Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Stephan Geerts
Ph. D. Thesis
May 2006
Promoter: Prof. Dr. Ir. Chris Lacor Co-promoter: Prof. Dr. Ir. Charles Hirsch
Acknowledgments
In the first place, I highly thank Prof. Ch. Hirsch who gave me the opportunity to start with my research in the fascinating experimental and numerical world of turbomachinery. During this research, he also gave me the opportunity to improve my knowledge in other disciplines like wind engineering, development of numerical codes for dynamic response of wind turbines and their electrical output, and numerical and experimental research of confined double annular jet. I became also acquainted with all measuring facilities that are used in fluid mechanics. I very much appreciate Prof. Hirsch for his critical advice, remarks and ideas, as well as for the academicals freedom he gave me during my career at university. Further, I would like to thank Prof. Ch. Lacor that he continued promoting me. He motivated me, and helped me improve myself in this fascinating scientific environment. Thanks to Prof. J. De Ruyck, the right priorities were made, and the test facility got completely finalised, giving me the chances to perform all necessary measurements needed for this thesis. His guidance has been of great value for my research. Without the aids of the technical staff, it was not possible set up a test facility of this scale. Therefore, I would like to thank Michel Desees, Andre Plasschaert, and Daniel Debondt for their help and creativity. Also the staffs of NUMECA International are thanked for the use of their software tools. My thanks extend to all present and former colleagues at the department for providing an open and stimulating atmosphere. Special thanks to Alain Wery for his computer and electronics support, and to Mrs. Jenny Dhaes for helping me with the administration. Finally, without the encouragement, support and patience of my girlfriend Raquel, this work would not be the same. Whatever useful results this thesis may contain, they wouldnt be effective without her constant and patient guidance. I am grateful to the jury members for having shouldered the burden of examining the present manuscript and offering valuable suggestions for improvements, namely Prof. J. De Ruyck,, Prof. E. Dick, Prof. P. Hendrick, Prof. T. Thienpont, Prof. J. Vereecken and of course, my two promoters, Prof. Ch. Hirsch and Prof. Ch. Lacor.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Nomenclature Introduction Chapter 1: Literature Review
1.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 1.1 1.2 CFD of Axial Flow Pumps .................................................................................. 1.1 1.3 Flow Analysis of Axial Flow Pumps ................................................................... 1.2 1.3.1 Two-dimensional Analysis ......................................................................... 1.2 1.3.2 Three-Dimensional Analysis ...................................................................... 1.5 1.3.2.1 Theory of Radial Equilibrium......................................................... 1.6 1.3.2.2 Computer-Aided Methods for Solving the Through-Flow Problem1.8 1.3.2.3 Computational Fluid Dynamics ...................................................... 1.9 1.4 Global Performance Characteristic .................................................................... 1.11 1.5 Characteristics of the 3D Flow Field ................................................................. 1.14 1.5.1 Forces Active on the Flow ........................................................................ 1.14 1.5.2 Prerotation................................................................................................. 1.15 1.5.3 Secondary Flow in Axial Flow Pumps ..................................................... 1.16 1.5.4 Review on Tip Leakage Flow ................................................................... 1.21 1.5.5 Losses in Boundary Layers....................................................................... 1.22 1.5.6 Cavitation.................................................................................................. 1.23 1.5.7 Unsteady Phenomena................................................................................ 1.24 1.6 Summary ............................................................................................................ 1.24
Table of Contents 2.3 Measurement Equipment for the Performance of the Pump................................ 2.9 2.3.1 Flow Measurements .................................................................................. 2.10 2.3.2 Wall Pressure Measurement ..................................................................... 2.10 2.3.3 Rotor Shaft Torque and Rotation Speed ................................................... 2.11 2.4 Performance Uncertainty Analysis .................................................................... 2.13 2.5 Summary ............................................................................................................ 2.14
Table of Contents 4.4.3 Pitch-averaged Velocity Profiles of the Measured Locations................... 4.16 4.4.3 Blade-to-blade Velocity Profiles of the Measured Locations................... 4.16 4.5 Consistency Check............................................................................................. 4.21 4.6 Discussion .......................................................................................................... 4.22 4.7 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 4.26
Table of Contents 6.3.5 Contours plot of Normalized Velocities at 50% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge.................................................. 6.14 6.3.6 Contours plot of Normalized Velocities at 75% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge.................................................. 6.15 6.3.7 Contours plot of Normalized Velocities at Rotor Trailing Edge .............. 6.16 6.3.8 Contours plot of the Normalized Velocities at 20% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Trailing Edge .................................................. 6.17 6.3.9 Contours plot of the Normalized Velocities at 40% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Trailing Edge .................................................. 6.18 6.3.10 Pitch-averaged Velocity Profiles of the Measured Locations................. 6.19 6.3.11 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at 40% Chord Axially Upstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge....................................................... 6.22 6.3.12 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at 20% Chord Axially Upstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge....................................................... 6.23 6.3.13 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at Rotor Leading Edge ........................ 6.24 6.3.14 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at 25% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge.................................................. 6.25 6.3.15 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at 50% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge.................................................. 6.26 6.3.16 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at 75% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge.................................................. 6.27 6.3.17 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at Rotor Trailing Edge......................... 6.28 6.3.18 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at 20% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Trailing Edge .................................................. 6.29 6.3.19 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at 40% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Trailing Edge .................................................. 6.30 6.3.20 Blade-to-blade Tangential Velocities at 40% Chord Axially Upstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge....................................................... 6.31 6.3.21 Blade-to-blade Tangential Velocities at 20% Chord Axially Upstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge....................................................... 6.32 6.3.22 Blade-to-blade Tangential Velocities at Rotor Leading Edge ................ 6.33 6.3.23 Blade-to-blade Tangential Velocities at 25% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge.................................................. 6.34 6.3.24 Blade-to-blade Tangential Velocities at 50% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge.................................................. 6.35 Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 4
Table of Contents 6.3.25 Blade-to-blade Tangential Velocities at 75% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Leading Edge.................................................. 6.36 6.3.26 Blade-to-blade Tangential Velocities at Rotor Trailing Edge ................ 6.37 6.3.27 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at 20% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Trailing Edge .................................................. 6.38 6.3.28 Blade-to-blade Axial Velocities at 40% Chord Axially Downstream of Rotor Tip Trailing Edge .................................................. 6.39 6.3.29 Blade-to-blade Velocity in tip (95% Span)............................................. 6.40 6.4 Discussion: Numerical versus Experimental Results ........................................ 6.42 6.5 Conclusions........................................................................................................ 6.45
