In this paper, the detailed steady and unsteady numerical investigations of a 1.5-stage axial flow turbine are conducted to determine the specific influence of interplatform steps in the first stator—as caused by deviations in manufacturing or assembly. A basic first stator design and a design consisting of a bow and endwall contours are compared. Apart from step height, the position and geometry of the interplatform border are varied for the basic design. To create the steps, every third stator vane was elevated, together with its platforms at hub and shroud, such that the flow capacity is only little affected. The results show that the effects of steps on the platform borders in front and aft of the first stator can be decoupled from those occurring on the interplatform steps. For the latter, being the main contributor to the additional loss, the intensity of recirculation zones and losses increase substantially when the platform border is located close to the suction side. Using a relative step height of 1.82% span, the entropy production doubles when compared to a position close to the pressure side, which can be explained by differences in local flow velocity level. Regarding a circular-arc-shaped platform, the losses can be more than halved—mainly due to lower included angles between step and endwall flow streamlines. The findings can be explained by a nondimensional relation of the local entropy production using local values for step height and characteristic flow quantities. Furthermore, a reduction in step height leads to an attenuation of the otherwise linear relationship between step height and entropy production, which is mainly due to lower local ratio of step height and boundary layer thickness. In the case of laminar or transitional flow regions on the endwall, typical for turbine rigs with low inlet turbulence and low-pressure turbines under cruise conditions, the steps lead to immediate local flow transition and thus substantially different results.

In this paper, we present the evaluation of the aerodynamic robustness to rim seal purge flow of an optimized 1.5-stage axial turbine configuration with a bowed stator profile and endwall contouring. Performance maps obtained by experiments and numerical simulations show that the efficiency benefit gained by this optimized configuration is partially reduced by the injection of purge flow through the cavity downstream of the first stator. Measurements with five-hole probes and hot-wire probes, as well as unsteady RANS simulations, give insights into the physical effects of the purge flow inside the rotor passage. There, when no purge flow is injected, the optimized configuration diminishes the formation of loss-inducing secondary flow structures near the hub and the casing. When purge flow is injected, however, strong secondary flow structures are induced near the hub. These vortices generate additional losses and thereby partially negate the efficiency benefits gained by the optimization. We found that this influence of the purge flow is limited to the lower half of the channel. The data also shows that the optimized configuration reduces the vorticity near the casing regardless of the purge flow injection, which in turn leads to an efficiency increase in this area. Together, these effects lead to a reduction of the previously gained efficiency benefit by the optimized configuration when it is subjected to purge flow injection. However, compared to a baseline configuration with cylindrical endwalls also subject to purge flow injection, the efficiency is still increased by 0.38%.

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This paper presents an analytical approach to quantify the uncertainty of velocity-, angle- and turbulence intensity measurements obtained by hot-wire anemometry. Based on the given results of the model, the paper points out the most critical parameters influencing the quality of the flow measurement. The proposed approach is divided into three subsections, each accounting for the uncertainties due to the measurement equipment, probe calibration and measurements in the test-rig respectively. For every subsection the propagation of uncertainties is stated in the form of analytical formulas starting with the measurands, e.g. voltage, pressure, temperature, and ending with velocity, angle and turbulence intensity. The approach is applied to data, obtained by a triple hot-wire probe, on two-dimensional traverses in a 1.5-stage cold air turbine. The calibration process and, in particular, the temperature and pressure deviation between calibration and measurement are identified as having a major impact on the measurement uncertainty. With respect to the Aachen test-rig the uncertainty in velocity measurements is lower than 3.5%. The investigation of the turbulence intensity uncertainty yields an increase in uncertainty with increasing turbulence intensity but an insensitivity towards pitch- and yaw-angle uncertainty.

The paper presents experimental and numerical investigations of the three components of turbulent kinetic energy and its development upstream and downstream of the first vane of 1.5 stage axial flow turbine. The experimental data has been recorded using a miniature hot wire probe, equipped with three 9μm platinized tungsten wires, allowing the determination of the kinetic energy in all three spatial directions. By means of turbulent grids, a total of three different inlet turbulence levels, varying from 0.4 to 4.5%, was created. Extensive field traverses up- and downstream of the first stator have been conducted, covering more than one stator pitch and including both the free stream and the wake. For one inlet condition, a total of three axial positions between the stator and the rotor have been measured to evaluate the development of the composition of the turbulence. The type of turbulence is visualized by making use of the barycentric color map. Detailed investigations of all three fluctuation components reveal that, depending on the anisotropy level and the distribution of energy along the three spatial directions at the stator’s inlet, the velocity gradients within the first stator either promote a production or destruction of turbulent kinetic energy. As a consequence, the distribution of turbulent energy along the three spatial directions is at the stator’s outlet almost identical for the three configurations. Finally, the measurements with focus on the turbulence composition are compared to unsteady CFD simulations using, the, in industrial application, most commonly applied k-w turbulence model. In addition, an Explicit Algebraic Reynolds Stress Model (EARSM) is also applied and compared to numerical and experimental data. However, the paper is focused on the interpretation of the experimental data.