Turbomachinery

Lecture 10: Two-dimensional Cascades

Dr Konstantinos Ritos
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Thessaly
konritos@uth.gr
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Syllabus
Introduction to Turbomachinery
Basic principles, Isentropic and Polytropic Efficiency Rate
Dimensional Analysis
Hydraulic Turbines
Wind Turbines
Two-dimensional Cascades
Axial-Flow turbines
Axial-Flow Compressors
Centrifugal Pumps, Fans and Compressors

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 Two-dimensional cascades of blades

The design and performance prediction of axial flow compressors and turbines has been
based upon measurements of the flow-through two-dimensional cascades of blades
 However, to an increasing extent, CFD methods are now being used to simulate cascade
testing
The flow within a turbomachine is, in general, unsteady and three dimensional
 For cascade analysis, the flow across individual blade rows is treated as two dimensional and
steady
 This approach is appropriate for many compressor and turbine designs and the derived flow
characteristics obtained from cascade tests have usually been found to be satisfactory,
although laborious to collect

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 Types of cascade tunnels

Some of the many types of cascade tunnels are:

 low-speed
 high-speed
 intermittent blowdown
 suction tunnels
 The range of Mach numbers in axial flow turbomachines can be considered to extend from
M=0.1 to 2.5
 low-speed, operating in the range 20-60 m/s
 high-speed, high speed, for the compressible flow range of testing

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Compressor cascade wind tunnels

A typical low-speed, continuous

running cascade tunnel is shown in (a).
This linear cascade of blades comprises
a number of identical blades, equally
spaced and parallel to one another.
(b) shows the test section of a cascade
facility for transonic and moderate
supersonic inlet velocities: The upper
wall is slotted and equipped for suction,
allowing operation in the transonic
regime. The flexible section of the
upper wall allows for a change of
geometry so that a convergent-
divergent nozzle can be formed,
allowing the flow to expand to
supersonic speeds upstream of the
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Two dimensional flow
 It is most important that the flow across the central region
of the cascade blades is
 a good approximation to two-dimensional flow
 and that the flow repeats (i.e., is periodic) across
several blade pitches
 This effect could be achieved by employing a large number
of long blades, but then an excessive amount of power
would be required to operate the tunnel.
 With a tunnel of more compact size, aerodynamic
difficulties become apparent
 The tunnel wall boundary layer merges with the end blade
boundary layer, and as a consequence, this blade usually
stalls, resulting in a nonuniform flow across the cascade
(see (a))
 Application of suction to bottom wall boundary layer
results in a more uniform flow without blade stall (see (b))
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 Contraction of streamlines
due to boundary layer thickening
 In a compressor cascade, the rapid increase in pressure across the blades causes a
marked thickening of the wall boundary layers and produces an effective contraction of
the flow
 A contraction coefficient, used as a measure of the boundary layer growth through the
cascade, is defined by

 with values of 0.9 for a good tunnel dropping to

0.8 in normal high-speed tunnels and even less in
bad cases

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 Application of suction to produce a more uniform
flow-field
 The values mentioned in the previous slide are for compressor cascades
 With turbine cascades higher values can be expected, since the flow is accelerating and
therefore the boundary layers will not be thickened
 Because of the contraction of the main through-flow, the theoretical pressure rise across
a compressor cascade, even allowing for losses, is never achieved
 This will be evident since a contraction (in a subsonic flow) accelerates the fluid, which is
in conflict with the diffuser action of the cascade
 To counteract these effects, it has been customary in Great Britain to use at least seven
blades in a compressor cascade, each blade having a minimum aspect ratio (blade
span/chord length) of 3
 In the US, much lower aspect ratios have been commonly employed in compressor
cascade testing, the technique being the almost complete removal of tunnel wall
boundary layers from all four walls using a combination of suction slots and perforated
end walls to which suction is applied.
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 Axial flow machines
 For axial flow machines of high hub-tip radius ratios, radial velocities are negligible and
the flow may be described as 2D
 The flow in the cascade is then likely to be a good model of the flow in the machine
 With lower hub-tip radius ratios, the blades of a turbomachine will have an amount of
twist along their length and a varying space-chord ratio
 In such cases, a number of cascade test measurements can be applied to cover the
design of the blade sections at a number of radial locations
 In all cases, the 2D cascade is a simplified model of the flow within a turbomachine,
which in reality includes 3D flow features
 For sections of a turbomachine with separated flow regions, leakage flows or significant
spanwise flows, the cascade model will not be accurate and careful consideration of the
3D effects is required