Table of Contents A.4.1 The Fringe Model.......................................................................................A.5 A.4.2 Measuring Volume.....................................................................................A.6 A.4.3 Backscatter Versus Forward Scatter ..........................................................A.7 A.4.4 Optics .........................................................................................................A.9 A.4.5 Frequency Shift ........................................................................................A.10 A.4.6 Signal Processing ....................................................................................A.12 A.4.7 Data Analysis ...........................................................................................A.13 A.5 Making Measurements......................................................................................A.14 A.5.1 Dealing With Multiple Probes (3D Setup) ..............................................A.14 A.5.2 Calculating Moments ..............................................................................A.15 A.5.3 Velocity Bias and Weighting Factor .......................................................A.15
Nomenclature
Nomenclature
Roman Symbols
r r r 1x ,1y ,1z
r ar
Unit vector along the x, y, z directions Acceleration vector Relative acceleration vector Cross sectional area of fluid flow Arrival time Bias error Torque Correction factor for fluid velocity Power coefficient Velocity of light, chord Impeller diameter Initial beam thickness Distance to closest wall, distance from the beam waist, Numerical dissipation term Distance between fringes Particle size Total internal energy per unit mass Edge intensity Unit vectors of incoming light Unit vector of scattered light Resulting force, Flux vector Surface force Frictional force per unit mass
A ai B C Cf Cp c D DL d df dp E e ei es
r F r Fs
r f
Nomenclature.1
Nomenclature
Component of the flux vector Frequency of incoming light Frequency of scattered light Refraction correction factor Gravitation Ideal Head Static head Total head Mesh points location in x, y, z directions Scaling constant Turbulence kinetic energy, Correction factor Length Number of data samples within a given discrete storage window or bin mass Cell face normal vector Number of particles Number of fringes Rotational speed Discrete Storage Window Normal or normal component, Normal distance to the wall, rotational speed Refraction index of fluid Index of refraction of medium i (i=0; air, i=1; wall, i=2; fluid) Refraction index of cylinder wall Shaft Power, production term, precision error Effective power Nomenclature.2
Nomenclature
p pt q
Q
Static pressure Total pressure Heat flux Source term Mass Flow, Source term Heat flux component Vector from the rotation axis Residual of iterative scheme, Specific gas constant Radius of curvature Reynolds number Inner radius of cylinder wall, Inner diameter of the tube wall Outer radius of cylinder wall, Outer diameter of the tube wall Experimental result, radius from the axis of rotation Radius of virtual position of beam intersection without refraction True radius position Characteristic surface, Standard deviation, Vortices Strain rate tensor Tip clearance Torque, Temperature Turbulence density Time Transition time Time step Velocity vector Particle velocity, tip blade speed
Q q
r r
R Rcm Re Ri Ro r ra rf S Sij s T Tu t ti
t
U U
Nomenclature.3
Nomenclature
Ui UR Utip Uxi ui
r V
Mean velocity component Uncertainty of the result Tip velocity Uncertainty in the measured value Xi to 95% coonfidence Fluctuating velocity component Absolute velocity vector Mean absolute velocity Velocity Discretised velocity Corrected tangential velocity Component of the velocity in the plane of the laser beams Component of fluid velocity calculated using half angle of unrefracted beams and water length in air Corrected component of fluid velocity Absolute axial velocity Absolute tangential velocity Relative velocity vector Average relative velocity Relative axial velocity Relative tangential velocity Cartesian coordinates, Components in x,y,z directions Experimental variables from I=1 to J Law of the wall coordinate =
u y
Greek Symbols
Nomenclature
Angle of relative velocity Total uncertainty Scattering volume dimensions in the x,y,z directions Normalized rms error, Effective diffusion coefficient Refraction angles of the laser beam in media 1 and 2 Refraction angle of the optical axis in media i Kronecker symbol Flow coefficient Efficiency Angle between vector U and the direction of measurement Wavelength of laser light Turbulent eddy viscosity Eddy viscosity Effective kinematic viscosity Laminar kinematic viscosity Turbulent kinematic viscosity Angle between normal to the interface and the laser beam, Beam crossing angle
x,y,z
A1, A2, B1, B2 i
Density of water Average axial square fluctuations, Integral time scale Average tangential fluctuations Rotation vector Angular velocity of rotation Head coefficient Angular rotation speed
1 2
Nomenclature.5
Nomenclature
Superscripts
~ =
Periodic or deterministic quantity Random of nondeterministic quantity Time averaged
Subscripts
d h s t ref 1 2 3
Design Hub Shroud Tip Reference At the inlet of the rotor At the outlet of the rotor At the outlet of the rotor
Nomenclature.6
Introduction
Introduction
Flows in hydropumps are three-dimensional, complex and unsteady. Several flow phenomena dominate the performance, efficiency, noise and vibrations of these machines, and as a result must be accurately predicted. Flow analysers are used to give a deeper insight into the underlying physics and enables one to identify and understand the predominant dynamic mechanisms, both steady and unsteady, which must be controlled and manipulated to enhance the performance design. In an analysis, an accurate description of both the local spatial and temporal organisation of the flow is essential. Numerical simulation techniques for studying flow phenomena have been evolved from the so-called one-dimensional (main line or critical path line) calculations and the basic two- and three-dimensional methods (Quasi 3D flow calculations) to the advanced (viscous) 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics. In CFD, the continuity and Navier-Stokes equations, which describe the motion of a fluid flow, are solved numerically. When predicting flow fields, CFD simulations provide a fast and cheap way of gaining insight on the distribution of local variables, such as pressure and velocity, at different operating conditions. Knowledge about local variables, which depend on the geometrical layout and the initial configuration, allows for predicting integral variables such as pressure rise and efficiency. This information is of great importance for engineers in design situations with the goal to produce a safe, reliable, efficient and economically competitive system that meets design point pressure ratio and flows with adequate stall margin and good efficiency potential. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in industry has come to play a crucial role in predicting and analysing fluid flows. This development has been driven by the availability of robust in-house and commercial CFD codes and by the massive increase in affordable computer speed and memory. This leads to a steady reduction in the costs of simulations compared to prototyping and model experiments. The challenge of CFD is thus to accurately predict the flow yield so that the testing of a new design can be done numerically and hence to minimise experimental testing. This reduces development time and costs considerably. The fundamental problem of CFD is that the accuracy of the solution depends on the assumptions made when modelling physical phenomena such as turbulence and unsteady phenomena. For modelling turbulence, most CFD codes are based on the RANS family (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes). Through a time averaging of the Navier-Stokes equations, a statistical description of the evolution of the mean quantities is given and a model is applied in order to take into account the effect of the temporal variations due to turbulence. A wide range of such turbulence models is available, ranging from simple algebraic models (e.g. Baldwin-Lomax) to two equations models (k- and k- models) and more expensive algebraic or full Reynolds stress models. Due to the statistical approach the standard turbulence models also lack the ability to describe accurately the temporal variation of the flow, especially if the times scales of the unsteadiness is not much larger than that of the turbulence-scales. These are all phenomena characterising flows in turbomachinery. Despite the inadequacy of current turbulence models, designers are becoming increasingly dependent on (un)steady viscous three-dimensional CFD methods for the design of the machines. In order to extend the range of confidence in these numerical codes, some means of validation by comparing the numerical results with data from Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump Intro.1
