As-manufactured rotors behave quite differently than nominal, as-designed rotors due to small geometric and material property deviations in the rotor, referred to as mistuning. The mistuning of a 20 bladed, integrally bladed rotor (IBR) will be evaluated via analytical methods, bench-top testing, and using a rotating compressor research facility. Analytical methods consist of the development of an as-manufactured model based on geometry measurements from a high fidelity optical scanning system. Benchtop testing of the IBR is done using a traveling wave excitation (TWE) system that simulates engine order excitation in stationary bladed disks for the purpose of determining potentially high responding blades due to mistuning. The compressor research facility utilizes blade tip timing (BTT) to measure the blade vibration of the IBR. The resonant response of the IBR at various modes and harmonic excitations is investigated. A comprehensive mistuning and force amplification comparison between the as-manufactured model, TWE, and the compressor rig is performed. Mistuning of each method is evaluated using three different methods. First, the tuned absorber factor (TAF), which is a metric to determine potential high responding blades, is determined for each system. Next, mistuning is analyzed by isolating individual blades both experimentally on the bench and analytically to determine the mistuning patterns. Lastly, the mistuning determined by each system will be evaluated using a reduced-order model, namely the Fundamental Mistuning Model Identification (FMM ID). It will be shown that TAF shows variability between each method providing indications TAF may not be the best approach of force amplification predictions. Basic mistuning agreements exist when isolating blades both experimentally and analytically exhibiting as-manufactured models are capable of representing full experiments. System ID methods provide a basic agreement between both the mistuning pattern and the mistuning amplification for all three methods analyzed. This ultimately shows the importance and the ability to use as-manufactured models to help increase detailed understanding of IBR’s.

Intentional mistuning is a well known procedure to decrease the uncontrolled vibration amplification effects of the inherent random mistuning and to reduce the sensitivity to it. The idea is to introduce an intentional mistuning pattern that is small but much larger that the existing random mistuning. The frequency of adjacent blades is moved apart by the intentional mistuning, reducing the effect of the blade-to-blade coupling and thus the effect of the random mistuning. The situation considered in this work is more complicated because the main source for the blade damping is the effect of the aerodynamic forces (as it happens in a blisk for a family of blade dominated modes with very similar frequencies). In this case the damping is clearly defined for the tuned traveling waves but not for each blade. The problem is analyzed using the Asymptotic Mistuning Model methodology. A reduced order model is derived that allows us to understand the action mechanism of the intentional mistuning, and gives a simple expression for the estimation of its beneficial effect. The results from the reduced model are compared with those from a finite element model of a more realistic rotor under different forcing conditions.

Circumferential grooves in the casing of an axial compressor rotor or fan are known to be beneficial by extending the operating range of the machine. The goal of this paper is to analyze, if such grooves have a significant effect on the flutter stability, too. Generally, flutter should always be avoided as these self-excited blade vibrations can lead to high-cycle fatigue and therefore may damage the blades. In the present paper, the flutter behavior of a nominal fan is analyzed by performing a unidirectional Fluid-Structure-Interaction (FSI) simulation. To model the traveling wave arising during flutter, three different possibilities are available for computational fluid dynamics (CFD): the traveling wave mode method (TWM), the Fourier transformation method (FT) and the influence coefficient method (INFC). The TWM and INFC will be used within this investigation. At first, the computed flutter stability of the commercial CFD solver ANSYS CFX is compared to the results of the academic CFD solver TBLOCK. Therefore, a MATLAB code is introduced to be able to use the very efficient INFC method in combination with ANSYS CFX. The main part of this paper deals with the examination of three different circumferential grooves. Two of them had been optimized regarding aerodynamics and aeroacoustics in a joint research project and produce a minor change in flutter behavior. The third groove is of an arbitrary chosen design and it is discussed how its axial position has an impact on the vibration characteristic of the fan. All CFD simulations are conducted for two different operating points at 100% speed and the first two eigenmodes of the fan blade.

Turbomachinery rotor-stator unilateral contact induced interactions play a growing role in lifecycle analysis and thus motivate the use of accurate numerical prediction tools. Recent literature confirmed by ongoing in-house experiments have shown the importance of thermomechanical coupling effects in such interactions. However, most available (possibly reduced-order) models are restricted to the sole mechanical aspects. This work describes a reduction technique of thermomechanical models involving unilateral contact and frictional contact occurrences between rotor and stator components. The proposed methodology is grounded on Guyan and Craig–Bampton methods for the reduction of the structural dynamics in conjunction with Krylov subspace techniques, and specifically the Craig–Hale approach, for the reduction of the thermal equations. The method has the capability to drastically reduce the size of the model while preserving accuracy. It stands as a reliable strategy to perform simulations of thermomechanical models with localized mechanical and thermal loads.

