125

The exploitation of three-dimensional flow in

turbomachinery design

J D Denton* and L Xu
Whittle Laboratory, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK

Abstract: Many of the phenomena involved in turbomachinery flow can be understood and predicted
on a two-dimensional (2D) or quasi-three-dimensional (Q3D) basis, but some aspects of the flow
must be considered as fully three-dimensional (3D) and cannot be understood or predicted by the
Q3D approach. Probably the best known of these fully 3D effects is secondary flow, which can only
be predicted by a fully 3D calculation which includes the vorticity at inlet to the blade row. It has
long been recognized that blade sweep and lean also produce fully 3D effects and approximate
methods of calculating these have been developed. However, the advent of fully 3D flow field calcu-
lation methods has made predictions of these complex effects much more readily available and
accurate so that they are now being exploited in design. This paper will attempt to describe and
discuss fully 3D flow effects with particular reference to their use to improve turbomachine perform-
ance. Although the discussion is restricted to axial flow machines, many of the phenomena discussed
are equally applicable to mixed and radial flow turbines and compressors.

Keywords: three-dimensional flow, turbomachinery, turbines, compressors, design

NOTATION 1 INTRODUCTION

A blade aspect ratio Quasi-three-dimensional (Q3D) blade-to-blade flow cal-

C blade chord culations predict the flow on a stream surface on the
C blade axial chord assumption that the surface is a surface of revolution;
x
F force acting on blade or flow i.e. its radius at any axial position is constant. The thick-
H blade span ness of the surface, which is more easily considered as
p static pressure the perpendicular distance between two adjacent axisym-
r streamline curvature metric stream surfaces ( Fig. 1), must also be accurately
c
V velocity specified. Conventional throughflow calculations often
have difficulty in predicting this thickness with sufficient
a flow angle accuracy to avoid introducing significant errors into
r fluid density blade-to-blade solutions.
In general, stream surfaces that are axisymmetric
upstream of a blade row will become twisted on passing
Subscripts
m in meridional direction
n normal to streamline
r in radial direction
rel relative
s in streamline direction

