A Comparative Aerodynamic and Performance Study of a Three-Stage High Pressure Turbine With 3-D Bowed Blades and Cylindrical Blades

Abstract

To investigate the effect of the blade geometry on blade total pressure loss coefficient, efficiency, and performance, a comparative study is presented that deals with the aerodynamic and performance behavior of three-stage high pressure research turbine utilizing two different blade types. Keeping the initial conditions and the pressure ratio the same, two different rotors with the same hub and tip diameters are experimentally investigated. The first rotor incorporates 3-D convexly bowed blades, where as the second one utilizes a set of fully cylindrical blades. Using shrouded rotors and stators, the stator rings are correspondingly configured. The research turbine incorporates six rows beginning with a stator row. Interstage aerodynamic measurements are performed at design speeds at three stations, namely downstream of the first rotor row, the second stator row, and the second rotor row. For both rotors, the interstage radial and circumferential traversing present detailed flow pictures of the middle stage. Aerodynamic measurements were carried out at the turbine design speed. The experimental investigations have been carried out on a HP 3-stage gas turbine research facility at the Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory of Texas A&M University.