In modern compressors the assessment of blade vibration levels as well as health monitoring of the components are fundamental tasks. Traditionally, this assessment is done by the application of strain gauges to some blades of the assembly. In contrast to strain gauges, blade tip timing (BTT) offers a contactless monitoring of all blades of a rotor and there is no need of a telemetry system. A major issue in the interpretation of BTT data is the heavily undersampled nature of the signal. Usually, newly developed BTT algorithms are tested with sample data created by simplified structural models neglecting many of the uncertainties and disturbing influences of real applications. This work focuses on the creation of simulated BTT datasets as close as possible to real case measurements. For this purpose a subset of nominal system modes (SNM) representation of a compressor rotor is utilized. This model is able to include a large number of features present in real measurements, such as mistuning, static blade deflections due to centrifugal loads, aerodynamic damping and multiple mode resonances. Additionally, manufacturing deviations of the blade geometry, probe positioning errors in the BTT system and noise in the time of arrivals (TOAs) are captured by the BTT simulation environment. The main advantage of the created data is the possibility to steadily increase the signal complexity. Starting with a “perfect” signal the simulation environment is able to add different uncertainties one after the other. This allows the assessment of the influence of different features occurring in real measurements on the performance and accuracy of the analysis algorithms. Finally, a comparison of simulated BTT data and real data acquired from a rig test is shown to validate the presented approach of BTT data generation.

The present numerical study aims at examining the influence of intrarow interaction effects in aerodynamic damping predictions of an axial turbine rotor. The investigated operating point corresponds to a resonance crossing associated with the fundamental engine order of the stator blade row. Accordingly, the pressure perturbations induced by the vibration of the rotor at its modal frequency are found to be coincident in frequency and thus superimpose with the pressure perturbations resulting from intrarow interaction phenomena. A methodology for extracting vibration induced pressure perturbations for the subsequent calculation of the vibration induced modal aerodynamic damping is established and applied within the scope of the present study. Applying this methodology, both the influence of the underlying mean and transient flow field as well as the influence of acoustic wave reflections at the adjacent stator blade row is investigated on the predicted aerodynamic damping. In this context, the underlying mean flow field, which is found to be slightly altered in the presence of intrarow interaction phenomena, was proven to have a significant influence on vibration induced pressure perturbations. Moreover, acoustic wave reflections at the adjacent stator blade row are found to have the capability of influencing the aerodynamic damping depending on their actual phasing when impinging onto the turbine rotor.

Resonant response of turbomachinery blades can lead to high cycle fatigue (HCF) if the vibration amplitudes are excessive. Accurate and reliable simulations of the forced response phenomenon require detailed CFD and FE models that may consume immense computational costs. In the present study, an alternative approach is applied, which incorporates nonlinear harmonic (NLH) CFD simulations in a one-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) workflow for the prediction of the forced response phenomenon at reduced computational costs. Five resonance crossings excited by the stator in a radial inflow turbocharger turbine are investigated and the aerodynamic excitation and damping are predicted using this approach. Blade vibration amplitudes are obtained from a subsequent forced response analysis combining the aerodynamic excitation with aerodynamic damping and a detailed structural model of the investigated turbine rotor. A comparison with tip timing measurement data shows that all predicted values lay within the range of the mistuned blade response underlining the high quality of the utilized workflow.

The measurement of the aeromechanical response of the fan blades is important to quantifying their integrity. The accurate knowledge of the response at critical locations of the structure is crucial when assessing the structural condition. A reliable and low cost measuring technique is necessary. Currently, sensors can only provide the measured data at several discrete points. A significant number of sensors may be required to fully characterize the aeromechanical response of the blades. However, the amount of instrumentation that can be placed on the structure is limited due to data acquisition system limitations, instrumentation accessibility, and the effect of the instrumentation on the measured response. From a practical stand point, it is not possible to place sensors at all the critical locations for different excitations. Therefore, development of an approach that derives the full strain field response based on a limited set of measured data is required. In this study, the traditional model reduction method is used to expand the full strain field response of the structure by using a set of discrete measured data. Two computational models are developed and used to verify the expansion approach. The solution of the numerical model is chosen as the reference solution. In addition, the numerical model also provides the mode shapes of the structure. In the expansion approach, this information is used to develop the algorithm. First, a cantilever beam model is created. The influences of the sensor location, number of sensors and the number of modes included are analyzed using this cantilever beam model. The expanded full field response data is compared with the reference solution to evaluate the expansion procedure. The rotor 67 blade model is then used to test the expansion method. The results show that the expanded full field data is in good agreement with the calculated data. The expansion algorithm can be used for the full field strain by using the limited sets of strain data.

