Lect- 20

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 Lect-20

In this lecture...

• Axial flow turbine

• Impulse and reaction turbine stages
• Work and stage dynamics
• Turbine blade cascade

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Axial flow turbines

• Axial turbines like axial compressors

usually consists of one or more stages.
• The flow is accelerated in a nozzle/stator
and then passes through a rotor.
• In the rotor, the working fluid imparts its
momentum on to the rotor, that converts
the kinetic energy to power output.
• Depending upon the power requirement,
this process is repeated in multiple stages.

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Axial flow turbines

• Due to motion of the rotor blades two
distinct velocity components: absolute and
relative velocities in the rotor.
• This is very much the case in axial
compressors that was discussed earlier.
• Since turbines operate with a favourable
pressure gradient, it is possible to have
much higher pressure drop per stage as
compared with compressors.
• Therefore, a single turbine stage can drive
several stages of an axial compressor.
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Axial flow turbines

• Turbines can be either axial, radial or mixed.
• Axial turbines can handle large mass flow
rates and are more efficient.
• Axial turbine have same frontal area as that
of the compressor.
• They can also be used with a centrifugal
compressor.
• Efficiency of turbines higher than that of
compressors.
• Turbines are in general aerodynamically
“easier” to design.
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Axial flow turbines

Nozzle/stator Rotor

Hot gas Exhaust

Disc

1 2 3

An axial turbine stage

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Velocity triangles
• Elementary analysis of axial turbines too begins
with velocity triangles.
• The analysis will be carried out at the mean height
of the blade, where the peripheral velocity or the
blade speed is, U.
• The absolute component of velocity will be
denoted by, C and the relative component by, V.
• The axial velocity (absolute) will be denoted by Ca
and the tangential components will be denoted by
subscript w (for eg, Cw or Vw)
• α denotes the angle between the absolute velocity
with the axial direction and β the corresponding
angle for the relative velocity.
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Velocity triangles
C1 α1
1
Stator/Nozzle

β2
α2 V2
C2 2

U
Rotor

α3
V3 β3 3
C3

U
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Types of axial turbines

• There are two types of axial turbine
configurations: Impulse and reaction
• Impulse turbine
• Entire pressure drop takes place in the
nozzle.
• Rotor blades simply deflect the flow and
hence have symmetrical shape.
• Reaction turbine
• Pressure drop shared by the rotor and the
stator
• The amount of pressure drop shared is given
by the degree of reaction.
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Work and stage dynamics

Applying the angular momentum equation,
P=m (U2Cw 2 − U3Cw3 )
In an axial turbine, U2 ≈ U3 = U.
Therefore, the work per unit mass is
wt = U(Cw 2 − Cw3 ) or wt = cp (T01 − T03 )
Let ΔT0 = T01 − T03 = T02 − T03
The stage work ratio is,
ΔT0 U(Cw 2 − Cw3 )
=
T01 cp T01

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Work and stage dynamics

• Turbine work per stage is limited by
– Available pressure ratio
– Allowable blade stresses and turning
• Unlike compressors, boundary layers are
generally well behaved, except for local
pockets of separation
• The turbine work ratio is also often defined
in the following way:
wt Δh0 Cw 2 − Cw3
2
= 2 =
U U U
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Impulse turbine stage

1 2 3

C3
Cw3 C2
α3 U
C
Cw2
β3 2 α2
Vw3
V3 V2 β3
V2 β2 V3
Vw2
α2 β2
U
Ca
Stator/Nozzle Rotor
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Impulse turbine stage

In an impulse turbine, the rotor simply deflects
the flow. Therefore,
β 3 = − β 2 ⇒ Vw3 = −Vw 2
and Cw 2 − Cw3 = 2Vw 2 = 2(Cw 2 − U)
 Ca 
= 2U tan α − 1
U 
Or, the turbine work ratio is
Δh0  Ca 
2
= 2U tan α 2 − 1
U U 

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

50% Reaction turbine stage

1 2 3

C3
C2

U α2
V3
V2
C2
β2
V2 β3
U
V3

Stator/Nozzle Rotor

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Impulse turbine stage

In a 50% reaction turbine, the velocity triangles are

symmetrical. Therefore, for constant axial velocity,
Cw3 = −(Ca tan α 2 − U)
And the turbine work ratio becomes
Δh0  Ca 
2
= 2 tan α 2 − 1
U  U 

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade
• A cascade is a stationary array of blades.
• Cascade is constructed for measurement of
performance similar to that used in axial
turbines.
• Cascade usually has porous end-walls to
remove boundary layer for a two-dimensional
flow.
• Radial variations in the velocity field can
therefore be excluded.
• Cascade analysis relates the fluid turning
angles to blading geometry and measure
losses in the stagnation pressure.
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade
• Turbine cascades are tested in wind tunnels
similar to what was discussed for compressors.
• However, turbines operate in an accelerating
flow and therefore, the wind tunnel flow driver
needs to develop sufficient pressure to cause
this acceleration.
• Turbine blades have much higher camber and
are set at a negative stagger unlike
compressor blades.
• Cascade analysis provides the blade loading
from the surface static pressure distribution
and the total pressure loss across the cascade.

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade
• From elementary analysis of the flow through
a cascade, we can determine the lift and drag
forces acting on the blades.
• This analysis could be done using inviscid or
potential flow assumption or considering
viscous effects (in a simple manner).
• Let us consider Vm as the mean velocity that
makes and angle αm with the axial direction.
• We shall determine the circulation developed
on the blade and subsequently the lift force.
• In the inviscid analysis, lift is the only force.
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade

Inviscid flow through a turbine cascade

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade
Circulatio n, Γ = S(Vw 2 − Vw1 )
and lift, L = ρVm Γ = ρVmS(Vw 2 − Vw1 )
Expressing lift in a non - dimensiona l form,
L ρVmS(Vw 2 − Vw1 )
Lift coefficien t, CL = 1 =
2
ρV 2
m C 1
2
ρVmC
2

S
=2 (tan α 2 − tan α1 ) cos αm
C

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade
• Viscous effects manifest themselves in the
form to total pressure losses.
• Wakes from the blade trailing edge lead to
non-uniform velocity leaving the blades.
• In addition to lift, drag is another force that
will be considered in the analysis.
• The component of drag actually contributes to
the effective lift.
• We define total pressure loss coefficient as:
P01 − P02
ω= 1
2
ρ V2
2

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade

Viscous flow through a turbine cascade

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade

Drag is given by, D = ω S cos αm

The effective lift
L + ω S cos αm = ρVmΓ + ω S cos αm
Therefore, the lift coefficien t,
S
CL = 2 (tan α 2 − tan α1 ) cos αm + CD tan αm
C

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

Turbine Cascade
• Based on the calculation of the lift and drag
coefficients, it is possible to determine the
blade efficiency.
• Blade efficiency is defined as the ratio of ideal
static pressure drop to obtain a certain change
in KE to the actual static pressure drop to
produce the same change in KE.
CD
1− CL tan αm
ηb = CD
1+ CL cot αm
If we neglect the CDterm in the lift definition,
1
ηb =
2CD
1+
CL sin 2αm
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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

In this lecture...

• Axial flow turbine

• Impulse and reaction turbine stages
• Work and stage dynamics
• Turbine blade cascade

26
Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay
 Lect-20

In the next lecture...

• Axial flow turbine

• Degree of Reaction, Losses and
Efficiency

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Prof. Bhaskar Roy, Prof. A M Pradeep, Department of Aerospace, IIT Bombay