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 Cascade geometry
 A cascade blade profile can be conceived as a curved camber line upon which a
profile thickness distribution is symmetrically superimposed
 Two blades of a compressor cascade
are shown here, together with the
notation needed to describe the
geometry 𝑎
 Several geometric parameters that
characterize the cascade are:
i. The stagger angle, , the
angle between the chord line and
the reference direction
ii. The space-chord ratio,
iii. The camper angle,
iv. The blade inlet angle
v. The blade outlet angle
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 Compressor cascade and blade notation
 Further parameters needed to describe the cascade blade shape include its:
i. Camber line shape
ii. Thickness distribution
iii. The radii at the leading edge
iv. The radii at the trailing edge 𝑎
v. The maximum thickness to chord
ratio,
 The change in angle of the flow is
called deflection,
 The incidence angle is the difference
between the inlet flow angle and the
blade inlet angle,
 The deviation angle is the difference
between the exit flow angle and the
blade exit angle,
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Compressor blade profiles

 The modern approach in compressor design is to use blade profiles designed by

the so-called prescribed velocity distribution (PVD) method
 In this approach, the designer will select a blade surface velocity distribution and
a computational method determines the aerofoil thickness and curvature
variation required to achieve the desired aerodynamics
 Despite this, many blade designs are still in use based upon geometrically
prescribed profiles
 The most commonly used geometric families are the American National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 65 Series, the British C Series, and the double
circular arc (DCA) or biconvex blade

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 Compressor blade profiles
 The NACA 65 Series blades originated from the NACA aircraft wing aerofoil and
were designed for approximately uniform loading
 Τhe profiles of the most widely used blade sections drawn at a maximum
thickness/chord ratio of 20%
 The maximum t/l ratios of compressor blade sections are normally less than
10% and often a value of 5% is used because of the superior high Mach number
performance that can be achieved with thinner blades

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 Compressor blade profiles
 The NACA 65 Series has its maximum thickness at 40%, the C Series at 30% the
DCA at 50%
 These differences have a marked effect on the velocity distributions measured
around the blades surfaces.
 Aerofoils with the max thickness near the leading edge (consequently, with a
well rounded leading edge) have a wide operating range but a poorer high
speed performance than blades with a sharp leading edge and the max
thickness point further back

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 Compressor blade profiles
 The actual blade shape is defined by one of these profile shapes superimposed
on a camber line
 This can be a simple circular arc although, as shown by Aungier (2003), a
parabolic arc allows a more flexible style of blade loading
 The blade profile is laid out with the selected scaled thickness distribution
plotted normal to the chosen camber line
 Correlations for the performance of the different styles of compressor aerofoil
are discussed later in this chapter

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 Turbine blade profiles
 The shape of turbine blades is less critical than it is in a compressor cascade.
 However, the designer still needs to exercise some care in the selection of
blades to attain good efficiency with highly loaded blade rows
 Nowadays, the process of specifying blade row geometry (blade shape, flow
angles, and space-chord ratio) is accomplished by computational methods but,
ultimately, the designs still need to be backed up by cascade tests
 Here we see a typical high-speed turbine cascade that is used to represent the
aerofoils of a conventional low-pressure turbine within an aero engine. The
blade profiles illustrate the high turning and the contraction of the passage flow
area within a turbine blade row
 During the early design phase of a turbine, or
when cascade results are unavailable, one-
dimensional calculations and correlation methods
can be used to estimate the blade row
performance of turbine blade rows
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 Cascade flow characteristics
 The fluid approaches the cascade from far
upstream* with velocity at an angle 1 and
leaves far downstream of the cascade with velocity
2 at an angle 2
 The aims of a cascade test are to measure the
deviation angle, , and to characterize the losses
generated within the flow as it is passes through
the blade passages
 Far upstream, usually implies an indefinite distance
of 1/2 to 1 chord upstream of the leading edge at a
location where the influence of the cascade static
pressure field on the flow is negligible, similarly for
far downstream