h in circumferential direction

The MS was received on 23 March 1998 and was accepted after revision
for publication on 13 August 1998.
* Corresponding author: Whittle Laboratory, Department of
Engineering, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge
CB3 0DY, UK. Fig. 1 Axisymmetric stream surfaces
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126
through the blade row ( Fig. 2) and so the assumption
of axisymmetric surfaces within the row is seldom exactly
correct. Despite this it is found that methods based on
this assumption give good solutions when compared
with most experimental data. Only when the stream sur-
face twist becomes large does it have a significant effect
on the blade loading. Large stream surface twist in itself
does not seem to affect the blade surface pressures
severely; it is shown below that it is the pitchwise
variation in stream surface thickness caused by the
twist that has the dominant effect.
Considering the flow in Fig. 2, the blade loading at
mid-span will be little affected by the twist because the
blade-to-blade (S1) stream surface thickness remains
almost constant across the pitch and the spanwise veloc-
ities associated with the twist are small compared with
the axial and tangential velocities. Hence, neither the
continuity equation, which includes the thickness vari-
ation, nor the momentum equations, which include the
spanwise velocity, are significantly affected by the twist.
However, near the endwalls the thickness varies con-
siderably in the pitchwise direction. This causes the
streamlines on the blade-to-blade surface to move
towards the blade surface with largest stream surface
thickness and so alters the blade-to-blade streamline cur-
vature and hence the pitchwise pressure gradient and
Fig. 2 Stream surface twist
Fig. 3 Definitions of sweep and lean
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J D DENTON AND L XU
blade loading. Qualitatively the blade loading would be
expected to be reduced when the twist is such as to
increase the stream surface thickness near the suction
surface, as is the situation near the casing in Fig. 2.
For a blade row in a parallel annulus the stream sur-
face twist will only be zero if the flow is free vortex.
Otherwise twist will be induced by either shed vorticity
(which must produce opposite spanwise velocities on the
two blade surfaces at the trailing edge) or by secondary
flow arising from inlet vorticity.
Stream surface twist can arise in an irrotational flow
owing to either spanwise components of velocity or span-
wise blade forces. These result from blade sweep and
blade lean. A blade is considered to be swept when the
line of the leading edge is not perpendicular to the inci-
dent flow or if the line of the trailing edge is not perpen-
dicular to the leaving flow. It is leaned if the intersection
of the blade surfaces with a plane perpendicular to the
axis of rotation is inclined to the radial direction ( Fig. 3).
Almost all blade rows have some degree of sweep and
lean but the amounts are generally small unless these
features are deliberately introduced into the design.
2 EFFECTS OF BLADE SWEEP
A major cause of stream surface twist is flow with a large
spanwise velocity within the blade row. This case is ana-
logous to a swept wing as illustrated in Fig. 4.
As the flow passes through a blade row there is a
natural tendency for the spanwise component of velocity
to remain constant, as it would do if the span were infi-
nite. The axial component of velocity, however, will
increase on the suction surface and decrease on the press-
ure surface. Hence, streamlines passing close to the suc-
tion surface must have a lower pitch angle (tan−1 V /V )
r x
than those near the pressure surface and the stream sur-
faces must become twisted as illustrated in Fig. 4. The
major effect of this is well known [1] to be that the flow
near mid-span of high aspect ratio blades is best treated
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 THE EXPLOITATION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW IN TURBOMACHINERY DESIGN
Fig. 4 Stream surface twist due to sweep
as an axial flow with a superimposed constant spanwise
velocity rather than as a Q3D flow. The major effects of
twist on the blade loading appear near the endwalls
where the twist varies across the pitch.
A different way of looking at the effects of sweep is
to consider that the pressure gradient perpendicular to
a plane endwall must be zero, since there can be no fluid
acceleration perpendicular to the wall (V dV /ds=0).
s n
Hence, referring to Fig. 5, the blade loading near the
lower wall must be reduced near the leading edge where
the loading rapidly falls to zero (no blade) with move-
ment perpendicularly away from the wall. Conversely,
the loading on the lower wall will tend to be increased
near the trailing edge since there can be little pressure
difference between it and the more highly loaded region
above it. The opposite effect occurs near the upper wall.
Corroborating this argument, Fig. 6 shows the results
of a three-dimensional (3D) calculation on a turbine cas-
cade with a constant blade section. For illustrative pur-
poses the blade is swept forward at the lower wall and
backwards at the upper wall. The blade surface pressure
distribution at mid-span is close to that obtained from
a two-dimensional (2D) calculation but it can be seen
that the pressure distribution is considerably modified
Fig. 5 Effect of sweep on blade loading
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127
near both endwalls in the manner described qualitat-
ively above.
A thorough discussion of the effects of sweep on the
flow through blading is given by Potts [1]. Detailed
experimental measurements on a swept turbine cascade
are reported by Gotthardt [2] and results for swept com-
pressor cascades are given by Sasaki and Breuglemans
[3].
2.1 Use of blade sweep in design
There are few reports of the deliberate use of blade sweep
in the design of subsonic blade rows. In general, leading
edge sweep, as illustrated in Fig. 7, could be used to
reduce leading edge loading, and trailing edge sweep in
the direction shown will reduce trailing edge loading.
Figure 6 shows the magnitude of this effect for a tur-
bine cascade, but the leading edge effect is much more
pronounced for a compressor cascade where the leading
edge loading is higher. Figure 8 compares the surface
pressure distribution of a compressor blade with forward
leading edge sweep with that of the same blade section
with no sweep, showing the reduction in leading edge
loading and the movement of the peak suction point
away from the leading edge. In the example illustrated
the reduction in loading is sufficient to prevent the for-
mation of the weak shock wave that occurs on the
unswept blade. The reduction in loading should make
the leading edge more tolerant of the changes in inlet
angle due to skew near the endwalls. This design feature
has been extensively used in high-speed fan stators [4]
to alleviate the effects of the high inlet Mach number
near the stator root.
There are no known reports of the use of a swept back
trailing edge, as illustrated in Fig. 7, to reduce trailing
edge loading, but LeJambre et al. [5] report the use of
a cut back trailing edge (the opposite to that in Fig. 7)
on compressor stator blades to improve the stall margin
of a multistage compressor. The effect they obtained was
a reduction in axial velocity near the blade root and a
consequent increase near the tip and was probably more
due to the change in blade (i.e. metal ) exit angle than
to the change in loading distribution.
One important effect of sweep is on the shock losses
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128 J D DENTON AND L XU

