Secondary Flow Measurements in a Turbine Cascade With High Inlet Turbulence

Abstract

Measurements of the mean and turbulent flow field have been made in a cascade of high turning turbine rotor blades. The inlet turbulence was raised to 5 percent by a grid placed upstream of the cascade, and the secondary flow region was traversed within and downstream of the blades using a five-hole probe and crossed hot wires. Flow very close to the end wall was measured using a single wire placed at several orientations. Some frequency spectra of the turbulence were also obtained. The results show that the mean flow field is not affected greatly by the high inlet turbulence. The Reynolds stresses were found to be very high, particularly in the loss core. Assessment of the contributions to production of turbulence by the Reynolds stresses shows that the normal stresses have significant effects, as do the shear stresses. The calculation of eddy viscosity from two independent shear stresses shows it to be fairly isotropic in the loss core. Within the blade passage, the flow close to the end wall is highly skewed and exhibits generally high turbulence. The frequency spectra show no significant resonant peaks, except for one at very low frequency, attributable to an acoustic resonance.