Effects of Endwall Motion on the Aero-Thermal Performance of a Winglet Tip in a HP Turbine

Abstract

In a gas turbine, the casing endwall moves relative to the blades. In this paper, numerical methods are first validated using experimental results for a stationary endwall. They are then used to study the effects of endwall motion on the aero-thermal performance of both winglet tips with and without tip film cooling at a tip gap of 1.9% C. The endwall motion imposes a tangential force on the flow. A scraping vortex is formed and the flow pattern within the tip gap changes significantly. The tip leakage mass flow rate that exits the tip gap from the suction side edge reduces by about 42% with endwall motion. Overall, the endwall motion reduces the tip leakage loss by 15%. The flow field downstream of the cascade also changes with endwall motion. With endwall motion, the changed flow pattern within the tip gap significantly changes the distribution of the Nusselt number on the winglet tip. For the winglet tip without tip film cooling, the Nusselt number and the heat load decrease with endwall motion. This is mainly due to the reduction in the tip leakage mass flow ratio, which reduces the leakage velocity over the tip. On the winglet tip with tip film cooling, the cooling effectiveness increases by 9% with endwall motion. Combined with the reduced Nusselt number, the heat flux on the winglet tip with tip film cooling reduces by 31% with endwall motion. The cooling effectiveness on the near tip region of the pressure side remains almost unchanged, however, the heat flux rate in this area reduces. This is because the reduced tip leakage mass flow ratio reduces the Nusselt number. With the moving endwall, the thermal performance of the suction side surface of the blade is affected by the scraping vortex. The effects of endwall motion should be considered during the design of the blade tip.