This paper deals with the reduction of aerodynamically generated noise in passenger car Cooling-Fan-Modules (CFM), caused by the interaction between the impeller and the downstream-located strut configuration of the axial fan. Even after the car engine is switched off, the fan remains active, as long as cooling is required for certain vehicle components. Especially after a car has been parked in closed parking areas, in close proximity to residential buildings or public places, the noise emission can be a problem. This issue is addressed by dampening the rotor-stator-interaction through passive construction measures. In order to ensure optimal noise reduction, 8 critical design features of the struts are identified and investigated using statistical design of experiment methods (DoE). Based on the results, dedicated insights about the effects of concrete strut features on significant regions of the acoustic fan spectrum are obtained. Furthermore, an optimized strut configuration is derived and metrologically validated using a polyoptimization method. Compared to a current serial baseline configuration, a reduction of the overall sound pressure level by 2.6 dB(A), as well as a reduction of the blade passage frequency tone by 17.6 dB(A) is achieved.

For an efficient detection of single or multiple component damages, the knowledge of their impact on the overall engine performance is crucial. This knowledge can be either built up on measurement data, which is hardly available to non-manufacturers or –maintenance companies, or simulative approaches such as high fidelity component simulation combined with an overall cycle analysis. Due to a high degree of complexity and computational effort, overall system simulations of jet engines are typically performed as 0-dimensional thermodynamic performance analysis, based on scaled generic component maps. The approach of multi-fidelity simulation, allows the replacement of single components within the thermodynamic cycle model by higher-order simulations. Hence, the component behavior becomes directly linked to the actual hardware state of the component model. Hereby the assessment of component deteriorations in an overall system context is enabled and the resulting impact on the overall system can be quantified. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the capabilities of multi fidelity simulation in the context of engine condition monitoring. For this purpose, a 0D-performance model of the IAE-V2527 engine is combined with a CFD model of the appropriate fan component. The CFD model comprises the rotor as well as the outlet guide vane of the bypass and the inlet guide vane of the core section. As an exemplarily component deterioration, the fan blade tip clearance is increased in multiple steps and the impact on the overall engine performance is assessed for typical engine operating conditions. The harmonization between both simulation levels is achieved by means of an improved map scaling approach using an optimization strategy leading to practicable simulation times.

NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project supported the collection of a large stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) dataset of the Open Rotor Propulsion Rig (ORPR) in the 9 × 15 Low Speed Wind Tunnel at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). The data collection effort acquired a volume of three component velocity measurements composed of 30 planes from near the hub radially outward towards the tip. The PIV cameras and laser were mounted to a traverse that allowed the entire data acquisition system to move from plane to plane. The PIV data acquisition was triggered on the front rotor such that the front rotor was always in the same position for each acquisition event. The aft rotor position was not recorded and varied randomly during the acquisition. Because the position of the aft rotor was not synchronized to either the forward rotor or the camera it was necessary to separate individual PIV images based off of the phase of the aft rotor before they could be processed. The phase of the aft rotor was determined by locating the outline of the rotor in the PIV images and determining its position relative to a known point. This process was conducted by an image processing algorithm. Previous algorithms were able to make a relatively accurate 3D model of the wake between the forward and aft rotors, however some small inaccuracies were present. Improvements to this algorithm allowed for more accurate phase averaging, which yielded an improved PIV dataset. Both rotors were set to the same nominal rotational speed, however variations in motor control and other physical mechanisms allowed for some differences in the true RPM of the two rotors. The effects of the aft rotor on the front rotor blade wakes within the inter-rotor flow field of the ORPR were examined. The aft rotor potential field was shown to have significant upstream impact on the front rotor wakes, altering their topology approaching the aft rotor. The wake strength was quantified through determination of the minimum velocities that occurred within a wake while a defined velocity deficit from the free stream velocity was used to determine the width of the wake. This work has potential applications to the radiated acoustics and efficiency of open rotor propulsion systems.

