22nd TURBOMACHINERY WORKSHOP 2008

SECONDARY FLOWS
IN TURBINE BLADING SYSTEMS
– THEORY AND COMPUTATION

Piotr Lampart
IMP PAN, Gdańsk

17-19.09.2008 Gliwice, Poland

Secondary flows in pipes and channels

ρv 2 ∂p
pressure-driven =
R ∂n
secondary flows
∂p/∂n=const, v


0

 R


0

stress-driven
secondary flows

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 Secondary flows in turbine cascades

Formation of horse-shoe vortex,

Marchal & Sieverding (1984)

A - model of Hawthorne (1955), B – model of Langstona (1980),

C – model of Sharma & Butler (1987), D – model of Goldstein & Spores (1988).

 Secondary flows modify

boundary layers at the endwalls

Secondary flows in cascades

with a tip clearance

Endwall boundary layer, Harrison [17]

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 SECONDARY FLOWS IN OTHER FIELDS

Tip vortex behind aircraft

TORNADO

River bend flow

Tip vortex behind marine propeller

Endwall / secondary flow losses

 Formation of the inlet boundary layer upstream of the blade leading edge;

 Formation of the boundary layer downstream of the horse-shoe vortex lift-off lines;

 Shear effects along the horse-shoe vortex lift-off lines, separation lines,
between the secondary vortices, main flow and blade surfaces,
especially at the suction surface;

 Dissipation of the passage vortex, trailing shed vortex, corner vortices and other vortex flows
in the process of their mixing with the main flow;

 Exit non-uniformities may lead to local separations and upstream relocation of the laminar-
turbulent transition at the downstream blade in the secondary flow dominated region.

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 Evolution of vorticity from the endwall boundary layer
Lakshminarayana, Horlock

(u ⋅ ∇ )ω = (ω ⋅ ∇ )u − ω(∇ ⋅ u) − ∇ ×  ∇p  + ∇ ×  ∇ ⋅ τ 

 ρ   ρ  u - velocity, ω - vorticity, p – pressure,
ρ - density, τ - viscous stress tensor

ω=sωs + nωn + bω
∂  ωs  2ωn 1  ∂p ∂ρ ∂ρ ∂p 
ρq  = − 2 −
∂s  ρq   + viscous terms
R qρ  ∂n ∂b ∂n ∂b 

1 ∂ ω ω ∂a  ∂p ∂ρ ∂ρ ∂p 
(ωn q ) = b − n b + 12  ∂s ∂b − ∂s ∂b  + viscous terms
q ∂s τ ab ∂s qρ

inviscid incompressible flow

∂  ω s  2ω n
ρq  =
 ωs − ωs 0 = 2ωn0 (α − α0 )
∂s  ρq  R

inviscid perfect gas flow

∂  ωs  2 ∂p*  ωs   ωs 
2
2 ∇p*
ρq 
 =
   ρq  −  ρq  = ∫ cos φds
∂s  ρq  Rρq ∂b  2  1 1 Rρq
2 ρ

Calculation of secondary flow losses

∆ψ = −ωs1

∂ψ ∂ψ
vn1 = vr1 = −
∂r ∂n

( )
,. 11
hp ∫ ∫ ρ1v1 v r21 + v n21 cosα1d xdy
ξ sec = 00
11
hp ∫ ∫ ρ1v13 cosα1d xdy
00

(it is assumed that the secondary kinetic energy of the relative

motion in the exit section is lost during mixing)

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 EFFECTS OF SECONDARY FLOWS
(A) INCREASED CASCADE LOSSES,
(B) REDISTRIBUTION OF EXIT VELOCITY,
(C) INCREASED NON-UNIFORMITY AT EXIT,
(D) REDISTRIBUTION OF STEADY AND UNSTEADY LOADS.

Durham cascade –distribution of loss coefficient and exit swirl angle at slot 10; experimental,
computed by FlowER with Menter k-ω SST model and computed by Fluent with RSM – LRR model.

The effect of blade height

Entropy function contours in a rotor cascade

h=20mm, 60mm i 100mm

Span-wise distribution of enthalpy losses and exit angle in a rotor cascade;

1 – h=20mm; 2 – h=60mm, 3 – h=100mm

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 Profile type

Pressure distribution at the stator (left)

and rotor (right) profile; blade height h=60mm

Velocity vectors at the mid-span section (left) and at the root (right)
in the stator (left) and rotor (right) cascades; blade height h=60mm.

Entropy function contours in the stator

and rotor at the trailing edge; h=60mm

Flow turning in the cascade

Static pressure contours at the mid-span of the rotor cascade for three inlet angles

Velocity vectors at the endwalls of the rotor cascade for three inlet angles

Secondary flow vectors at the trailing edge and total pressure contours
15% axial chord downstream of the trailing edge in the rotor cascade for three inlet angles

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 Flow turning in the cascade with tip clearance

Secondary flow vectors and total pressure contours in the HP rotor cascade in selected sections located
15% axial chord upstream of the trailing edge, at the trailing edge and 15% axial chord downstream of
it; tip gap size – 2%, Ma=0.2, α0 = 63o, α1 = -63o.

