Passive Turbulence Generating Grid Arrangements in a Turbine Cascade Wind Tunnel
Abstract
Turbine cascade wind tunnels simulate Reynolds number and turbulence for the examination of flow phenomena such as boundary layer separation on the trailing portion of low pressure turbine blades. Axial chord-based Reynolds numbers considered in this study were 50k and 100k. Various passive, square-bar turbulence generating grid arrangements were explored to simulate turbulence in a turbine cascade test-section inlet, including two grid orientations: perpendicular to the inlet flow and parallel to the turbine cascade. A novel T-Bar turbulence grid configuration oriented parallel to the cascade was shown to produce better test section inlet flowfield uniformity than that produced by a perpendicular mesh grid. Improved periodicity in blade-to-blade surface pressure coefficient profiles was also observed with the parallel T-Bar grid.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 02, 2014
- Accession Number
- AD1015089
Entities
People
- Connor J. Wiese
- Giovanni Allevato
- Kurt P. Rouser
- Michael J. Mcclearn
- Richard Iii T. Guttman
Organizations
- United States Air Force Academy