Fig. 6 Static pressure distribution on a swept turbine cascade

Fig. 7 Use of sweep to reduce leading or trailing edge loading

of a transonic compressor or fan. Figure 9 shows a typi-
cal fan shock structure at mid-pitch. The shock is clearly
swept in the meridional plane but it is also swept in the
blade-to-blade plane and so estimation of its exact incli-
nation to the flow is complex.
It is well known that the shock loss is a strong function
of the Mach number component perpendicular to the
shock front [6 ] and for a given incident Mach number
this is clearly reduced by any sweep of the shock. This
effect is claimed to give a reduction in shock loss for
transonic compressors and it clearly must do so for a
fixed value of the relative Mach number upstream of the
shock. However, it must be remembered that the press-
ure rise across the shock also depends on the normal
Mach number component, in fact the shock loss is a
unique function of the shock pressure rise. If the shock
pressure rise and hence the shock loss are reduced by
sweep, then at a constant pressure ratio there must be
Proc Instn Mech Engrs Vol 213 Part C
an extra pressure rise by diffusion which will generate
extra boundary layer losses. Hence the net effect on over-
all loss is not obvious.
Another factor which reduces the potential benefits of
shock sweep is the fact that the shock is not usually
strong enough or oblique enough to reflect from the
endwalls and so it must bend to intersect the endwalls
perpendicularly; this can be seen in Fig. 9. Any effects
of sweep on the shock loss are therefore lost at the
endwalls where the Mach number and shock loss are the
greatest. This is clearly shown by the results of Dawes
[7] who studied the transonic flow over a swept non-
lifting blade. As a result of this interaction with the
endwall, the potential benefits of shock sweep for a fan
rotor are greatest if it is applied around three-quarter
span where the Mach numbers are still high enough for
shock loss to be significant but the shock has not yet
bent to become normal to the casing.
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 THE EXPLOITATION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW IN TURBOMACHINERY DESIGN 129

Fig. 8 Effect of leading edge forward sweep on the surface pressure distribution of a compressor blade row

Fig. 9 Static pressure contours at mid-pitch of a transonic fan rotor

Wadia et al. [8] present a detailed study of the per-
formance of a range of transonic compressors with both
forward and backward sweep. The effects on efficiency
were not great but the swept back compressors suffer a
C03298 © IMechE 1999
loss of stall margin owing to the shock being closer to
the leading edge. Conversely, the swept forward blade,
where the shock is further from the leading edge, has an
increased stall margin and good efficiency. Overall the
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130 J D DENTON AND L XU