Introduction well-controlled experiments have to be performed. These data will not only improve the accuracy of the numerical simulations, but also the understanding of the complex physics of flows in hydropumps. These subjects will be handled in this thesis. There are not a lot of experiments that deal with the incompressible flow of water in a one-stage axial pump. In order to extend the range of our numerical prediction codes, flow models, and physical understanding of this incompressible flow problem, we need to perform a new experiment. A propeller pump was designed for internal flow studies and performance investigations. An axial flow pump facility at the department of Fluids Mechanics and Thermodynamics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has been developed to perform a scaled experiment of the incompressible flow of water through a two-blade-row propeller pump. This propeller pump with a specific speed Ns of 353, and a blade chord Reynolds numbers of 6.4.104, consists of a rotor-stator and is used for large volumes water distribution at relatively low heads. The facility is accommodated with a variety of instrumentation for the measurement of the performance, and is also provided with an optical access to the impeller for LDA measurements. A two-component laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) survey at design flow was done in nine different cross-sections from 40% axially chord upstream the tip rotor leading edge until 40 % axially chord downstream the tip rotor trailing edge with each survey having a dense distribution of measurement points. These experiments resulted in a large quantity of flow data throughout the impeller of the propeller pump. It includes information on the secondary flow in the impeller, tip and the wakes downstream of the rotor blades. These results of the pump performance and measured velocity field are validated with RANS simulations that used the algebraic turbulence model of Baldwin-Lomax and the one-equation turbulence model of Spalart-Allmaras. Chapter 1 gives an introduction to the subject of pump flow analysis and the current knowledge on the flow field present in axial flow pumps, as well as the numerical methods used in industry for simulating the flows in hydropumps. Chapter 2 describes the experimental test facility with his measurement instrumentation, and its uncertainties. Also the experimental propeller pump will be introduced. The flow field in the propeller pump is measured with a Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) and his technical specifications, together with the measurement procedure, will be set up in chapter 3. The working principles of the LDA will be explained in appendix A. Due to the curved casing of the propeller pump, a solution for the optical access for the laser Doppler anemometer is researched. Even the uncertainties of the LDA are broadly outlined in appendix B. The objectives designed into this test facility are the hydraulic performance testing of the axial flow pump and the measured flow field through the impeller of the axial flow pump. The measured quantities of the flow pump include the axial and tangential velocities, and also the turbulence Reynolds stress components. These measured quantities and performance of the axial flow pump will be discussed in chapter 4. The details of the measurement matrix will be handled and also the consistency of the measurements will be checked. In order to investigate the global pump performance and to make a numerical flow field analysis in the impeller of the axial flow pump, a numerical model has been created and the time marching finite volume based Navier-Stokes solver Euranus of FineTM Turbo was applied with the turbulence models of Baldwin-Lomax and SpalartAllmaras. The set-up of the model will be outlined and its numerical results will be Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump Intro.2
Introduction first discussed in chapter 5, before the results of the experimental performance, together with the measured flow field in the impeller of the axial flow pump at design flow are compared and validated with the numerical CFD simulations in chapter 6. The comparison of the measured and the calculated results provides sufficient evidence of that the numerical methods predicts the complex flow field reasonable well. An attempt was made in chapter 7 to use the numerical results to shed new light into the complex flow structure inside the impeller. The numerical results of the turbulence models of Spalart-Allmaras will be further discussed using a topological analyse to clarify many of the (secondary) flow phenomena. On the basis of the achievements of this study, conclusions are drawn at the end of this thesis. Hereby, perspectives for the future use of this experimental test facility are discussed. The investigations reviewed here are mainly concerned with the effects of viscosity, and not with the effects of cavitations.
Intro.3
The numerical simulations techniques for studying these phenomena have found widespread use, the state of the art with a perspective to hydromachinery, and more general to turbomachinery, has been reviewed at regular intervals, for example by Japikse (1976), McNally and Sockol (1985), Lakshminarayana (1991), Hirsch (1994), and by Denton and Dawes (1999). Further discussions of the different mathematical models applicable to the calculation of the flow in axial flow pumps, spanning the range of dynamic levels of approximations from the full time-dependent NavierStokes equations to linearized potential flow models and singularity methods, can be found in Cumpsty (1989). A more comprehensive discussion of flow models is given Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 1.1
Chapter 1: Literature Review by Hirsch (1988). Denton (1985), in an introduction to the application of the Euler equations to turbomachinery flows, gives a concise but very clear summary of the classical flow models and solution methods (streamlines curvature, streamfunction and potential flow), discussing the properties, advantages, drawbacks, and limitations of each (as applied to 2D flow). Even the first important application of CFD methods around fifteen years ago, the efficiency has increased further by 1% to 2%. Nevertheless, such small steps in efficiency represent quite large reductions in the remaining sources of loss. It is probable that unsteady 3D CFD methods with more accurate turbulence models suitable for the flow structures found in the turbomachinery flows will be essential to make these next small steps. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in industry has become to play a crucial role in predicting and analysing fluid flows. This development has been driven by the availability of robust in-house and commercial CFD codes and by the massive increase in affordable computer speed and memory leading to a steady reduction in the costs of simulations compared to prototyping and model experiments. The challenge of CFD is thus to accurately predict the flow yield so that the testing of a new design can be done numerically and hence minimise experimental testing. This reduces development time and costs considerably. The inclusion of numerical testing makes the design process more cost-efficient and is thus an essential competition parameter.
1.2
Chapter 1: Literature Review In an axial flow pump, the impeller pushes the liquid in a direction parallel to the pump shaft and adds momentum to the fluid flow through the unit by transfer of energy between the fluid and the rotating propeller blades. It results in a total pressure increases. Axial flow pumps are sometimes called propeller pumps, because they operate essentially the same as the propeller of a ship. Though simple in concept, axial pumps are very complicated due to the complex geometry. In order to make an analytical approach to predict the pump flows, the flow field in an axial pump can be approximated as quasi two-dimensional with streamlines following the geometrical layout of the hub, shroud and impeller blades. The energy exchange over the impeller can be estimated from a so-called one-dimensional approach analysing the idealized velocity polygons at the entry and exit of the impeller. The simplest approach to the study of axial flow compressors is to assume that the flow conditions prevailing at the mean radius fully represent the flow at all other radii. This two-dimensional analysis at the pitch line can provide a reasonable approximation to the actual flow, if the ratio of blade height to mean radius is small. When this ratio is large, however, as in the first stage of a compressor, a three-dimensional analysis is required. Some important aspects of three-dimensional flows in axial flow pumps are discussed later. Two further assumptions are that radial velocities are zero, and that the flow is invariant along the circumferential direction (i.e. there are no blade-toblade flow variations). Figure 1.2 shows a single stage axial-flow. The fluid essentially passes almost axially through a row of moving rotor blades and a row of fixed stator blades. The incompressible flow assumption is used because the pressure rise of the stage is usually small. The simplified vector diagram analysis assumes that the flow is onedimensional and leaves each blade row at relative velocity exactly parallel to the exit blade angle. The velocity diagram of the axial propeller pump comprises a rotor row followed by a stator row, as shown in figure 1.1. Fluid enters the rotor with absolute velocity v1 at angle 1 (Fig. 1.2). All angles are measured from the axial direction. The sign convention is such that the angles and velocities as drawn in figure 1.2 will be taken as positive throughout this chapter. The result of vectorially subtracting the blade speed U with the inlet velocity v1 is the inlet relative velocity w1 at angle 1, which ideally should be parallel to the rotor leading edge (the axial direction is the datum for all angles). Relative to the blades of the rotor, the flow is turned to the direction 2 at the outlet with a relative velocity w1. Clearly, by adding vectorially the blade speed U onto w2 gives the absolute velocity from the rotor v2 at angle 2. The stator blades deflect the flow towards the axis and the exit velocity is v3 at angle 3. Since there is no radial flow, the inlet and exit rotor speeds are equal, and the onedimensional continuity equation for uniform, steady flow requires that the axialvelocity component remains constant. The mass flow Q through the duct is described by A i viz , where is the density of water, Ai is the cross-sectional area of fluid flow cross section i and viz is the absolute axial flow velocity through the cross-section i. A1v1z =A 2 v 2z =A3 v3z =Q=cte 1.1
1.3
From the geometry of the velocity diagram, the normal velocity (or volume flow) can be directly related to the blade rotational speed u: u = .r = v1z .(tg1 +tg1 ) = v 2z .(tg 2 +tg 2 ) 1.2
Thus the flow rate can be predicted from the rotational speed and the blade angles (1,2). Applying the angular momentum theorem to the axial flow pump, the power P delivered to the fluid is thus:
P = .C =.
or H ideal =
1.3
P 1 u = ( u 2 v 2t -u1v1t ) = ( v t ) gQ g g
1.4
r Where m is the mass, is the angular velocity, C is the torque, r is the radius from r the axis of rotation and v is the absolute velocity vector, vit is the velocity component mutually perpendicular to both the rotation axis and the radius vector, Hideal is the total head and g is the gravity acceleration.
