Measurements and Predictions of a Highly Turbulent Flowfield in a Turbine Vane Passage

As highly turbulent flow passes through downstream airfoil passages in a gas turbine engine, it is subjected to a complex geometry designed to accelerate and turn the flow. This acceleration and streamline curvature subject the turbulent flow to high mean flow strains. This paper presents both experimental measurements and computational predictions for highly turbulent flow as it progresses through a passage of a gas turbine stator vane. Three-component velocity fields at the vane midspan were measured for inlet turbulence levels of 0.6%, 10%, and 19.5%. The turbulent kinetic energy increased through the passage by 130% for the 10% inlet turbulence and, because the dissipation rate was higher for the 19.5% inlet turbulence, the turbulent kinetic energy increased by only 31%. With a mean flow acceleration of five through the passage, the exiting local turbulence levels were 3% and 6% for the respective 10% and 19.5% inlet turbulence levels. Computational RANS predictions were compared with the measurements using four different turbulence models including the k-ε, Renormalization Group (RNG) k-ε, realizable k-ε, and Reynolds stress model. The results indicate that the predictions using the Reynolds stress model most closely agreed with the measurements as compared with the other turbulence models with better agreement for the 10% case than the 19.5% case. [S0098-2202(00)00804-X]