effects of sweep on transonic compressors are not yet may become dangerously low. This is an axisymmetric
fully understood and this remains an area of active effect that is best explained in terms of the streamline
research. curvatures induced by the lean. Referring to Fig. 11, let
there be a radial blade force F per unit mass of fluid
r
acting inwards on the flow; i.e. the blade lift has a radial
3 BLADE LEAN outward component acting on the blade. Notice how a
radial inward blade force acting on the flow causes the
The effects of blade lean, i.e. non-radial blade stacking, streamlines to move outwards contrary to the intuitive
on blade loading can be very powerful and are discussed expectation.
in detail by Walker [9] and Harrison [10]. The effects The radial equilibrium equation may be written as
can be explained by considering what would happen if 1 dp V2 V2
the flow were two-dimensional, so that for an untwisted F+ = h+ m (1)
r r dr r r
but leaned blade the pressure distribution at each span- c
wise position was the same as for a 2D cascade of the where V is the swirl component of velocity and r is the
h c
same pitch and section. This hypothetical situation is radius of curvature of the streamlines. Considering the
illustrated in Fig. 10. small changes in velocity and pressure between an un-
It can be seen that if such a 2D flow existed it would leaned blade row (F =0, r =2) and a leaned one, the
r c
have a significant pressure gradient perpendicular to the mean value of V does not change because of continuity
m
endwalls. Away from the endwalls this pressure gradient and hence, if the blade angle a is unchanged, the mean
would produce an acceleration and hence velocity com- value of V is also unchanged. If r is initially infinite,
h c
ponents towards the upper wall in Fig. 10. This would equation (1) becomes
induce both spanwise and pitchwise variations in stream
1 dDp V2
surface thickness which are inconsistent with the initial F+ = m (2)
hypothesis of two-dimensional flow. The relative impor- r r dr r
c
tance of the axisymmetric variations in stream surface where Dp is the change in static pressure introduced by
thickness that can be predicted by Q3D methods and of lean. The change in velocity on the endwalls may be
the fully 3D pitchwise variations has not been assessed. related to the change in pressure by the Euler equation
However, there is no doubt that in practice the complex
flow is most easily predicted by fully 3D methods. (Dp) =−rV (DV ) sec2 a (3)
wall m m wall
The effects of blade lean are not confined to flow where a is the blade angle, assumed constant. The
within the blade row. The resulting stream surface shifts change in V on the endwalls may be related to the
can induce large streamline curvatures that decay outside m
streamline shift Dr by the continuity equation, assuming
the blade rows with a length scale of the order of the small changes in density:
annulus height. Hence, at high aspect ratios the effects
may be significant for adjacent blade rows. This effect is 0.5HV =(0.5H+Dr)[V +0.5(DV ) ]
m m m wall
discussed in more detail in the next section. i.e.
H (DV )
Dr#− m wall (4)
3.1 Use of blade lean to increase reaction 4 V
m
One of the most common applications of 3D flow in Although the exact streamline curvature at mid-span
design is to use blade lean to change the spanwise vari- cannot be predicted on a simple basis, the axial length
ation in stage reaction. This is particularly useful for low
hub–tip radius ratio machines where the root reaction