Secondary flow vectors and total pressure contours in the HP rotor cascade in selected sections located
60% and 15% axial chord upstream of the trailing edge and at the trailing edge;
tip gap size – 2%, Ma=0.4, α0 = 75o, α1 = -72o.

HIGHLY LOADED CASCADES

UHL cascade of Yamamoto

Profiles used in gas turbines
for a low weight-to-power ratio

Total pressure contours in normal sections

Velocity vectors in sections from hub to tip

Total pressure contours and secondary flow vectors

Enthalpy losses in exit section – experiment, Yamamoto [4]

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 HL cascade of NRC

Enthalpy losses
Total pressure contours in normal sections

Total pressure contours and secondary flow vectors at the exit – experiment, Moustapha et al. [4]

The case of non-nominal inflow onto the suction side of the blade

Static pressure contours and velocity vectors at the endwall of the rotor cascade
for the case of non-nominal inflow onto the suction side of the blade, α0 = 0o.

Loss contours and distribution

Secondary flow vectors 85%, 55% and 5% axial chord upstream of the trailing edge of the rotor
cascade for the case of non-nominal inflow onto the suction side of the blade for α0 = 0o and 30o;

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 The effect of span-wise distribution of static pressure and cascade load

Straight and compound Spanwise distribution of static pressure, relative velocity and swirl angle
leaned stator blade in the stator and rotor 5% axial chord upstream of the trailing edge;
stage with straight stator blades (1), stage with compound leaned stator blades (2)

Redistribution of loss in the stator and rotor;

straight blades (left, 1), compound leaned blades (right, 2)

Velocity vectors at the rotor suction surface;

stage with straight stator blades (left),
stage with compound leaned stator blades (right)

The effect of leakage flow (the case of shrouded blades)

Computational domain
R1 with source/sink-type boundaries
Velocity vectors in the rotor (upper part) at the suction surface and entropy function contours
at the rotor trailing edge - computed without sources and sinks (left), computed with tip leakage (right)

S2

Static pressure contours and velocity vectors at the suction surface of the second stator blade

S2

Secondary flow vectors 35% and 75% axial chord downstream of the leading edge (left) and entropy function
contours 15% axial chord downstream of the trailing edge in the second stator (right).

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 S2
Total pressure contours in the second stator in subsequent sections located 90%, 75% and 25% axial
chord upstream of the trailing edge and 15% axial chord downstream of the trailing edge

S2
Entropy function contours in the second stator in subsequent sections located 75%, 50% and 25%
axial chord upstream of the trailing edge and 15% axial chord downstream of the trailing edge (L).
Also entropy function contours behind the second stator computed without leakage (NL)

Redistribution of secondary flows due to unsteady effects

unsteady effects =  upstream interaction of the moving blade row

 downstream transport of 2D and 3D wakes
Aachen
turbine
S1/R1/S2

R1

Instantaneous entropy function contours in the rotor at the mid-span in unsteady flow

R1

Instantaneous total pressure contours at the rotor trailing edge in unsteady flow

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S2

Instantaneous secondary flow vectors in the second stator

40% axial chord downstream of the leading edge in unsteady flow

S2

Instantaneous total pressure and entropy function contours

at the second stator trailing edge in unsteady flow

The effect of thickness and skewness of the inlet boundary layer

Skewed inlet boundary layer

Durham cascade: Total pressure contours for different skew configurations

of the inlet boundary layer; experiment - Walsh & Gregory-Smith [16]

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 Conclusions
 Losses in the endwall boundary layers can be found from an analytical expression.
Secondary flow losses need to be evaluated numerically.

 RANS calculations typically overpredict losses in the secondary flow region. The predictions are
improved with the Reynolds Stress Model.

 A decrease of the relative blade height and/or increase of flow turning in the cascade increases
the intensity of passage vortices and the level of secondary flow losses.

 Spanwise gradients of pressure and profile load cause a redistribution of secondary loss centres
along the blade span and endwall boundary layer losses.

 The development of secondary flows for the case of non-nominal incidence angles onto the
suction surface of the blade looks different than for the classical case of nominal incidence.
In front part of the blade the role of the convex and concave surface is reversed.
Two passage vortices appear – a reverse (counter-rotating) and a regular passage vortex.

 The shroud leakage helps to remove the low-energy endwall boundary layer into the leakage
slots, which retards the development of secondary flows in the current blade row.
Local span-wise pressure gradients at the second stator blades induce a strong recirculating
flow in the stator. It rolls up both the low-energy endwall boundary layer fluid and high-energy
mixing layer of the shroud leakage and gives rise to an intensive tip passage vortex in the stator

 The transport of two-dimensional stator wakes leads to significant oscillations in size of the
secondary flow zones. Segments of the tip leakage vortex from unshrouded rotors are found
periodically within the recirculating flow in the downstream stator and a strong pulsating
passage vortex is formed.

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