Simulation of Trailing Edge Vortex Shedding in a Transonic Turbine Cascade

Abstract

Midspan losses in the NRC transonic turbine cascade peak at an exit Mach number (M2 ) of ~1.0 and then decrease by ~40 percent as M2 is increased to the design value of 1.16. Since recent experimental results suggest that the decrease may be related to a reduction in the intensity of trailing edge vortex shedding, both steady and unsteady quasi-three-dimensional Navier–Stokes simulations have been performed with a highly refined (unstructured) grid to determine the role of shedding. Predicted shedding frequencies are in good agreement with experiment, indicating the blade boundary layers and trailing edge separated free shear layers have been modeled satisfactorily, but the agreement for base pressures is relatively poor, probably due largely to false entropy created downstream of the trailing edge by numerical dissipation. The results nonetheless emphasize the importance of accounting for the effect of vortex shedding on base pressure and loss.