Fig. 10 Pressure distribution in a hypothetical leaned blade

row with no spanwise variation in flow Fig. 11 Effect of blade lean on streamline curvature
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 THE EXPLOITATION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW IN TURBOMACHINERY DESIGN
scale over which the streamline shift occurs will be the
blade axial chord C and thus
x
AB
1 Dr
D =K (5)
r C2
c x
where K is a constant whose value can be estimated, by
assuming parabolic streamlines, to be of the order of 10.
Combining these equations to express the streamline
curvature term on the right-hand side of equation (2) in
terms of the change in pressure on the endwalls, we
obtain
2Dp Dp KH
F= + cos2 a (6)
r rH r 4C2
x
This equation can be used to show qualitatively how the
effects of the added radial blade force F are shared
r between stator and rotor. The lean may either extend
between a change in radial pressure gradient (the second
term) and a change in the streamline curvature acceler-
ation (the last term). The ratio of these two terms is
A B
Change in streamline curvature term K H cos a 2
= exit Mach number is quite dramatic, the root reaction
Change in pressure gradient term 8 C
x is increased and the very high tip reaction is reduced.
(7)
The constant K is of the order of 10 and so the last term
is of the order A2 cos2 a, A being the aspect ratio based
x x
on the axial chord. It should be emphasized that this is
a very approximate relationship designed to show only
the trends and it should not be used for quantitative
calculations.
At high aspect ratios the streamline curvature term
will dominate and the change in the radial pressure
gradient within the blade row will be comparatively
small. However, the streamline curvature cannot end
abruptly at the trailing edge and will decay upstream
and downstream of the blade row with a length scale
approximately equal to the annulus height. The resulting
flow will be as shown in Fig. 12.
The streamline curvatures induced by the lean with
pressure surface towards the hub will increase the hub
pressure and decrease the casing pressure well upstream
and downstream of the blade row, and hence the press-
ure on the hub at exit from the upstream row and at
entry to the downstream row will be increased.
If the aspect ratio is small, the above equations show
Fig. 12 Effect of radial blade force at high aspect ratios
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131
that the resulting change in streamline curvature will be
small and the radial blade force will be opposed mainly
by the increased radial pressure gradient within the blade
row. Hence the blade loading at the root will be reduced
and that at the tip increased. This effect can be very
powerful within the row but will not persist significantly
upstream or downstream of the row.
The former effect, i.e. increased streamline curvature
for high aspect ratio blading, has been extensively used
to increase the root reaction for LP steam turbines as
described by Grant and Borthwick [11]. The hub–tip
ratio of these machines tends to be very low and the root
reaction is in danger of becoming negative. By leaning
the stator blades so that the pressure surface faces the
hub streamline, curvatures as illustrated in Fig. 12 are
set up and can greatly increase the pressure on the hub
over the whole blade span or may be concentrated near
to the hub. Figure 13 illustrates the results of a 3D pre-
diction of the effects of overall lean on the flow at exit
from a LP steam turbine stator. The reduction in nozzle
Very worthwhile improvements in efficiency have been
made by reblading operating turbines with blades leaned
in this way.
The same type of stator lean is also beneficial as
regards tip leakage because the pressure drop over the
rotor tip and stator root are both decreased. It may
thus also be beneficial for machines that do not suffer
from low root reaction. The spanwise variation in inlet
flow angle to the rotor is also reduced and stator lean
may be used to avoid having to twist the rotor in cases
where this would otherwise be necessary to optimize
performance.
3.2 Use of blade lean to control endwall losses
The effects of non-radial stacking on the loading of low
aspect blades can be easily understood by viewing the
pressure distribution in a plane perpendicular to the axis.
Figure 14 shows the calculated pressure distribution for
a turbine nozzle blade with a constant blade section but
three different stackings. It is clear that despite the
changes in geometry the dominant effect is for the con-
stant pressure lines to remain closely radial and to be
almost frozen relative to the average blade section. This
is easily explained by the fact that the curvature in the
blade-to-blade plane is at least an order of magnitude
greater than that in either the meridional plane or in the
plane perpendicular to the axis, i.e.
V2 /r &V2 /r and V2 /r (8)
rel cb h m cm
where r is the streamline curvature in the blade–blade
cb
plane, r is that in the meridional plane and r is the
cm
local stream surface radius. Hence, the pressure gradient
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132 J D DENTON AND L XU

Fig. 13 Predicted Mach number distribution after the last stator of a large steam turbine

Fig. 14 Computed static pressure contours through a turbine stator with different stackings (the suction
surface is to the right of the blade-to-blade passage)
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 THE EXPLOITATION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW IN TURBOMACHINERY DESIGN 133

perpendicular to the endwalls must be small compared
with the blade-to-blade pressure gradient.
The net effect is that, at low aspect ratios, different
blade stackings may be considered as moving the blade
within an almost frozen pressure field. For the straight
leaned blade illustrated in Fig. 14 the root section has
been moved into a region of low velocity and hence its
loading is reduced, while the tip section has been moved
into a region of high velocity and its loading increased.
Figure 15 illustrates the same principles by showing the
computed effect of 15° straight lean on the tip loading
of a turbine rotor blade. The predicted peak Mach
number is increased from 1.1 to 2.0.
The bowed blade (also called compound lean) shown
in Fig. 14 is of a type that is nowadays often adopted
for HP gas and steam turbines [12, 13]. By moving the
blade sections at both hub and casing into regions of
increased pressure it succeeds in reducing the loading at
both endwalls at the expense of an increase in loading
at mid-span.
Despite its widespread use, the exact mechanism by
which 3D stacking, especially compound lean, reduces
endwall loss in turbines is still not clear. Many different
explanations have been put forward. These are reviewed
by Walker [9] and Harrison [10].
A simple explanation, often cited, is that the increase
in load at mid-span and reduction near the endwalls
causes more work to be done by the most efficient part
of the blade, i.e. near mid-span, and less by the least
efficient part near the endwalls. This does not explain
why the local loss coefficient, as opposed to the loss flux,
is generally decreased near the endwalls and increased
near mid-span when compound lean is used.
A second common explanation is based on the redistri-
bution of the low-energy fluid, which is generated near
the endwall, by the spanwise pressure gradients.
Compound lean, with the lean such as to reduce the
loading near the endwalls, generates a spanwise pressure
gradient acting towards mid-span. Hence the low-energy
fluid in blade and endwall boundary layers will tend to
migrate towards mid-span more strongly than it does
due to conventional secondary flow. This may prevent
loss accumulation and local separation occurring near
the endwalls. It is also argued that the resulting blade