Central targets for jet engine research activities comprise the evaluation of improved engine components and the assessment of novel engine concepts for enhanced overall engine performance in order to reduce the fuel consumption and emissions of future aircraft. Since CO 2 emissions are directly related to engine fuel burn, a reduction in fuel consumption leads to lower CO 2 emissions. Therefore improvements in engine technologies are still significant and a multi-disciplinary pre-design approach is essential in order to address all requirements and constraints associated with different engine concepts. Furthermore, an increase in effectiveness of the preliminary design process helps reduce the immense costs of the overall engine development. Within the DLR project PEGASUS (Preliminary Gas Turbine Assessment and Sizing) a multi-disciplinary pre-design and assessment competence of the DLR regarding aero engines and gas turbines was established. The application of modern preliminary design methods allows for the construction and evaluation of innovative next generation engine concepts. The purpose of this paper is to present the developed multi-disciplinary pre-design process and its application to three aero engine models. First, a state of the art twin spool mixed flow turbofan engine model is created for validation purposes. The second and third engine models investigated comprise future engine concepts: a Counter Rotating Open Rotor and an Ultra High Bypass Turbofan. The turbofan used for validation is based on publicly available reference data from manufacturing and emission certification. At first the identified interfaces and constraints of the entire pre-design process are presented. An important factor of complexity in this highly iterative procedure is the intricate data flow, as well as the extensive amount of data transferred between all involved disciplines and among the different fidelity levels applied within the smoothly connected design phases. To cope with the inherent complexity data modeling techniques have been applied to explicitly determine the required data structures of those complex systems. The resulting data model characterizing the components of a gas turbine and their relationships in the design process is presented in detail. Based on the established data model the entire engine pre-design process is presented. Starting with the definition of a flight mission scenario and the resulting top level engine requirements thermodynamic engine performance models are developed. By means of these thermodynamic models, a detailed engine component pre-design is conducted. The aerodynamic and structural design of the engine components are executed using a stepwise increase in level of detail and are continuously evaluated in the context of the overall engine system.

Inlet distortion often occurs at off-design points when flow separates within an intake. This unsteady phenomenon could seriously impact fan performance. Fan-distortion interaction is a highly unsteady aerodynamic phenomenon. High-fidelity simulation can provide a detailed insight into these interactions. However, due to computational resource limitations, the use of eddy resolving methods for a fully resolved fan calculation is currently infeasible for industry. To solve this problem, a mixed-fidelity CFD method is proposed. This method uses the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to resolve the turbulence associated with separation, and the Immersed Boundary Method with Smeared Geometry (IBMSG) for the fan. The method is validated by an experiment of Darmstadt Rotor, which shows a good agreement in terms of total pressure distributions. A detailed investigation is then conducted on a subsonic rotor with an annular beam generating inlet distortion. A range of studies are performed to investigate fan influence on distortions. Compared to the case without fan, it shows that a fan has a significant effect in reducing distortions. Three fan locations are examined. The fan nearer to the inlet tends to have a higher pressure recovery. Three beams with different heights are also tested to generate various degrees of distortions. The results indicate that the fan can suppress the distortions and its recovery effect is proportional to the degree of inlet distortion.

Gas turbines in general and aircraft engines in particular undergo frequently dynamic operations. These operations include the routine start-up, load change and shut downs to cover their operation envelope. The frequency of the dynamic operation depends on the size of the engines and the field of application. Engines for commuter aircrafts and particularly helicopter engines operate more often in an off-design mode compared to large commercial aircraft engines and power generation gas turbines. During these routine operations, the compressor mass flow, the pressure ratio, the combustion chamber fuel and air mass flow as well as turbine mass flow change. These changes affect the engine aerodynamic performance and its efficiency. To avoid the inception of rotating stall and surge, high performance gas turbines are equipped with mechanisms that adjust the stator stagger angles thus aligning the stator exit flow angle to the rotor inlet angle, which reduces an excessive incidence. The reduction of incidence angle not only preserves the stable operation of the compressor but it also prevents the compressor efficiency from deterioration. The existence of an inherent positive pressure gradient may cause the boundary layer separation on compressor blades leading to the rotating stall and surge. Such condition, however, does not exist in a turbine, and therefore, there has been no compelling reason to apply the blade adjusting method to the turbine component. For the first time, the impact of turbine blade stagger angle adjustment on the gas turbine efficiency during the operation is shown in this paper. Given a statistically distributed load condition, the extensive dynamic simulation reported in this paper shows how the efficiency can be positively affected through proper blade adjustment. For the time dependent operation, the code GETRAN developed by the author was enhanced to include the turbine blade adjustment as a function of time. To conduct the dynamic simulation with turbine stator stagger angle adjustment during a dynamic operation, the full geometry of the Brown Boveri GT-9 gas turbine was utilized. Starting from the reference stagger angle, it is varied within an incidence range of ± 3 degree. Detailed simulation results show the substantial efficiency improvement through stator stagger blade adjustment.

