The performance of a low speed axial turbine followed by a second stage nozzle is measured with particular reference to the understanding of tip clearance effects in a real machine and to possible benefits of streamlined low loss rotor tips.
A radiused pressure edge was found to improve the performance of b single stage and of a one and a half stage turbine at the small tip clearance levels for which the radius was selected. This is in contrast to cascade results where mixing loss reduced the benefits of such tips. Clearance gap flow appears therefore to be just like other turbine flow where the loss mechanism of separation must be avoided. Loss formation within and downstream of a rotor are more complex than previously realized and do not obey the simple rules that have been used to design for minimum tip clearance loss. For example, approximately 48% of the tip leakage mass flow within a rotor appears to be a flat wall jet rather than a wrapped up vortex.
The second stage nozzle efficiency was found to be significantly higher than for the first stage and to even increase with tip clearance. This is a surprising result since it means that not only is there a reduction in secondary flow loss but also that rotor leakage and rotor secondary flows do not generate downstream mixing loss.