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 Cascade flow characteristics
 Deviation arises through inviscid and viscous effects
 Flow mechanisms different for compressors and
turbines
 Essentially, the flow is unable to follow the blade angle
precisely, it is underturned and thus leaves the trailing
edge at a slightly different angle to the blade exit angle
 Cascade losses arise from the growth of the boundary
layers on the suction and pressure surfaces of the
blades
 These boundary layers combine at the blade trailing
edge where they form the blade wake
 As a result, a local defect in stagnation pressure is
created
 As the flow moves downstream the wake widens and
becomes less intense.
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 Cascade flow characteristics
 The deviation and loss for a cascade are measured (or
computed) at a range of conditions, because as well as
determining the design performance, it is important to
check the tolerance to changes in the inlet flow
conditions, i.e., to show good off-design behavior
 Note that cascade tests can be made on both rotor and
stator blades
 For rotors, the absolute velocities in the cascade are
equivalent to the relative velocities that would be
present in the actual machine

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 Streamtube thickness variation
 When considering the flow through the blade passage of a compressor cascade,
it is often assumed that the mean streamtube thickness remains constant
 However, this may not be true because the rapid increase in pressure of the flow
through the blades can cause a marked thickening of the end wall boundary
layers resulting in an effective contraction of the flow as already indicated
 This effect can be countered by the use of suction to remove the end wall
boundary layers
 For all flows the conservation of mass flow rate per blade passage is

1 2

 where is the projected frontal area of the control volume 𝑎

 1 1 is the flow area measured perpendicular to the inlet flow direction.
 This is the area perceived by the flow, the true flow area
 An important factor when compressible flow is considered
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 Streamtube thickness variation
 It is useful to define an axial velocity density ratio (AVDR), i.e.,

 This Equation can be used in relating flow properties at the different positions
along the mean streamtube
 Note that AVDR is the inverse of the contraction coefficient described in the
introduction
 In compressors AVDR > 1 due to the thickening boundary layers, but in turbine
cascades AVDR may be less than 1 due to the possible thinning of the boundary
layers in accelerating flow

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 Cascade performance parameters
 For a known AVDR, as just defined, the primary aerodynamic input data for a
cascade test are:
 the inlet flow angle, 1 ;
 the inlet Mach number, 1 ;
 the blade Reynolds number, 1 1 , where is the blade chord.
 The data from cascade traverses are used to provide the following parameters for
use in the design and performance prediction of axial flow compressors and
turbines:
 exit flow angle, 2 ;
 stagnation pressure loss, 𝑝 , or an energy loss coefficient,

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 Cascade performance parameters
 The performance characteristics of a cascade can therefore be expressed by the
following functional relationships:

 The exit flow angle, 2, is a critical performance parameter because it determines

the work transfer within a turbomachinery stage
 If we revisit the Euler work equation 0 𝜃 , it is clear that the work
input or output from a turbomachine will depend on the exit flow angles since
𝜃
 The stagnation pressure loss coefficient is an overall measure of the aerodynamic
losses through the blade row. Generally, it is defined as

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 Cascade performance parameters
 The aerodynamic losses in a cascade blade row translate into efficiency losses
within a real turbomachine with the same blade shapes
 The sources of losses can include:
 boundary layers on the blades;
 flow separation;
 shock waves in the flow
 If no shock waves are present, most of the “loss” due to irreversibility is confined
to a narrow wake downstream of the trailing edge
 For compressors, the total pressure loss coefficient is based on reference inlet
conditions, i.e.

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End of Lecture 10
• Two-dimensional cascades of blades
• Types of cascade tunnels
• Two dimensional flow
• Axial flow machines
• Cascade geometry
• Compressor blade profiles
• Cascade flow characteristics
• Streamtube thickness variation
• Cascade performance parameters

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