Experimental Study of the Effect of Periodic Unsteady Wake Flow on Boundary Layer Development, Separation, and Re-Attachment Along the Surface of a Low Pressure Turbine Blade

Abstract

The paper experimentally studies the effects of periodic unsteady wake flow on boundary layer development, separation and re-attachment along the suction surface of a low pressure turbine blade. The experimental investigations were performed on a large scale, subsonic unsteady turbine cascade research facility at Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory (TPFL), Texas A&M University. The experiments were carried out at a Reynolds number of 110,000 (based on suction surface length and exit velocity) with a free-stream turbulence intensity of 1.9%. One steady and two different unsteady inlet flow conditions with the corresponding passing frequencies, wake velocities, and turbulence intensities were investigated. The reduced frequencies cover the entire operating range of LP turbines. In addition to the unsteady boundary layer measurements, blade surface measurements were performed at the same Reynolds number. The surface pressure measurements were also carried out at one steady and two periodic unsteady inlet flow conditions. The results presented in ensemble-averaged, and the contour plot forms help to understand the physics of the separation phenomenon under periodic unsteady wake flow. It was found that the suction surface displayed a strong separation bubble for these three different reduced frequencies. For each condition, the locations and the heights defining the separation bubble were determined by carefully analyzing and examining the pressure and the mean velocity profile data. The location of boundary layer separation was independent of the reduced frequency level. However, the extent of the separation was strongly dependent on the reduced frequency level. Once the unsteady wake started to penetrate into the separation bubble, the turbulent spot produced in the wake paths caused a reduction of the separation bubble height.