Session: 40-05: Turbine Cavity Flows and Flowpath Geometry Effects II

Paper Number: 153348

LES Analysis of a High-Pressure Turbine Rotating Blade Flow Including Purge and
Tip Flows 

A careful introduction of coolant airflows, which create the film protecting the turbine blade, is critical for a more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly jet engine. This is because an excessive amount of coolant results in a decrease in the overall thermal efficiency of the engine, while a shortage of coolant causes the thermal damage of the blade. Therefore, the accurate prediction of flowfields mixing with the cooling airflows is of great interest for achieving a better design of a jet engine.

The main objective of this paper is to numerically investigate the cooling effectiveness by the purge flow inside the high-pressure turbine (HPT) rotor using a large eddy simulation (LES). The three-dimensional blade and the conditions are those of the Penn-State University START rotating rig, and the design is representative of a high-pressure turbine rotor. A high-quality 120 million cell structured grid, which adequately resolves the high-Reynolds number flow and the complex secondary flow structures, is constructed using the GridPro software, and the computational flow domain consists of a rotating blade with a tip clearance as well as the endwalls. The flow solution is performed using Glenn-HT, an in-house CFD solver, from NASA Glenn Research Center [1], which uses a finite volume, second order spatial and temporal analysis. The purge flow is modeled via an inlet boundary condition, and the purge cavity is not modeled. A rotating rotor blade compares aspects of flow transition on the blade tip flow as well as a purge flow effect on the hub endwall are carefully analyzed. 

Presenting Author: Robin Prenter MacTaggart Scott & Co. Ltd.

Presenting Author Biography: Georgia Institute of Technology —Atlanta, GA, 2003-2008– Ph.D. Program, Aerospace Engineering

Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES), The University of Texas at Austin 2008-2012 - Title: Postdoctoral Researcher

General Electric (GE), Global Research Center 2012-2014- Title: Lead Engineer

Then I joined NASA, Glenn Research Center (GRC) 2014-present as a civil servant.

My specialty is about numerical modeling using LES or RANS for application of turbomachinery, combustor-turbine interaction, and rotating detonation engines.
I am the AIAA Associate Fellow and serve on the AIAA Gas Turbine Engines Technical Committee.

Authors:

Kenji Miki NASA Glenn
Ali Ameri The Ohio State University / NASA Glenn Research Center
Timothy Beach HX5 LLC / NASA Glenn Research Center
Erlendur Steinthorsson A&E Consulting, Inc./ NASA Glenn Research Center
Philip Poinsatte NASA Glenn Research Center
Douglas Thurman NASA Glenn Research Center
Allan Arisi Pratt & Whitney
Robin Prenter MacTaggart Scott & Co. Ltd.
Tyler Vincent Pratt & Whitney