On the performance of a cascade of turbine rotor tip section blading in wet steam Part 3: Wake traverses

Abstract

During the course of expansion of steam in turbines the fluid first supercools and then nucleates to become a two-phase mixture. The liquid phase consists of a large number of extremely small droplets which are difficult to generate except by nucleation. To reproduce turbine two-phase flow conditions requires a supply of supercooled vapour which can be achieved under blow-down conditions by the equipment employed. This paper is the third of a set describing an investigation into the performance of a cascade of rotor tip section profiles in wet steam and presents the results of the wake traverses.