressor. In fact, roughness at the first stage has the biggest effect on the overall performance with a drop in performance of about 0.1% while the effect of the last stage is the smallest. This behavior is mainly caused by enhanced instabilities through the compressor changing the stage-by-stage matching of the stages downstream. In addition to the displacement of the compressor maps to a lower mass flow, a reduction of stall and choke margins is noticeable.