This is the Eulers turbomachine equation, showing that the torque C, power P and total head Hideal are functions only of the rotor velocities u1,2 and the absolute fluid tangential velocities v1t,2t, independent of the axial velocities through the machine. Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 1.4
Chapter 1: Literature Review Meanwhile, since u=w1t+v1t and u=w2t+v2t, Eulers relation for the pump head becomes
gH ideal =u. ( w t )
1.5
Strictly speaking, equation 1.5 applies only to a single streamtube of radius r, but it is a good approximation for very short blades if r denotes the average radius.
In practice this is not the case and quasi-three-dimensional methods have been developed in order to determine the geometrical relation, r2(r1). These methods continue to assume that the streamsurfaces are axisymmetric, and, therefore, neglect the more complicated three-dimensional aspects of the flow (secondary flows) as will be discussed below (section 1.5.3: Secondary Flow in Axial Flow Pumps). Nevertheless, these methods allow the calculation of useful axial flow pump performance characteristics, particularly under circumstances in which the complex secondary flows are of less importance, such as close to the design condition. When the axial flow pump is operating far from the design condition, the flow within a blade passage may have streamsurfaces that are far from axisymmetric. This two-dimensional supposition, in the sense that radial (spanwise) velocities did not exists, is also not an unreasonable assumption for axial flow pumps of high hubtip ratio. However, with hub-tip ratio less than about 4/5, radial velocities through a blade row may become appreciable, the consequent redistribution of mass flow (with
1.5
Chapter 1: Literature Review respect to radius) seriously affecting the outlet velocity profile (and flow angle distribution). 1.3.2.1 Theory of Radial Equilibrium Several approximate methods have been employed in order to determine r2(r1) as a part of a quasi-three-dimensional solution to the flow. Most of these are based on some application of the condition of radial equilibrium. In its simplest form, the radial equilibrium condition assumes that all of the terms in the radial momentum equations are negligible, except the pressure gradient and the centrifugal acceleration terms. Consider a small element of fluid of mass dm, shown in figure 1.4, of unit depth and subtending an angle d at the axis, rotating around the axis with tangential velocity, vt
at radius r. The element is in radial equilibrium so that the pressure forces balance the centrifugal forces:
( p + dp )( r + dr ) d - prd - p+
1 dp drd = dmvt2 / r 2
1.6
Writing dm = rd dr and ignoring terms of the second order of smallness the above equation reduces to, 1 dp vt2 = dr r 1.7
This assumption is differently embedded in several approaches to the solution of the flow. All of these flows in axial flow machines use a condition like equation 1.7 (or some more accurate version) to relate the pressures in the different streamtubes upstream of the rotor (or stator), and a similar condition to connect the pressures in the streamtubes downstream of the rotor (or stator). When these relations are combined with the normal continuity and energy equations for each streamtube (that connect the conditions upstream with those at the downstream location), a complete set of equations is generated, and a solution to the flow can be obtained. Notable
1.6
Chapter 1: Literature Review examples of this class of quasi-three-dimensional solutions are those devised by Hirsch (1988) and Denton (1985). The following example will illustrate one use of the ``radial equilibrium'' condition. We shall assume that the inlet flow is in radial equilibrium. This inlet flow is then divided into axisymmetric streamtubes, each with a specific radial location, r1. Some initial estimate is made of the radial location of each of the streamtubes at discharge (in other words an estimate of the function r2(r1)). Then an iterative numerical method is employed, in which the total pressure rise through each streamtube is evaluated. Hence, the pressure distribution at discharge can be obtained. Then the width of each tube at discharge is adjusted (r2(r1) is adjusted) in order to obtain the required radial pressure gradient between each pair of adjacent streamtubes. Subsequently, the process is repeated until a converged solution is reached. In some simple cases, analytical rather than numerical results can be obtained. More generally, it should be noted that quasi-three-dimensional analyses of this kind are often used for the design of axial axial flow pumps. A common objective is to achieve a design in which the total pressure pt is increasing (or decreasing) with axial position at the same rate at all radii, and, therefore, should be invariant with radial position. Combining the total 1 2 + vt2 with the condition for radial equilibrium (equation 1.7) pressure pt = p + vz 2 and that the flow is incompressible lead to:
dv v d 1 dpt = vz z + t ( rvt ) dr dr r dr
1.8
If the axial velocity vz is constant with radius, then equation 1.8 implies that the circumferential velocity, vt, must vary like 1/r. Such an objective is termed a ``free vortex'' design. Another basic approach is the ``forced vortex'' design in which the circumferential velocity, vt, is proportional to the radius r; then, according to the above equations, the axial velocity must decrease with r. More general designs in which vt=a.r+b/r (a and b being constants) are utilized in practice for the design of axial compressors and turbines, with the objective of producing relatively uniform head rise and velocity at different radii. However, in the context of pumps, most of the designs are of the ``forced vortex'' type. Stepanoff (1948) lists a number of reasons for this historical development. Radial equilibrium of the discharge flow may be an accurate assumption in some machines but not in others. When the blade passage is narrow (in both directions) relative to its length, the flow has adequate opportunity to adjust within the impeller or rotor passage, and the condition of radial equilibrium at discharge is usually reasonable. This is approximately the case in all pumps except propeller pumps of low solidity. However, in many compressors and turbines, the blade height is large compared with the chord and a radial equilibrium assumption at discharge is not appropriate. Under these circumstances, a very different approach utilizing an ``actuator disc'' has been successfully employed. The axial width of the blade row is modelled by an infinite small thin blade row, while the space-chord ratio, the blade angles and overall length of the machine are maintained constant. As the deflection through each blade row for a given incidence is fixed by the cascade geometry, a blade row of reduced width may be considered to affect the flow in exactly the same way as the original row. While the tangential velocity undergoes an abrupt change in direction, the axial and radial velocities are continues across the disk. An approximate solution to the velocity fields upstream and downstream of the
1.7
Chapter 1: Literature Review actuator can be found in terms of the axial velocity distributions far upstream and downstream of the blade row. The detailed analysis of the "actuator disk" exceeds the scope of this thesis, involving the solution of the equations of motions, the equation of continuity and the satisfaction of boundary conditions at the wall and disc. The form of the approximate solution is of considerable interest and is quoted in Dixon (1975). 1.3.2.2 Computer-Aided Methods for Solving the Through-flow Problem Although actuator disc theory has given a better understanding of the complicated meridional (the radial-axial plane) through-flow problem in axial flow pumps of simple geometry and flow conditions, its application to the design of axial flowcompressors has been rather limited. The extensions of actuator disc theory to the solution of the complex three-dimensional, compressible flow in compressors with varying hub and tip radii and non-uniform total pressure distributions were found to have become unwieldy in practice. In recent years advanced computational methods have been successfully evolved for predicting the meridional compressible flow in axial flow pumps with flared annulus walls. The two different methods are: 1. Streamline curvature 2. Matrix through-flow analysis. Both methods solve the same equations of fluid motion, energy and state for axisymmetric flow through a turbomachine with varying hub and tip radii and therefore lead to the same solution. In the first method the equation for the meridional
2 velocity cm = vr2 + vz
and curvature of the meridional streamlines which are estimated by using a polynomial curve fitting procedure through points of equal stream function on neighbouring planes at (xa-dx) and (xa+dx). The major sources of difficulty are the accurately estimation of the curvature of the streamlines. In the second method a grid of calculating points is formed on which the stream function is expressed as a quasilinear equation. A set of corresponding finite difference equations are formed which are then solved at all mesh points of the grid. A more detailed description of these methods is rather beyond the scope of the present work. Though the one-dimensional and the streamline curvature approach have found widespread application in the design process they are of little value in predicting local flow properties as well as secondary flows or separation and recirculation. From the above discussion it is evident that these phenomena largely influence the physics of the flow. It is therefore clear that the analytical and empirical methods have only a limited accuracy, especially at off-design operating conditions, and it appears unlikely that the loss coefficients provide more than an indication of the influence on the integral parameters and the general performance. Analysing the relation between the local flow behaviour, e.g. velocities and pressure, and the geometrical layout of the pump requires a profound insight into the complexity of the flow. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based on solving the three dimensional Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the simple turbulence models has therefore become a fully integrated tool in the early stages of industrial design today.