Fig. 15 Effect of 15° lean on the Mach number contours in a turbine rotor
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134
exit flow is more uniform, i.e. the secondary loss cores
are not so concentrated, giving lower mixing losses, and
that a more uniform flow causes less loss to be generated
in the next downstream blade row. This is plausible but
is hard to substantiate.
A third explanation is based on the fact that entropy
creation (i.e. loss generation) per unit surface area is
proportional to the local relative velocity raised to the
power of n, where n is of the order of 2 or 3, depending
on the state of the boundary layer [6 ]. When compound
lean is used, the surface area exposed to a reduction in
velocity, i.e. the endwalls and the blade surface near the
endwalls, is substantially greater than the area of surface
exposed to an increase in velocity, i.e. near mid-span.
Hence the overall entropy production is reduced while
the overall load and hence work remains constant. This
explanation is convincing but may be complicated by
changes in the local state of the boundary layers, i.e. by
transition or separations induced or suppressed by the
change in loading.
Figure 16 shows the stagnation pressure loss distri-
bution measured by Harrison [10] downstream of three
turbine cascades, all with the same blade section (107°
turning) but different stackings. Harrison’s measure-
ments included careful traverses within and downstream
of the blade passage to determine the growth of loss and
to locate the origin of any significant changes in loss
with changed stacking. Figure 16 shows the expected
changes in loss distribution. The straight leaned blade
has a spanwise pressure gradient acting from the lower
to the upper wall within the blade passage. This causes
low-energy fluid to move along the span towards the
more highly loaded upper endwall, but it is not obvious
that the total loss generated on either wall is any differ-
ent. The compound lean blade shows an increase in loss
Fig. 16 Measured stagnation pressure contours behind three turbine cascades with the same 2D section but
different stacking: contour interval=0.05×(P −P )
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at mid-span due to both increased loading and spanwise
migration of loss from the endwalls and a consequent
reduction in loss near the endwalls. The exit flow is on
the whole slightly more uniform for the compound
lean blade.
Harrison’s measurements showed that neither type of
stacking gave an overall mixed out loss significantly
different from that of the original blade. Hence it seems
that the performance benefits claimed for leaned blades
cannot always be explained in terms of loss reduction in
the leaned blade row, in which case they must come from
reduced losses elsewhere in the machine.
Bowed stator blades have also been used in com-
pressors [14] where the unloading of the endwalls can
be used to suppress the blade–endwall corner separa-
tions that are prevalent in many designs. This may give
some improvement in efficiency but the main effect is
likely to be an improved surge margin. The effect has
also been investigated in cascade by Sasaki and
Breuglemans [3] who obtained modest reductions in loss.
However, because compressor endwall flows are domi-
nated by skewing of the inlet boundary layers, these cas-
cade results may not be applicable to real machines.
3.3 Use of lean to reduce tip leakage loss
The unloading of the blade tip that is produced by lean-
ing the pressure surface towards the endwall may be
expected to reduce the effects of tip leakage on blades
with plain tip clearance. For such blades the leakage flow
and loss is mainly dependent on the pressure difference
between pressure surface and suction surface at the tip
[6 ] and this can be significantly reduced by localized lean
concentrated towards the blade tip. This has been used
01 2
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 THE EXPLOITATION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW IN TURBOMACHINERY DESIGN
by Staubach et al. [15] for turbines and by Bolger [16 ]
for compressors, both of whom report significant
reductions in tip leakage loss.
For shrouded blades, localized lean will have little
effect on the tip leakage but global lean of turbine stator
blades, with the pressure surface inwards, will reduce the
pressure drop across both the stator root and the rotor
tip and so should be doubly beneficial. As previously
discussed, this effect has been used to improve root reac-
tion but there are no known instances of its being used
specifically to reduce tip leakage.
4 LOCALIZED BLADE TWIST
Localized blade twist must be considered a 3D effect if
the twist occurs over a spanwise distance that is small
compared to the blade chord. In such cases the flow
