Numerical Studies on the Effect of Tip Clearance and Tip Cooling Flow on Endwall Losses of an Unshrouded Axial Turbine Rotor

This paper deals with the numerical investigations on a low pressure axial turbine stage to assess the effect of variation in rotor tip clearance and tip coolant ejection rate on the end wall losses. The rotor, along with the NGV, was modeled to represent the entire turbine stage. The CFX TASCflow software was used to perform steady state analysis for different rotor tip clearances and different tip coolant ejection rates. The locations of the cooling slots were identified on the blade tip and the coolant ejection rate was specified at these areas. The simulations were carried out with tip clearances of 0%, 1% and 2% of blade height and ejection flow rates of 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% of main turbine flow rate. It is shown that the size and strength of the leakage vortex is directly related to the tip clearance. The reduction in efficiency is not in linearity with the tip clearance owing to the effect of boundary layer growth on the end walls. Introduction of the tip coolant flow shows increased total–total efficiency compared to that of the uncooled tip. This is attributed to a reduction in the strength of the leakage vortex due to reduced cross-flow over the tip clearance from pressure surface to suction surface. At a coolant flow rate of 0.75% of the main flow rate, there is significant increase in efficiency of about 0.5%. Optimum tip clearance and coolant flow rate are obtained based on the results of the present analysis.