1.8
Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.3.2.3 Computational Fluid Dynamics A thorough knowledge of all significant inviscid effects (blade blockage, flow turning, finite hub/tip ratio, etc.) and viscous effects (boundary-layer growth, energy dissipation, etc.) is essential in the accurate prediction of the flow in all turbomachinery. Relevant to this, the availability of computer with large storage capacities and fast computation times greatly enhance the possibility of numerically solving the complete equations of motion. It is widely accepted that the incompressible time-averaged Navier-Stokes equation (equation. 1.10) together with the continuity equation (equation 1.9) comprise a closed set of equations, and which should be supplemented by appropriate boundary and initial conditions to form a r r complete description of the fluid velocity u( x, t ) and pressure field p( x, t ) in flow pumps.
U j x j =0
1.9
DU i U i = Dt xi x j
1.10
r Here p , , and u i denote to the pressure, density, kinematic viscosity and the Reynolds-averaged velocity based on Cartesian tensor notation, respectively. The time averaged Navier-Stokes equations have more unknowns that the number of equations. In order to solve this closure problem, it is necessary to model the Reynoldsstress tensor, u 'i u ' j , which appears in the time averaged momentum equation. To determine the unknown Reynoldsstress components in equation 1.10, different turbulence models have been adopted. The turbulence models used in turbomachinery could be summarised as follows: Zero-equation models such as Prandtls mixing length model. The eddy viscosity is proportional to the square of a length scale and to the rate of flow deformation. The length scale must be prescribed empirically and depends on the characteristics of the flow. This model is applicable when the flow has a privileged direction, such as boundary layer, shear stress, etc. The model is unsuitable for most complex flows in turbomachinery applications because it is very difficult to estimate the distribution of the mixing length by rotation, curvature, three-dimensionality, separation, free stream turbulence, large scales unsteadiness and other complex strain effects. Even this model is still widely used in both internal and external flows. The Baldwin Lomax turbulence equation is a zero-equation model and will be used in this work. In the chapter of the numerical simulations of the axial pump flow, this model will explained more in detail. One-equation models: A suitable transport equation is added, usually for the turbulent kinetic energy (such as the one which has been proposed by Kolmogorov in 1942 and Prandtl in 1945). The main shortcoming concerns the length scale. Its transport is not considered, which is important in separated flows. This length scale must be prescribed empirically. In practice, this model gives good results for the same cases as Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 1.9
Chapter 1: Literature Review Prandtls mixing length model but with higher computational costs. The turbulence model of Spalart-Allmaras will be used in this work and will be more explained in chapter 5. Two equation models: there are many possible choices for the second variable. The most popular is the k- model, which is a good compromise between a general description and economy of use for many problems. The standard model is valid for high turbulent Reynolds numbers, but is not valid in the near-wall viscosity affected region. However there are a few versions of low Reynolds number models that need a very fine mesh. In addition, the use of the eddy-viscosity concepts imposes isotropy. This assumption is too simple when there is rotation, and in flows with streamlines curvature (swirl), which is the case in most of engine applications. The consequence of these limitations is that a larger number of k- model variants involving a modified equation have been developed. Models using more than two equations: Reynolds-stress models. Despite the fact that this type of model provides a more rigorous and realistic approach and that it captures anisotropy effects automatically, the results are disappointing compared with the classical eddy-viscosity models. They are much more complex, computationally more expensive and less stable. These equations with the Navier-Stokes equation are a set of coupled, non-linear, mixed elliptic-parabolic partial differential equations that require special techniques for numerical solution. It is possible, in principle, to simulate any turbulent flow by solving the foregoing equations with appropriate boundary conditions using a suitable numerical procedure. This thesis will not review the major characteristics of these equations and difficulties associated with solving them numerically. The manual of the used CFD code (FineTM/Turbo User Manual) summarizes the major issues arising from solving these flow problems by the algorithms used for this thesis. All turbomachinery specialists recognise that the ultimate limit in predictive capability in the performance estimation of turbomachinery is related to the uncertainties arising from the turbulence modelling. Turbomachinery internal flows are among the most complex to encounter in fluid dynamic practice, as follows: The geometry of the internal flow passage is highly complex, with stationary vanes and rotating blades and all manner of curved passages, flow leakage paths, obstructions and steps in the flow channels. The flow is generally three-dimensional, with laminar, transitional and turbulent regions, Extremely complex flow details occur in the turbulent regimes due to the appreciable pressure gradients, rotation, curvature, high turbulence, heat transfer, separation and interaction of wakes and boundary layers. Strong vortices often dominate the flow, such as secondary flow vortices and tip clearance vortices. The flows are generally also unsteady in both the rotating and absolute frames of reference.
1.10
Chapter 1: Literature Review As a result of the complexity of the flow and the geometry, it is hardly surprising that most technical papers on turbulence in turbomachinery applications are unable to provide clear recommendations on the most suitable turbulence model to be used. Due to the shortcomings associated with the assumption of isotropy, the models fail for flows with rotation, curvature, strong three-dimensionality and separations. More complex turbulence models do not necessary improve the modelling of the flow in turbomachinery and is often not universally applicable to the many types of flow structures to be found in axial flow pumps. Despite the inadequacy of current turbulence models, designers are becoming increasingly dependent on steady viscous three-dimensional CFD methods for the design of the machines. The key to the extensive use of CFD is that it helps the designer: To understand and control global feature of the flows (such as incidence, blade loading, velocity levels, mean flow direction, secondary flows and unsteady effects) To produce new designs that achieve high performance levels by copying good flow features from earlier machines with less need for large experimental testing programs to complete new design in a shorter time and at a lower cost. The drive to reduce the costs and to increase performance ensures that further improvements in simulation methods are given high priority in industry and in universities, including the validation of appropriate CFD tools and testing of turbulence models. One alternative way to solve these equations could be the LES approach. Nevertheless, the application of LES still presents a number of issues such as: excessive computational effort at high Reynolds number, difficulties in specifying initial and boundary conditions and the necessity to perform 3D time dependant simulations for all applications. This thesis will use only the RANS equations with a zero - and one-equation turbulence models, which numerical results will be validated with the measured data of the propeller pump.
1.11
Figure 1.5: Q-H curve is obtained by subtracting of hydraulic losses from ideal head Hi (Stepanoff, 1948).
