The Design, Performance and Analysis of a High Work Capacity Transonic Turbine

This paper describes the design and testing of a high work capacity single-stage transonic turbine of aerodynamic duty tailored to the requirements of driving the high-pressure core of a low cost turbofan engine. Aerodynamic loading was high for this duty (ΔH/U² = 2.1) and a major objective in the design was the control of the resulting transonic flow to achieve good turbine performance. Practical and coolable blading was a design requirement. At the design point (pressure ratio = 4.48), a turbine total to total efficiency of 87.0 percent was measured—this being based on measured shaft power and a tip clearance of 1.4 percent of blade height. In addition, the turbine was comprehensively instrumented to allow measurement of aerofoil surface static pressures on both stator and rotor—the latter being expedited via a rotating scanivalve system. Downstream area traverses were also conducted. Analysis of these measurements indicates that the turbine operates at overall reaction levels lower than design but the rotor blade performs efficiently.