Numerical Calculation of Flow for Cascade With Tip Clearance Free

Three-dimensional incompressible turbulent flow within a linear turbine cascade with tip clearance is analyzed numerically. The governing equations involving the standard k-ε model are solved in the physical component tensor form with a boundary-fitted coordinate system. In the analysis, the blade tip geometry is treated accurately in order to predict the flow through the tip clearance in detail when the blades have large thicknesses. Although the number of grids employed in the present study is not enough because of the limitation of computer storage memory, the computed results show good agreements with the experimental results. Moreover, the results clearly exhibit the locus of minimum pressure on the rear part of the pressure surface at the blade tip.