An experimental and numerical investigation was conducted to determine the film cooling effectiveness of a normal slot and angled slot under realistic engine Mach number conditions. Freestream Mach numbers of 0.65 and 1.3 were tested. For the normal slot, hot gas ingestion into the slot was observed at low blowing ratios (M < 0.25). At high blowing ratios (M > 0.6) the cooling film was observed to "lift off" from the surface. For the 30o angled slot, the data was found to collapse using the blowing ratio as a scaling parameter (x/Ms). Results from the current experiment were compared with the subsonic data published to confirm this test procedure. For the angled slot, at the supersonic freestream Mach number, the current experiment shows that at the same x/Ms, the film cooling effectiveness increases by as much as 25% as compared to the subsonic case. The results of the experiment also show that at the same x/Ms, the film cooling effectiveness of the angled slot is considerably higher than that of the normal slot, at both subsonic and supersonic Mach numbers. The flow physics for the slot tests considered here are also described with computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations in the subsonic and supersonic regimes. / Master of Science

The relationship between the plenum to freestream total pressure ratio on film cooling performance is experimentally investigated. Measurements of both the heat transfer coefficient and the adiabatic effectiveness were made on the suction side of the center blade in a linear transonic cascade. Entrance and exit Mach numbers were 0.3 and 1.2 respectively. Reynolds number based on chord and exit conditions is 3 x 10⁶. The blade contour is representative of a typical General Electric first stage, high turning, turbine blade. Tunnel freestream conditions were 10 psig total pressure and approximately 80 °C. A chilled air coolant film was supplied to a generic General Electric leading edge showerhead coolant scheme. Pressure ratios were varied from run to run over the ranges of 1.02 to 1.20. The density ratio was near a value of 2. A method to determine both the heat transfer coefficient and film cooling effectiveness from experimental data is outlined. Results show that the heat transfer coefficient is independent of the pressure ratio over these ranges of blowing parameters. Also, there is shown to be a weak reduction of film cooling effectiveness with higher pressure ratios. Results are shown for effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient profiles along the blade. / Master of Science

The effects of using an insert Heat Flux Microsensor (HFM) versus an HFM deposited directly on a turbine blade to measure heat flux in a transonic cascade are investigated. The HFM is a thin-film sensor, 6.35 mm (0.250") in diameter (for an insert gage, including the housing) which measures heat flux and surface temperature. The thermal time response of both gages was modeled using a 1-D, finite difference technique and a 2-D, finite element solver. The transient response of the directly deposited gage was also tested against insert gages using an unsteady shock wave in a bench test setup and using a laser of known output. The effects of physical gage offset from the blade surface were also investigated. The physical offset of an insert HFM near the stagnation point on the suction side of a turbine blade was intentionally varied and the average heat transfer coefficient measured. Turbulence grids were used to study how offset affects the heat transfer coefficient with freestream turbulence added to the flow. The time constant of the directly deposited gage was measured to be 856 ms compared to less than 30 ms for the insert gages. Model results predict less than 20 ms for both gages and rule out the anodization layer (used for electrical isolation of the directly deposited gage from the blade) as the cause for the directly deposited gage's much slower time response. Offsets of ± 0.254 mm (0.010") at the gage location with an estimated boundary layer thickness of 0.10 mm (0.004") produced a higher average heat transfer coefficient than the 0.000" offset case. Using an insert HFM resulted in a higher average heat transfer coefficient than using the directly deposited gage and reduced the effects of freestream turbulence. To accurately measure heat transfer coefficients and the effects of freestream turbulence, the disruption of the flow caused by a gage must be minimized. Depositing a gage directly on the blade minimizes the effects of offset, but the cause of the slow time response must first be resolved if high speed data is to be taken. / Master of Science