With highly integrated airframe architectures emerging as the leading concept of next generation aviation vehicles, research is needed to understand the interactions between inlet swirl distortions and turbofan engines. To meet these research demands, a computational fluid dynamics investigation was conducted to monitor the streamwise development of a complex swirling velocity field in the inlet duct of a turbofan engine with and without the presence of the turbofan nose cone component. By modeling the two geometric setups, natural fluid development and forced fluid/nose cone interactions were distinguishable. To validate the model, computational results were compared to existing experimental data at the fan rotor inlet plane. With the nose cone included, flow angle and swirl intensity predictions from the computational approach agreed well with the experimental measurements. The computational results were expanded upstream to demonstrate the effects of the nose cone geometry on the incoming swirl distortion. Radial flow angles in the presence of the nose cone began to vary from natural swirl development at approximately 0.25 fan diameters upstream, reaching a maximum difference near the leading edge of the nose cone component. Results from this investigation provided a validated model for the prediction of swirl development in a turbofan inlet duct in the presence of a nose cone. Significant change in the swirl profile development was shown from natural vortex motion to induced fluid/solid interactions.

An axial flow fan developed in previous study is tested in order to characterise its performance. The M-fan, a 7.3152 m diameter rotor only axial flow fan was designed to perform well under the challenging operating conditions encountered in air-cooled heat exchangers. Preliminary CFD results obtained using an actuator disk model as well as a periodic three dimensional model indicate that the fan meets the specified performance targets, with an expected total-to-static efficiency of 59.4 % and a total-to-static pressure rise of 114.7 Pa at the operating point. Experimental tests are performed on the M-fan in order to determine its performance across a full range of flow rates. A range of fan configurations are tested in order to ascertain the effect of tip clearance, blade angle and hub configuration on fan performance. Due to the lack of a suitable facility for testing a large diameter fan, a scaled 1.542 m diameter model is tested on the BS 848 (ISO 5801) type A fan test facility at Stellenbosch University. A RANS CFD model representing the M-fan in the test facility is also developed in order to provide additional insight into the flow field in the vicinity of the fan blades. The results of the CFD model will be validated using the experimental data obtained. Both the CFD results and the experimental data obtained are compared to the initial CFD results for the full scale fan, as obtained in the previous study, by means of fan scaling laws. Experimental data indicates that the M-fan does not meet the pressure requirement set out in the initial study, at the design blade setting angle of 34 degrees. Under these conditions the M-fan attains a total-to-static pressure rise of 102.5 Pa and a total-to-static efficiency of 56.4%, running with a tip gap of 2 mm. Increasing the blade angle is shown to be a potential remedy, improving the total-to-static pressure rise and efficiency obtained at the operating point. The M-fan is also shown to be highly sensitive to increasing tip gap, with larger tip gaps substantially reducing fan performance. The losses due to tip gap are also shown to be overestimated by the CFD simulations. Both experimental and numerically obtained results indicate lower fan total-to-static efficiencies than obtained in the initial CFD study. Results indicate that the M-fan is suited to its intended application, however it should be operated with a smaller tip gap than initially recommended and a larger blade setting angle. Hub configuration is also shown to have an influence on fan performance, potentially improving performance at low flow rates.

Tonal noise is one of the main sources of noise generated by cooling fan module in automobile. The methods to decrease the tonal noise become more and more important with the popularity of automobiles and the demand for comfort increasing. Finding a quick way to predict the tonal noise in the early design stage will help the designer shorten the design circle and improve the efficiency. The traditional way, uneven spacing rotor blades, to modulate tonal components in noise spectrum by controlling factor “A” show positive influence in harmonic 2 and 3 (H2 and H3) but cannot work for harmonic 1 (H1) subjects to limitation of blade overlap as shown in the test result. Further step to modulate the stator vanes by adjusting parameter “χ” can attenuate the H1 dramatically based on “Venetian blind” theory of stator vanes. At last, the new cooling fan module design method to control tonal noise in design stage by “A” in rotor blade design and “χ” in stator vanes is reviewed and implemented in two cases of 7 rotor-blades & 6 stator-vanes and 7 rotor-blades & 8 stator-vanes. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical prediction.

