This work presents an experimental and numerical investigation on the laminar-turbulent transition and secondary flow structures in a Turbine Rear Structure (TRS). The study was executed at engine representative Reynolds number and inlet conditions at three different turbine load cases. Experiments were performed in an annular rotating rig with a shrouded low-pressure turbine upstream of a TRS test section. The numerical results were obtained using the SST k–ω turbulence model and the Langtry-Menter γ–θ transition model. The boundary layer transition location at the entire vane suction side is investigated. The location of the onset and the transition length are measured using IR-thermography along the entire vane span. The IR-thermography approach was validated using hot-wire boundary layer measurements. Both experiments and CFD show large variations of transition location along the vane span with strong influences from endwalls and turbine outlet conditions. Both correlate well with traditional transition onset correlations near midspan and show that the transition onset Reynolds number is independent of the acceleration parameter. However, CFD tends to predict an early transition onset in the midspan vane region and a late transition in the hub region. Furthermore, in the hub region, CFD is shown to overpredict the transverse flow and related losses.

A good aerodynamic design of the turbine rear structure (TRS) is crucial for improving efficiency and reducing emissions from aero-engines. This paper presents a detailed experimental evaluation of an engine realistic TRS which was studied in an engine-realistic rig at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. The TRS test section was equipped with three types of outlet guide vanes (OGVs) which are typical of modern state-of-the-art TRS: regular vanes, thickened vanes and vanes with an engine mount recess (a shroud bump). Each of the three vane geometries were studied under on-design and off-design conditions at a fixed flow Reynolds number of 235,000. The study shows that the off-design performance of the TRS strongly depends on the presence of the local flow separation on the OGV suction side near the hub, which is greatly affected by the vane pressure distribution and inlet conditions. Similarly, the OGVs with increased thickness and with a vane shroud bump are shown to affect the performance of the TRS by influencing the losses on the OGV suction side near the hub. Furthermore, the presence of the bump is shown to have noticeable upstream influence on the outlet flow from the low-pressure turbine and noticeable downstream influence on the outlet flow from the TRS.

A turbine rear structure (TRS) is typically used to deswirl the flow from the low pressure turbine (LPT) and hence maximize the axial thrust. It is important to study the effect of surface roughness on aerodynamic performance of TRS. Numerical simulations with surface roughness are performed and results are compared with the data from experiments. Comparisons show that the trends between the numerical analysis and the experiments are in line with one another. Further understanding of numerical analysis shows that, at higher Reynolds number, the effect of surface roughness is more significant when compared to the effects at low-Reynolds number. An attempt has been made to study the transition behavior in the presence of surface roughness. Since boundary layer measurements are planned for the rig, this numerical study provides good inputs in order to plan instrumentation.

Compound lean implemented on stator of an industrial steam turbine stage in order to reduce secondary losses are discussed. Baseline stator is a prismatic vane with aspect ratio of unity. Compound lean stator blade is designed by shearing the airfoil sections in tangential direction. Modifications are analyzed numerically using commercial code CFX. Three blade rows i.e. one complete stage with a downstream stator are analyzed. Steady state Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes equations are solved. Total pressure loss (TPL) is used as objective function to monitor reduction in secondary losses. Rotor is retained the same for baseline as well as compound leaned stator. Results show reduction in total pressure loss of stator in excess of 5 %. Also, computations of co-efficient of secondary kinetic energy shows significant reduction in secondary losses in excess of 30 % in stator. Efficiency gained by implementation of compound lean are discussed.

This work presents an experimental and numerical investigation on the laminar-turbulent transition and secondary flow structures in a Turbine Rear Structure (TRS). The study was executed at engine representative Reynolds number and inlet conditions at three different turbine load cases. Experiments were performed in an annular rotating rig with a shrouded low-pressure turbine upstream of a TRS test section. The numerical results were obtained using the SST k–ω turbulence model and the Langtry- Menter γ–θ transition model. The boundary layer transition location at the entire vane suction side is investigated. The location of the onset and the transition length are measured using IR thermography along the entire vane span. The IR-thermography approach was validated using hot-wire boundary layer measurements. Both experiments and CFD show large variations of transition location along the vane span with strong influences from endwalls and turbine outlet conditions. Both correlate well with traditional transition onset correlations near midspan and show that the transition onset Reynolds number is independent of the acceleration parameter. However, CFD tends to predict an early transition onset in the midspan vane region and a late transition in the hub region. Furthermore, in the hub region, CFD is shown to overpredict the transverse flow and related losses.