The VKI Compression Tube Annular Cascade Facility CT3

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the new transonic, annular facility developed at the von Karman Institute to investigate the aerodynamic heat transfer performances of real size advanced aero-engine and gas turbine components at correctly simulated operating conditions. The facility operates under the principle of an Isentropic Light Piston Compression Tube. Its definite advantage over classical blowdown wind tunnels is to independently model the freestream Mach and Reynolds numbers as well as the gas/wall/coolant temperature ratios. Its running time ranges between 0.1 and 1 s. The first part of the paper describes the design, the manufacturing and the installation of the different components of the wind tunnel and the test section. The second part deals with the different measurement techniques applied for aerodynamic and heat transfer measurements; it also describes some examples of the flow quality obtained in this new facility.