Aerodynamic performance of profiled endwalls with upstream slot purge flow in a linear turbine cascade having pressure side separation.

In aeroengines, purge flow directly fed from the compressor (which bypasses the combustor) is introduced through the disk space between blade rows to prevent the hot ingress. Higher quantity of purge gas fed through the wheel space can provide additional thermal protection to the passage endwall and blade surfaces. However, the interaction of purge flow with the mainstream flow leads to higher secondary losses. Secondary losses inside a turbine blade passage can be reduced effectively by endwall contouring. This paper presents computational investigation on the influence of non-axisymmetric endwall contouring over endwall secondary flow modification in the presence of purge flow with the pressure side bubble (PSB). The experimental analysis was conducted for the base case without purge and base case with purge (BCP) configurations having flat endwalls. The total pressure loss coefficient and exit yaw angle deviation were measured with the help of a five-hole pressure probe. Static pressure distribution over the blade midspan was obtained by 16 channel Scanivalve. Aerodynamic performances of three different profiled endwalls are numerically analyzed and are compared against the BCP configuration. The effects of different contoured endwall geometries on endwall static pressure distribution and secondary kinetic energy were also discussed. Analysis shows that in the first contoured endwall configuration (EC1), the formation of stagnation zones at a contour valley close to the suction surface causes the exit total pressure loss coefficient to increase. The shifting of the contour valley near to the pressure surface (EC2 configuration) has resulted in local acceleration of the diverted pressure side leg of the horseshoe vortex over the hump toward the end of the passage. In the third configuration (EC3 configuration), reduced valley depth and optimum hump height have effectively redistributed the endwall pitchwise pressure gradient. The increased static pressure coefficient at the endwall near to the pressure surface has eliminated the PSB formation. In addition, computational results of unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes simulations are obtained for analyzing transient behavior of PSB, with more emphasis on its migration on the pressure surface and transport across the blade passage. The additional work done by the mainstream fluid to transport the low momentum PSB fluid has caused higher aerodynamic penalty at the blade exit region. In this viewpoint, the implementation of contoured endwalls has shown beneficial effects by eliminating the PSB and related secondary vortices. At 27% of axial chord downstream of the blade trailing edge, a 4.1% reduction in the total pressure loss coefficient was achieved with endwall contouring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]