The head Hs seems to be significantly lower than the idealized prediction Hi. This is primarily due to recirculation at low flow rates, friction and leakage losses, which increases with the flow rate. The influence of these phenomena on the performance can be approximated through numerous empirical loss coefficients, see e.g. Stepanoff (1948) or Dixon (1975). As the losses largely depend on the type and individual design of the pump, the tuning of these loss coefficients depends on engineering experience of experimentally or numerical testing and an unified guideline can therefore not be provided. Figure 1.6 plotted the performance characteristic of an axial flow pump. The noncavitation performance consists of the head coefficient, , as a function of the flow coefficient , where the design conditions can be identified as a particular point on the () curve. The () curve terminates at the left side in a point, which belong to the stall line (or surge line). This line marks the limit of stability of axisymmetric flow. To the left of this line large oscillations of the mass flow rate may occur (called surge) or severe self-induced circumferential flow distortions may rotate around the annulus (rotating stall), or a combination of both phenomena may appear. Rotating stall induces large vibratory stresses in the blades of the impeller and is therefore often unacceptable for structural reasons. Surge can be intolerable from the point of view of system operation and can also lead to high blade and casing stress levels. Thus, no matter which type of instability appears when the stall line is crossed,
1.12
Chapter 1: Literature Review the stall line generally represents a limit to the useful operation of the machine and is therefore to be avoided. The instabilities in the type of pumping system under consideration arise in general due to the presence of stall. Looked at from the point of view of the individual diffusing passages in the rotor, stall generally implies separation of the flow from one or more of the passage walls. However, impeller blade rows consist of many of these diffusing passages in parallel so that phenomena can occur which do not happen with a single airfoil or diffusing passage. One of the most striking of these is rotating stall. This is a flow regime in which one or more stall cells propagate around the circumference of the rotor with a constant rotational speed, which is usually between twenty and seventy percent of the rotation speed. In the cells the blades are severely stalled. Typically, in these regions, there is negligible net through-flow, with areas of local reverse flow. The cells can range from covering only part of the span (either at the root or at the tip) and being only a few blades in angular width, to covering the full span and extending over more than 180 degrees of the compressor annulus. The basic explanation of the mechanism associated with the onset of stall propagation was first given by Emmons et al. (1955) and can be summarized as follows. Consider a row of axial impeller blades operating at a high angle of attack, such as is shown in Figure 1.7. Suppose that there is non-uniformity in the inlet flow such that a locally higher angle of attack is produced on blade B, which is enough to stall it. If this happens, the flow can separate from the suction surface of the blade so that a substantial flow blockage occurs in the channel between B and C. This blockage causes a diversion of the inlet flow away from blade B and towards C and A (as shown by the arrows), resulting in an increased angle of attack on C and reduced angle of attack on A. Since C was on the verge of stall before, it will now tend to stall, whereas the reduced angle of attack on A will inhibit its tendencies to stall. The stall will thus propagate along the blade row in the direction shown, and under suitable conditions it can grow to a fully developed cell covering half the flow annulus or more. In this fully developed regime, the flow at any position is quite unsteady; however, the annulus averaged mass flow is steady, with the stall cells serving only to redistribute this flow. The onset of rotating stall is thus associated with an instability, which arises due to the stall of the impeller blade passages. As far as the overall system is concerned, this can be regarded as a localized instability. In contrast to the behaviour during rotating stall, the annulus averaged mass flow and the system pressure rise during surge undergo large amplitude oscillations. The stall point of hydro pump is essentially set by the geometrical parameters of the machine, but the most important of these is the inlet distortion.
1.13
( )
acceleration vector, which is exerted on the particle because of the rotation of the relative system. In contrast to most other applications the Coriolis acceleration r r r r 2 W , is of primerimportant in the field of hydromachinery. In a rotor, W , is r zero only if and W are parallel. However, if the relative velocities are everywhere parallel with the axis the corresponding rotor will not be able to change the energy level of the fluid (see equation 1.4). The existence of a Coriolis acceleration is Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 1.14
Chapter 1: Literature Review necessary for producing energy changes in rotors; in fact, large energy changes require large Coriolis accelerations. These accelerations are also responsible for the fundamentally different flow patterns in rotor and stator. The inertia forces (centrifugal and Coriolis forces) have a significant influence on the flow field. The most obvious effect is the setting up of a radial pressure field due to the centrifugal force acting on the rotating fluid. As indicated implicitly in the name, this is the main source of the pressure rise obtained in centrifugal pumps. The Coriolis force is perpendicular to the flow acting from suction to pressure side and causes a build up of pressure at the pressure side of the impeller blade making a transfer of torque possible.
1.5.2 Prerotation
Perhaps no aspect of hydromachinery flow is more misrepresented and misunderstood than the phenomenon of prerotation. While this belongs within the larger category of secondary flows (dealt in the section), it is appropriate to address the issue of prerotation separately, not only because of its importance for the hydraulic performance, but also because of its interaction with cavitation and stall. It is first essential to distinguish between two separate phenomena, which both lead to a swirling flow entering the pump. These two phenomena have very different fluid mechanical origins. Here, we shall distinguish them by the separate terms, backflowinduced swirl and inlet prerotation. Both imply a swirl component of the flow entering the pump. Improper entrance conditions and inadequate suction approach shapes may cause the flow in the suction pipe to spiral from some distance ahead of the actual impeller entrance. This phenomenon is called prerotation, and it is attributed to various operational and design factors. The flow has axial vorticity (if the axis of rotation is parallel with the axis of the inlet duct) with a magnitude equal to twice the rate of angular rotation of the swirl motion. Moreover, there are some basic properties of such swirling flows that are important to the understanding of prerotation. These are derived from the vorticity transport theorem. In the context of the steady flow in an inlet duct, this theorem tells us that the vorticity will only change with axial location for two reasons: (a) because vorticity is diffused into the flow by the action of viscosity, or (b) because the flow is accelerated or decelerated as a result of a change in the cross-sectional area of the flow. The second mechanism results in an increase in the swirl velocity due to the stretching of the vortex line, and is similar to the increase in rotation experienced by figure skaters when they draw their arms closer to their body. When the moment of inertia is decreased, conservation of angular momentum results in an increase in the rotation rate. Thus, for example, a nozzle in the inlet line would increase the magnitude of any pre-existing swirl. The backflow is caused by the leakage flow between the tip of the blades of an impeller and the pump casing. The circumstances are depicted in figure 1.8. Below a certain critical flow coefficient, the pressure difference driving the leakage flow becomes sufficiently large that the tip leakage jet penetrates upstream of the inlet plane of the impeller, and thus forms an annular region of backflow in the inlet duct (Predin, 2003). After penetrating upstream a certain distance, the fluid of this jet is then entrained back into the main inlet flow. The upstream penetration distance increases with decreasing flow coefficient, and can reach many diameters upstream of the inlet plane.
1.15
Figure 1.8: Lateral view of impeller inlet flow showing tip leakage flow leading to backflow (Brennen).
Obviously the backflow has a high swirl velocity imparted to it by the impeller blades. But what is also remarkable is that this vorticity is rapidly spread to the core of the main inlet flow, so that almost the entire inlet flow has a nonzero swirl velocity. The rapidity with which the swirl vorticity is diffused to the core of the incoming flow remains something of a mystery, for it is much too rapid to be caused by normal viscous diffusion. It seems likely that the inherent unsteadiness of the backflow (with a strong blade passing frequency component) creates extensive mixing which effects this rapid diffusion. However it is clear that this backflow-induced swirl, or prerotation, will affect the incidence angles and, therefore, the performance of the pump.