Uncertainties surrounding the influence of Reynolds number on the performance of air handling turbomachines are as old as the study of turbomachinery fluid dynamics. In particular, all low-speed turbomachines and most axial-flow fans feature Reynolds numbers that are often lower than the critical value, above which the literature states a limited dependency of blades cascade aerodynamics on Reynolds number. Testing standards already account for this well-known issue, which arises mainly in the case of geometrically similar fans of different size and/or operating conditions. On the other hand, one of the main practical issues in the design of low-speed machines is the disagreement among the most authoritative sources on the value of the critical Reynolds number for axial fans. The many definitions of Reynolds number, which are suited to either fan design purposes or fan performance assessment, introduce additional problems, as the corresponding values may differ by orders of magnitude depending on the chosen definition. A less debated issue deals with the effect of Reynolds number on global performance and efficiency parameters for different axial-flow fan configurations. This paper reports pressure and efficiency data measured at several rotational speeds of four axial fans that feature different configurations, hub-to-tip ratios, sizes and surface finishes. In particular, the tests consider two 315mm and one 630mm tube-axial fans, and one 800mm vane-axial fan with preswirler blading. Data on two vane-axial fans with straightener, and one preswirler-rotor-stator stage, available in the literature, widen the discussion on the Reynolds number effect on the entire category of single-stage axial fans.

The density of Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) materials is approximately 1/3 the density of metals currently used for High Pressure Turbine (HPT) blades. A lower density, and consequently lower centrifugal stresses, increases the feasibility of shrouding HPT blades. Shrouding HPT blades improves aerodynamic efficiency, especially for low aspect ratio turbine blades. This paper explores aerodynamic and structural issues associated with shrouding HPT rotor blades. Detailed Navier-Stokes analysis of a rotor blade showed that shrouding improved blade row aerodynamic efficiency by 1.3%, when the clearance was 2% of the blade span. Recessed casings were used. Without a shroud the depth of the recess equaled the clearance. With a shroud the recess depth increased by the shroud thickness, which included a knife seal. There was good agreement between the predicted stage efficiency for the unshrouded blades and the experimentally measured efficiency. Structural analysis showed a strong interaction between stresses in the shroud and peak stresses at the hub of the blade. A thin shroud of uniform thickness only moderately increased maximum blade stress, but there were very high stresses in the shroud itself. Increasing shroud thickness reduced stresses in the shroud, but increased blade stresses near the hub. A single knife seal added to the thin shroud noticeably decreased maximum shroud stress, without increasing maximum blade stress. Maximum stresses due to pressure loads and combined pressure and centrifugal loads were nearly the same as the maximum stresses for individual pressure or centrifugal loads. Stresses due to a 100K temperature difference across the blade walls were much lower than centrifugal or pressure load stresses.

It is well known that the last stage of a turbine and the subsequent diffuser should be viewed at and designed as a coupled system rather than as single standalone components. The turbine outlet flow imposes the inlet conditions to the diffuser, whereas the recovered dynamic pressure in the diffuser directly controls the turbine back pressure. With changing operating point, the turbine outflow can vary significantly. This results consequently in large variations of the diffuser performance. A major role in the coupled system of turbine and diffuser can be attributed to the tip leakage flow. While it is desirable to minimize the tip leakage with regard to the turbine, a higher leakage mass flow can often be beneficial for the diffuser performance. As there is currently a trend towards aggressive and hence shorter diffusers which are particularly prone to separation, the question arises where the optimum for this tradeoff problem lies. To investigate the performance in the coupled turbine/diffuser system, a generic last stage with shrouded rotor and axial exhaust diffuser have been designed. The components are representative for heavy duty stationary gas turbine applications. Results are presented for three different operating points representing part-load, design-load and over-load condition. Three different seal gap widths are taken into account to control the leakage flow. The results indicate that an operating point dependent optimum gap width can be found for the coupled system efficiency whereas the maximimum turbine performance is always achieved with a minimum gap width.