Unsteady Numerical Simulation of Shock Systems in Vaneless Counter-Rotating Turbine

A detailed unsteady numerical simulation has been carried out to investigate the shock systems in the high pressure (HP) turbine rotor and unsteady shock-wake interaction between coupled blade rows in a 1+1/2 counter-rotating turbine (VCRT). For the VCRT HP rotor, due to the convergent-divergent nozzle design, along almost all the span, fishtail shock systems appear after the trailing edge, where the pitch averaged relative Mach number is exceeding the value of 1.4 and up to 1.5 approximately (except the both endwalls). A group of pressure waves create from the suction surface after about 60% axial chord in the VCRT HP rotor, and those waves interact with the inner-extending shock (IES). IES first impinges on the next HP rotor suction surface and its echo wave is strong enough and cannot be neglected, then the echo wave interacts with the HP rotor wake. Strongly influenced by the HP rotor wake and LP rotor, the HP rotor outer-extending shock (OES) varies periodically when moving from one LP rotor leading edge to the next. In VCRT, the relative Mach numbers in front of IES and OES are not equal, and in front of IES, the maximum relative Mach number is more than 2.0, but in front of OES, the maximum relative Mach number is less than 1.9. Moreover, behind IES and OES, the flow is supersonic. Though the shocks are intensified in VCRT, the loss resulted in by the shocks is acceptable, and the HP rotor using convergent-divergent nozzle design can obtain major benefits.