cannot redistribute in the spanwise direction sufficiently
rapidly to establish two-dimensional flow and the result
is similar to that illustrated in Fig. 14 where the blade is
moved within a frozen pressure field. Such localized
changes have been used to control both the local pressure
distribution and the blade outlet angle.
4.1 Application to turbines
Localized blade twist near the endwalls has been used
to reduce the endwall losses of low aspect ratio turbine
blades. Singh et al. [17] argue that closing the blade
throat near the endwalls will cause less fluid to pass
through the high loss region and more to pass through
the more efficient region near mid-span. This tends to
make the flow leaving the stator row more non-uniform
with low axial velocities near the endwalls and high ones
at mid-span. It also reduces the area of the endwalls but
increases the surface area of the blades due to the locally
increased stagger. They obtained significant efficiency
improvements from a combination of design changes
and it is not clear how much of it comes from the
above effect.
Wallis et al. [18] obtained a significant efficiency
increase of low aspect ratio, 50 per cent reaction blading
from almost the opposite type of blade twist. Based on
Harrison’s work, they argue that the net loss within the
modified blade row is unchanged and any benefits come
from a more uniform flow entering the downstream row.
Consequently they used 3D calculations to design the
blades, twisting them so that the pitchwise average flow
leaving them was uniform even in the presence of strong
secondary flows. This involved opening the blade throat
at the endwalls and closing it in the region of underturn-
ing some distance away from the walls. However, they
also made several simultaneous design changes, so it is
not clear how much of the improvement came from the
more uniform flow.
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135
4.2 Compressor end bends
Compressor end bends are an important example of
using localized blade twist to alter the blade camber and
stacking near the endwalls. This can be an effective
means of improving both efficiency and stall margin [19,
20]. The arguments originally used to justify it were very
simple. The local incidence near the blade tips tends to
be increased both by the lower meridional velocity in the
endwall boundary layers and by the overturning due to
secondary flow in the upstream blade row. Hence there
is an immediate benefit in increasing the blade stagger
near the endwalls since this both matches the blade inlet
angle to the local flow direction and reduces the over-
turning due to secondary flow. In practice, three-dimen-
sional effects are important and the amount of twist
required cannot be predicted on a 2D basis. Spanwise
flow due to the local radial pressure gradients provides
a relief to the positive incidence [21] and so its effects
are not as bad as one would expect from a 2D viewpoint.
Also, locally increased stagger may reduce the throat
area of the blade and so drive the incidence to even
higher values. Overall the problem is best addressed by
multistage 3D design methods which model both the
endwall boundary layers and the interaction between
blade rows and allow the blade ends to be tailored to
the local flow.
5 USE OF ENDWALL PROFILING
Profiling of the endwalls to reduce secondary losses in
axial turbines (Fig. 17) has been known for many years
[22] and has been extensively used over the past decade,
e.g. by Cofer [23]. The effect of endwall profiling on the
inviscid flow is predominantly axisymmetric and the
endwall curvature changes the local stream surface thick-
ness in a way that can in principle be predicted by
throughflow calculations. The surface velocity distri-
bution can then be predicted by a Q3D blade-to-blade
calculation. However, in practice there is little doubt that
the flow is more easily and accurately predicted by fully
3D calculations.
The effect of profiling similar to that illustrated in
Fig. 17 on the surface pressure distribution of a turbine
stator is shown in Fig. 18. This shows the predicted
pressure distribution on both endwalls and compares
them with the same blade without endwall profiling. It
can be seen that the profiling has a very powerful effect
on the curved endwall and the greatly reduced loading
over the upstream half of the casing should reduce sec-
ondary flows. On the plane endwall (hub) the effect is
not significantly different from that produced by a
straight contraction of the stream surfaces, but the sig-
nificantly reduced loading should still be beneficial.
A detailed experimental and computational study of
the effects of endwall profiling in a turbine cascade is
Proc Instn Mech Engrs Vol 213 Part C
136 J D DENTON AND L XU