1.16
Chapter 1: Literature Review 3. Mixing losses due to the mixing of various secondary flows, such as the passage secondary flow (passage vortex) with leakage flow (or tip leakage vortex) Secondary flows in the propeller pump are defined normally as the difference between the real flow (including small-scale turbulent fluctuations) and a primary flow. The primary flow can be referred to, for example, as idealized axisymmetric flow or midspan flow. The secondary flow arises from the presence of endwall boundary layer and depend mainly on blade to blade and radial pressure gradients, centrifugal force effects, blade tip clearance, and the relative motion between the blade ends and the annulus walls. Although the secondary flow structure in a blade passage has a strong dependence on the incidence angle or flow inlet angle, Reynolds number and blade profile, their qualitative features are quite general. Normally, the secondary flow relates directly to the generation and evolution of various concentrated vortices, such as passage vortex, leading edge horseshoe vortex, corner vortex, tip leading vortex, scraping vortex in an unshrouded rotor, blade trailing edge vortex filament and shed vortex inside wakes. Hence the following reviews are sectioned in the vortex terminology. Secondary flow pattern have been presented by many authors in the literature, Hawthorne (1955), Vavra (1960), Lakshminarayana and Horlock (1963), Salvage (1974), Inoue and Kuroumarou (1984), Kang and Hirsch (1993) and Zierke et al. (1994). In this review, only the models given by Hawthorne (1955), Lakshminarayana and Horlock (1963) and Inoue and Kuroumarou (1984) are shown in Figs. 1.9, 1.10 and 1.11.
Hawthornes model describes the classical secondary flow vortex system for the first time (see figure 1.9). This system presents the components of the vorticity in the flow direction when a flow with inlet velocity is deflected through a cascade. The passage vortex represents the distribution of secondary circulation. The vortex sheet at the trailing edge is composed of the trailing filament vortices and the trailing shed vorticity.
1.17
Figure 1.10: Secondary flow patterns, after Lakshminarayana and Horlock (1963).
In the model of Lakshminarayana and Horlock (1963), figure 1.10, tip leakage flow and relative motion influence are presented with the tip leakage vortex and scraping vortex. The concentration of the trailing vortex filament is described. Based on the measurement behind a rotor blade row, Inoue and Kuroumarou (1984), figure 1.11, proposed a three-dimensional structure of the vortices inside and behind a compressor rotor passage. In the following, losses in boundary layers and all the secondary flow phenomena will be described one by one.
Figure 1.11: Secondary flow patterns, after Inoue and Kuroumarou (1984)
Passage Vortex In order to accomplish either work or energy conversion in an axial flow pump, the streamlines passing trough a blade row must experience deflection. This deflection in the inviscid flow region would be balanced by the centrifugal force along the streamlines and the static pressure gradients across the passage. From the assumption of boundary layer theory that the potential in the inviscid region spreads its gradient Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 1.18
Chapter 1: Literature Review into the endwall boundary layer, a balance of the centrifugal force on the low momentum fluid within the boundary layer causes a movement of the fluid from the high pressure side (the pressure side) to the low pressure side (the suction side). The fluid outside the boundary layer moves from the suction side to the pressure side, so that the fluid in the vicinity of the wall will be turned as a vortex motion and spirally stretch downstream (see figure 1.12).
This vortex is the so-called classical passage vortex. A twin vortex with the opposite rotation sense will form near the opposite wall in the passage. With the existence of the passage vortex, the flow close to the wall is overturned, while the flow far away from the wall is underturned. Hence the passage vortex directly influences the energy conversion of flows passing through the cascade. Its mechanism has been investigated at first by Carter and Cohen (1946) for uniform flows with thin boundary layers and by Squire and Winter (1951) for nonuniform flows. The initial model describing the passage vortex was proposed by Hawthorne (1955) as show in figure 1.9, including the trailing vortex sheet that will be reviewed in the following. Including real flow effects, the picture will change due to the interactions of the low energy boundary layer material flowing into the corner formed by the side wall and the suction side of the blade and the main stream, resulting in the formation of corner vortices. Trailing Vortex The trailing vortex, stretching from blade trailing and existing inside the wake, can be divided into two parts with different origins, as trailing shed vortex and trailing filament vortex. The trailing shed vortex is due to the spanwise change of blade circulation and is analogue to that of an isolated wing with finite span. The trailing filaments vortex arises due to the stretching of the inlet vortex filaments when passing through cascade with different velocities between the suction and pressure sides. The two trailing vortices have the same sense but are opposite to the passage vortex.
1.19
Chapter 1: Literature Review Tip Leakage Vortex In unshrouded axial flow pumps a gap exists between moving rotor blade tips and casing wall or between rotating hub and stator blade ends. Due to the sudden discharge of blade loading at the tips (or ends), a large pressure difference, directing from the pressure side to suction side and tending to equalize, remains across the tip gap. The pressure difference will drive the fluid in the pressure side / endwall corner to the suction side / endwall corner. This is the pressure driven leakage flow or simply leakage flow. The leakage flow, against the passage transverse pressure gradient, rolls up into a concentrated vortex, tip leakage vortex, lying in the corner of the endwall and suction surface and moves along the mainstream direction. Its rotation sense is opposite to the passage vortex. Scraping Vortex In the relative reference system, rotor blades are stationary but the casing wall is moving. Because of the action of the fluid viscosity, the moving wall induces a tangential shear flow or a vortex sheet inside the wall boundary layer. The vortex sheet will separate from the wall and roll up into a concentrated vortex, so called scrapping vortex. Its sense is the same as the passage vortex in turbine rotors but in opposite to the passage vortex in compressor rotor. In a compressor, the casing wall rotates in the direction from the pressure side to suction side of the same blade, and the scraping vortex will occur in the pressure side corner. Correspondingly, the scraping vortex in a turbine rotor will occur in the suction side corner. Positions of the scrapping vortex created within turbine or compressor stators near hub walls are completely analogue. Horseshoe Vortex When a shear flow along a plate approaches a blade standing on the plate, the shear flow will be separated from the plate and roll up into a vortex in front of the blade leading edge. This vortex is called horseshoe vortex due to its particular shape, flowing around the blade in both sides. The two legs, pressure side and suction side leg, of the horseshoe vortex have different evolutions on the way to downstream and are significantly influenced by the traverse pressure gradient and other vortices. The pressure side leg, with the same sense as the passage vortex, will be, depending upon the blade turning, merged with the passage vortex, or develops individually towards downstream when the turning angle is small. The synchronous evolution of horseshoe and the passage vortex has been described by, for example, Moore and Smith (1984), Sieverding and Van de Bosch (1983) and Inuoe and Kuroumarou (1984). The suction side leg, however, may appear as a corner vortex or counter vortex (Langston et all, 1977). In the passage of compressor blade rows, evolution of horseshoe vortex will also be significantly influenced by the severe streamwise adverse pressure gradient. In rotor tip regions, if the tip gap is small, the horseshoe vortex will still appear but with less strength than in zero tip clearance case (Zierke et al, 1994). Corner vortex The corner vortex rotates in the opposite sense to the passage vortex and lies invariably right in the endwall corners. Normally its size is too small to be visualised and measured. A corner vortex in the pressure side corner may be similarly generated due to the spanwise secondary flow.