Various sources of error can cause discrepancies among flight test results, experimental measurements and numerical predictions in the transonic regime. For unsteady flow, the effects of wind tunnel walls or a finite computational domain are the least understood and perhaps the most important. Although various techniques can be used in steady wind tunnel testing to minimize wall reflections, e.g., using slotted walls with ventilation, wind tunnel wall effects remain in unsteady wind tunnel testing even when they have been essentially eliminated from the steady flow. Even when the walls are ten chord lengths or more from the airfoil being tested, they can have a substantial effect on the unsteady aerodynamic response of the airfoil. In this study we compare numerical computations of two- and three-dimensional unsteady transonic flow with one another, and with experimental measurements, to isolate and examine the effects of tunnel walls. An extension of the time-linearized code developed by Fung, Yu and Seebass (1978) is used to obtain numerical results in two dimensions for comparison with one another and with the experimental measurments of Davis and Malcolm (1980). The steady flow which is perturbed by small unsteady airfoil motions is found numerically by specifying the pressure distribution rather than the airfoil coordinates using the procedure provided by Fung and Chung (1982). This provides results that are nearly free from effects caused by the small perturbation approximation; it also simulates the viscous effects present in the experimental measurements. A similar algorithm, developed especially for this study, is used for the related investigations in three dimensions. Different wall conditions are simulated numerically. Aside from a shift of frequency due to nonlinear effects, our numerical predictions of resonance conditions in two dimensions agree very well with those of linear acoustic theory. A substantial discrepancy between unconfined computations and wind tunnel experiments is observed in the low frequency range. This discrepancy highlights the importance of wall interference and wind tunnel measurements of unsteady transonic flows and delineates the conditions required to suppress them satisfactorily.

No description available.

