Computational Investigation of Low-Pressure Turbine Aerodynamics

Abstract

The design of today’s gas turbine engines is heavily reliant on accurate computational fluid flow models. Creating prototype designs is far more expensive than modeling the design on a computer; however, current turbulence and transitional flow models are not always accurate. Several turbulence and transition models were validated at North Dakota State University by analyzing the flow through a low pressure turbine of a gas turbine engine. Experimental data for these low pressure turbines was provided by the University of North Dakota. Two separate airfoil geometries are analyzed in this study. The first geometry is a first stage flow vane, and the second geometry is an incidence angle tolerant turbine blade. Pressure and heat transfer data were compared between computations and experiments on the turbine blade surfaces. Simulations were conducted with varying Reynolds numbers, Mach numbers, and free stream turbulence intensities and were then compared with experiments.