Experimental Study on Effects of Inlet Boundary Layer Thickness and Boundary Layer Fence in a Turbine Cascade

터빈 캐스케이드 입구경계층 두께와 경계층 펜스 효과에 대한 실험적 연구

The working fluid from the combustor to the turbine stage of a gas turbine makes various boundary layer thickness. Since the inlet boundary layer thickness is one of the important factors that affect the turbine efficiency. It is necessary to investigate secondary flow and loss with various boundary layer thickness conditions. In the present study, the effect of various inlet boundary layer thickness on secondary flow and loss and the proper height of the boundary layer fences for various boundary layer thickness were investigated. Measurements of secondary flow velocity and total pressure loss within and downstream of the passage were taken under 5 boundary layer thickness conditions, 16, 36, 52, 69, 110mm. It was found that total pressure loss and secondary flow areas were increased with increase of thickness but they were maintained almost at the same position. At the fellowing research about the boundary layer fences, 1/6, 1/3, 1/2 of each inlet boundary layer thickness and 12mm were used as the fence heights. As a result, it was observed that the proper height of the fences was generally constant since the passage vortex remained almost at the same position. Therefore once the geometry of a cascade is decided, the location of the Passage vortex and the proper fence height are appeared to be determined at the same time. When the inlet boundary layer thickness is relatively small, the loss caused by the proper fence becomes bigger than endwall loss so that it dominates secondary loss. In these cases the proper fence hight is decided not by the cascade geometry but by the inlet boundary layer thickness as previous investigations.