Fig. 17 Endwall profiling in a turbine stator and a compressor rotor

Fig. 18 Effect of endwall profiling on the pressure distribution in a turbine stator

reported by Atkins [24]. He found that the local effect
on the contoured endwall could be used to correct any
undesirable features in the 2D surface velocity distri-
bution on the blade, but it was difficult to do this without
introducing undesirable features elsewhere. For a blade
with a good 2D surface velocity distribution, little
improvement over the effects of a uniform contraction
was possible.
Atkins also found no significant reduction in the
endwall loss generation within the cascade, despite using
endwall profiles that were very carefully chosen on the
basis of 3D calculations. The reduction in overall loss
that was obtained came from a reduction in the loss
entering the cascade in the endwall boundary layers. This
is an obvious result of the reduction in inlet velocity that
must accompany endwall contraction with a fixed blade
exit velocity. It is also claimed that the reduced pressure
on the casing endwall near the trailing edge, as seen in
Fig. 18, opposes the radial inwards migration of low-
Proc Instn Mech Engrs Vol 213 Part C
energy fluid under the influence of the radial pressure
gradient caused by the swirling flow. However, it is not
obvious whether this radial migration is a good or bad
feature of the flow. The main benefits of endwall con-
touring almost certainly come from the improved veloc-
ity ratio across the blade row rather than from any subtle
effects of 3D flow.
If endwall contouring of the type shown in Fig. 17 is
to be used on any but the first blade row of a multistage
machine, then the annulus must be diverged elsewhere
to restore the flow area for downstream stages. In the
case of low reaction turbines this divergence can probably
take place within the highly accelerating stator blades with
little penalty on performance. However, in other types of
machine the annulus divergence will generate diffusion and
increased losses that may cancel any benefits from the con-
traction. Cofer [23] claims efficiency benefits from the use
of multiple stages with endwall contouring but shows no
details of the geometries used.
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 THE EXPLOITATION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW IN TURBOMACHINERY DESIGN
Rose [25] shows that non-axisymmetric endwall pro-
filing can be used to reduce the circumferential pressure
gradients downstream of a blade row. This helps to
reduce the danger of mainstream fluid entering slots or
cavities between the stationary and moving endwalls.
In compressors, endwall contouring is mainly used on
high aspect ratio fans where convex outward curvature
of the endwalls at the trailing edge can be used to lower
the pressure on the endwall and so reduce the danger of
endwall separation. An example of this can be seen in
Fig. 9. Concave outward contouring of the hub has also
been used in such fan blades to increase the passage area
and so reduce the danger of choking at high flowrates.
LeJambre et al. [5] have contoured the hub within the
rotor row of a core compressor and claim that it elimin-
ates endwall corner separations.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The effects of three-dimensionality on the inviscid flow
through turbomachinery blading can now be clearly
understood and predicted. In many cases an understand-
ing of the inviscid flow is sufficient to exploit these 3D
effects in design. The use of blade lean to improve root
reaction is a good example of this.
The effects of three-dimensionality on the viscous part
of the flow are much more difficult to understand and
to predict quantitatively. Both simple arguments and
experimental evidence are often conflicting. For example,
there is no consensus as to whether it is best to try to
keep low-energy fluid generated on the endwalls near to
the endwalls or whether to encourage it to migrate away
from them.
As a result, although very worthwhile improvements
in machine efficiency, by the use of such features as 3D
blade stacking, have been reported, there is sometimes
no clear understanding of their root cause. Until 3D
viscous flow calculations are able to give quantitative
prediction of blade row loss and machine efficiency,
considerable engineering judgement and experience will
continue to be necessary in exploiting 3D flow phen-
omena for turbomachine design.
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