Aeromechanics is one of the main limitations for more efficient, lighter, cheaper and reliable turbomachines, such as steam or gas turbines, as well as compressors and fans. In fact, aircraft engines designed in the last few years feature more slender, thinner and more highly loaded blades, but this trend gives rise to increased sensitivity for vibrations induced by the fluid and result in increasing challenges regarding structural integrity of the engine. Forced vibration as well as flutter failures need to be carefully avoided and an important parameter predicting instabilities in both cases is the aerodynamic damping. The aim of the present project is to numerically investigate aerodynamic damping in the first rotor of a transonic compressor (VINK6). The transonic flow field leads to a bow shock at each blade leading edge, which propagates to the suction side of the adjacent blade. This, along with the fact that the rotating blade row vibrates in different mode shapes and this induces unsteady pressure fluctuations, suggests to evaluate unsteady flow field solutions for different cases. In particular, the work focuses on the unsteady aerodynamic damping prediction for the first six mode shapes. The aerodynamic coupling between the blades of this rotor is estimated by employing a transient blade row model set in blade flutter case. The commercial CFD code used for these investigations is ANSYS CFX. Aerodynamic damping is evaluated on the basis of the Energy Method, which allows to calculate the logarithmic decrement employed as a stability parameter in this study. The least logarithmic decrement values for each mode shape are better investigated by finding the unsteady pressure distribution at different span locations, indication of the generalized force of the blade surface and the local work distribution, useful to get insights into the coupling between displacements and consequent generated unsteady pressure. Two different transient methods (Time Integration and Harmonic Balance) are employed showing the same trend of the quantities under consideration with similar computational effort. The first mode is the only one with a flutter risk, while the higher modes feature higher reduced frequencies, out from the critical range found in literature. Unsteady pressure for all the modes is quite comparable at higher span locations, where the largest displacements are prescribed, while at mid-span less comparable values are found due to different amplitude and direction of the mode shape. SST turbulence model is analyzed, which does not influence in significant manner the predictions in this case, with respect to the k-epsilon model employed for the whole work. Unsteady pressure predictions based on the Fourier transformation are validated with MATLAB codes making use of Fast Fourier Transform in order to ensure the goodness of CFX computations. Convergence level and discrepancy in aerodamping values are stated for each result and this allows to estimate the computational effort for every simulation and the permanent presence of numerical propagation errors. / Aeromekanik är en av huvudbegränsningarna för mer effektiva, lättare, billigare och mer pålitliga turbomaskiner, som ångturbiner, gasturbiner, samt kompressorer och fläktar. I själva verket har flygplansmotorer som designats under de senaste åren har fått tunnare och mer belastade skovlar, men denna trend ger upphov till ökad känslighet för aeromekaniska vibrationer och resulterar i ökande utmaningar när det gäller motorns strukturella integritet. Aerodynamiskt påtvingade vibrationer såväl som fladder måste predikteras noggrant för att kunna undvikas och en viktig parameter som förutsäger instabilitet i båda fallen är den aerodynamiska dämpningen. Syftet med det aktuella projektet är att numeriskt undersöka aerodynamisk dämpning i den första rotorn hos en transonisk kompressor (VINK6). Det transoniska flödesfältet leder till en bågformad stötvåg vid bladets främre kant, som sprider sig till sugsidan på det intilliggande bladet. I och med detta, tillsammans med det faktum att den roterande bladraden vibrerar i olika modformer och detta inducerar instationära tryckfluktuationer, syftar detta arbete på att utvärdera flödesfältslösningar för olika fal. I synnerhet fokuserar arbetet på prediktering av den instationära aerodynamiska dämpningen för de första sex modformen. Den aerodynamiska kopplingen mellan bladen hos denna rotor uppskattas genom att använda en transient bladradmodell uppsatt för fladderberäkningen. Den kommersiella CFD-koden som används för denna utredning är ANSYS CFX. Aerodynamisk dämpning utvärderas med hjälp av energimetoden, som gör det möjligt att beräkna den logaritmiska minskningen som används som en stabilitetsparameter i denna studie. De minsta logaritmiska dekrementvärdena för varje modform undersöks bättre genom att hitta den ostadiga tryckfördelningen på olika spannpositioner, som är en indikering av den lokala arbetsfördelningen, användbar för att få insikt i kopplingen mellan förskjutningar och därmed genererat ostabilt tryck. Två olika transienta metoder används som visar samma trend för de kvantiteter som beaktas med liknande beräkningsinsatser. Den första modformen är den enda med en fladderrisk, medan de högre modformerna har högre reducerade frekvenser, och ligger utanför det kritiska intervallet som finns i litteraturen. Instationärt tryck för alla moder är ganska jämförbart på de högre spannpositioner, där de största förskjutningarna föreskrivs, medan runt midspannet finns mindre jämförbara värden på grund av olika amplitud och riktning för modformen. SSTturbulensmodellen analyseras, som i detta fall inte påverkar predikteringen på ett betydande sätt. Det predikterade instationära trycket baserad på Fourier-transformationen valideras med MATLAB-koder som använder sig av Fast Fourier Transform för att säkerställa noggrannheten hos CFX-beräkningar. Konvergensnivå och skillnader i aerodämpningsvärden anges för varje resultat och detta gör det möjligt att uppskatta beräkningsinsatsen för varje simulering och uppskatta utbredningen av det numeriska felet.

A numerical procedure is presented which uses the truncation error injection methodology to efficiently achieve accurate approximations to complex problems having disparate length scales in the context of solving viscous, transonic flow over an airfoil. The truncation error distribution is estimated using the solution on a coarse grid. Local fine grids are formed which improve the resolution in regions of large truncation error. A fast fourth-order accurate scheme is presented for interpolating and relating the solutions between the generalized curvilinear coordinate systems of the local and global grids. It is shown that accurate solutions can be obtained on a global coarse grid with correction information obtained on local fine grids, which may or may not be topologically similar to the global grid as long as they are capable of resolving the local length scale. Dirichlet boundary conditions for the local grid yield the best results. The scheme also serves as the basis of a local refinement technique wherein a grid local to the nose of an airfoil is used to resolve a supersonic zone terminated by a shock and its interaction with a turbulent boundary layer. The solution on the local grid reveals details of the shock structure and a jet-like flow emanating from the root of the normal shock in the shock boundary layer interaction zone.

This dissertation deals with the instability, known as flutter, of the lifting and control surfaces of aircraft of advanced design at high altitudes and speeds. A simple model is used to represent the aerodynamics for flutter analysis of a two-degree-of-freedom airfoil system. Flutter solutions of this airfoil system are shown to be algebraically homomorphic in that solutions about different elastic axes can be found by mapping them to those about the mid-chord. Algebraic expressions for the flutter speed and frequency are thus obtained. For the prediction of flutter of a wing at transonic speeds, an accurate and efficient computer code is developed. The unique features of this code are the capability of accepting a steady mean flow regardless of its origin, a time dependent perturbation boundary condition for describing wing deformations on the mean surface, and a locally applied three-dimensional far-field boundary condition for minimizing wave reflections from numerical boundaries. Results for various test cases obtained using this code show good agreement with the experiments and other theories.

An adaptive refinement procedure combining the ideas of solving a modified difference equation and of adaptive mesh refinement is introduced. The numerical solution on a fixed grid is improved by inclusion of approximated truncation error computed from local subgrid refinement. Following this procedure, a reliable scheme has been developed for refined computations of the flow past a wedge at transonic speeds. Effects of the truncation error on the pressure, wave drag, sonic line, and shock position are investigated. By comparing the pressure drag on the wedge and the wave drag due to the shocks, the existence of a supersonic-to-supersonic shock originating from the wedge shoulder is confirmed.

This investigation studies the leakage flows over the high pressure turbine blade tip at high speed flow conditions. There is an unavoidable gap between the un-shrouded blade tip and the engine casing in a turbine stage, where the pressure difference between the pressure and the suction surfaces of the blade gives rise to the development of leakage flows through this gap. These flows contribute to about one third of the aerodynamic losses in a turbine stage. In addition they expose the blade tip to a very high temperature and result in thermal damages which reduce the blade‟s operational life. Therefore any improvement on the tip design to reduce these flows has a significant impact on the engine‟s efficiency and turbine blade‟s operational life. At the engine operational condition, the leakage flows over the high pressure turbine blade tip are mostly transonic. On the other hand literature survey has shown that most of the studies on the tip leakage flows have been performed at low speed conditions and there are only a few experimental works on the transonic tip flows. This project aims to explore the tip leakage flows at high speed condition which is the real engine condition, both experimentally and computationally and establish a comprehensive understanding of these flows on different tip geometries. The effect of tip geometry was studied using the flat tip and the cavity tip models and the effect of in-service burnout on these two tip models was established using the radius-edge flat tip and the radius-edge cavity tip models. The experimental work was carried out in the transonic wind tunnel of Queen Mary University of London and the computational simulations were performed using RANS and URANS. As the flow approached each tip model it turned and accelerated around its leading edge in the same way as the flow turns around the leading edge of an aerofoil. In the case of the tip models with sharp edges the tip flow separated at the inlet to the tip gap. For the flat tip model the flow reattachment occurred further downstream whereas in the case of the cavity tip model the length of the pressure side rim was not sufficient for the reattachment to occur and the separated flow left the rim as a free shear layer. The cavity tip model was found to have a smaller effective tip gap and hence smaller discharge coefficient in comparison to the flat tip model. For the radius-edge tip models, no separation occurred at the inlet to the tip gap and the effective tip gap was found to be the same as the geometrical tip gap. Therefore it was concluded that the tip model with radius-edges had a larger effective tip gap and hence a greater discharge coefficient than the tip geometry with sharp edges. It was observed that in the case of the supersonic tip leakage flows, decreasing the pressure ratio PR (i.e. the ratio of the static pressure at the tip gap exit to the stagnation pressure at the inlet to the tip gap) increased the discharge coefficient Cd for the tip models with sharp edges but it decreased the Cd value in the case of the tip models with radius edges. The cavity tip model with sharp edges was found to have the smallest discharge coefficient and thus the best performance in reducing the tip leakage flows as compared to all the other tip models studied in this investigation.