1.20
Chapter 1: Literature Review Other Secondary flows Except for the secondary flows correlated with the various vortices mentioned above, there also exist two other kinds of secondary flows, the radial flows near blade surface and radial mixing flows in wakes. From the equilibrium equations, the centrifugal forces will balance the radial pressure gradients along the flow paths in the potential flow region. As in the case of the cross flow in the endwall boundary layer, the low energy fluid inside the blade surface boundary will also be pushed by the radial pressure gradient. The volume of the radial flow certainly depends on the thickness of the blade surface boundary layers. All the reviewed vortices lie mainly in the streamwise direction. But there are also other vortices, existing in an axial compressor blade passage, lying in other directions. For example, both separation bubbles on blade surfaces and trailing edge separations may form vortices lying in the radial direction. Furthermore, Von Karman vortex streets in blade wakes also stretch in the radial direction. It should be addressed before closing the section that the secondary flows and the associated vortices cannot always be described separately from the experimental results. Some of them may be mixed, merged, or interacted with each other.
Chapter 1: Literature Review 15% of the chord at the design clearance. This location is also in good agreement with that observed by Zierke et al. (1994a). With his high Reynolds number pump facility, they were able to visualize this vortex as it moved away from the suction face by reducing the tunnel pressure to the point that cavitation appeared at the core of the vortexes. Photographs and videos showed the existence of some cavitating bubbles originating in the clearance near the rotor blade leading edge. Most of the cavitation, however, appears to begin near the suction surface at 15 percent chord, a position very close to the measured minimum pressure point on the suction surface at 90 percent span. Inuoe and Kuroumaru (1989) and Storer and Cumpsty (1991) contend that the onset of the vortex sheet rolling-up into the tip leakage vortex occurs near the point of minimum pressure on the suction surface. At this location, the pressure difference across the clearance reaches a maximum, creating a larger leakage jet. The vortex remains quite close to the suction surface until near 80 percent chord, where it begins to migrate away from the blade in the circumferential direction as the blade rotates in the other direction. The circumferential position of the vortex within the passage depended weakly on the tip clearance. For large clearance, the vortex was positioned along the suction surface, for smaller clearance, the vortex was approximately the maximum blade thickness away from the suction surface at the trailing edge. There experiment shows also that the trailing edge separation vortex lies closer to the casing that the tip leakage vortex, with both vortices rotating with the same sense. These vortices pass one another, at different radii, near the trailing-edge plane and the interaction of these two vortices may affect the vortex core trajectory. This interaction should occur for any blades where the centrifugal effects create a radial flow on the suction surface with some trailing edge separation. While the trailing edge separation vortex is smaller in strength than the tip leakage vortex, it can induce an additional downstream velocity component onto the tip leakage vortex that may help the trajectory move back into the relative flow direction. Also, since the two vortices rotate with the same sense, the trailing edge separation vortex will rotate around the stronger tip leakage vortex if the two vortices are close enough together. As the tip leakage vortex convects downstream, the position of the vortex core moves radially. The flow visualization also showed the spatial tip leakage vortex wandering and kinking as it convected downstream, probably due to the inlet flow distortions, ingested free stream turbulence, and/or the instability of the vortex core.
1.22
Chapter 1: Literature Review The first one is denoted as natural transition. It is observed for low levels of free stream turbulence. The transition process starts with a weak instability in the laminar boundary layer, which develops through various stages to a fully turbulent boundary layer. The second mode is known as the bypass transition. In this case transition is initiated by disturbances in external flow (e.g. high free stream turbulence, wakes) and bypasses the natural transition. This is the predominated route of transition in axial flow pumps, where the natural transition process is periodically disturbed by the incoming wakes (wake-induced transition). A third node occurs if the boundary layer separates. It is therefore known as separated flow transition and can be found in compressors and low-pressure turbines. There are several parameters influencing the boundary layer development on the blades. These are the properties of the incoming wakes; free stream turbulence, blade loading, Reynolds number, the profile pressure distribution and others. Depending on these parameter and as a result of the periodic wake influence, unsteady, highly complex boundary layer behaviour can be observed, where a combination of different forms of transition can be found (multimode transition). Numerous investigations of the boundary layer for steady and unsteady incoming flow is known from literature.
1.5.6 Cavitation
Cavitation in vortical structures is a common, albeit complex, problem in engineering applications. Cavitation vortical structures can be found on the blade surfaces, in the clearance passages, and at the hubs of various types of turbomachinery. It is sufficient at this juncture to observe that cavitation is generally a malevolent process, and that the deleterious consequences can be divided into three categories. First, cavitation can cause damage to the material surfaces close to the area where the bubbles collapse when they are convected into regions of higher pressure. Cavitation damage can be very expensive, and very difficult to eliminate. For most designers of hydraulic machinery, it is the preeminent problem associated with cavitation. Frequently, one begins with the objective of eliminating cavitation completely. However, there are many circumstances in which this proves to be impossible, and the effort must be redirected into minimizing the adverse consequences of the phenomenon. The second adverse effect of cavitation is that the performance of the pump, or other hydraulic device, may be significantly degraded. In the case of pumps, there is generally a level of inlet pressure at which the performance will decline dramatically, a phenomenon termed cavitation breakdown. This adverse effect has naturally given rise to changes in the design of a pump so as to minimize the degradation of the performance, or to put it another way, to optimise the performance in the presence of cavitation. One such design modification is the addition of a cavitating inducer upstream of the inlet to a centrifugal or mixed flow pump impeller. Another example is manifest in the blade profiles used for supercavitating propellers. These supercavitating hydrofoil sections have a sharp leading edge, and are shaped like curved wedges with a thick, blunt trailing edge. The third adverse effect of cavitation is less well known, and is a consequence of the fact that cavitation affects not only the steady state fluid flow, but also the unsteady or dynamic response of the flow. This change in the dynamic performance leads to Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 1.23
Chapter 1: Literature Review instabilities in the flow that do not occur in the absence of cavitation. Examples of these instabilities are ``rotating cavitation," which is somewhat similar to the phenomenon of rotating stall in a compressor, and ``auto-oscillation," which is somewhat similar to compressor surge. These instabilities can give rise to oscillating flow rates and pressures that can threaten the structural integrity of the pump or its inlet or discharge ducts. While a complete classification of the various types of unsteady flow arising from cavitation has yet to be constructed, we can, nevertheless, identify a number of specific types of instability. The study of cavitation phenomena exceeds the scope of this thesis. However, cavitation is also used as an important flow visualization tool for the structure, location, and relative strength of vortices, information that is paramount in the understanding of tip leakage flow phenomena (Zierke et all, 1994)
1.6 Summary
To understand the importance of employing advanced numerical methods for analysing pump flows, a thorough discussion of the general characteristics of the flow field was provided in this chapter. The fundamentals of pumps have been explained and the general performance characteristics discussed. Special attention was paid to the development of secondary flows due to the action of inertial and pressure forces and the flow phenomena occurring at partial load. Based on the revealed complexity of the flow it is argued that empirical methods for pump flow predictions employed for design purposes provide only an indication of the influence of the complex
1.24
Chapter 1: Literature Review phenomena on the pump performance. A profound insight into local flow properties and an understanding of the physics of the flow phenomena in general is essential for controlling the physical phenomena and requires a high accuracy in the modelling of the flow.
1.25
2.1
Booster pump
Figure 2.2: Experimental Test Facility
Chapter 2: Experimental Test Facility Figure 2.1 and 2.2 shows the profile of the axial flow pump unit with its key components.
Figure 2.3: Single-stage Rotor-Stator axial pump: (a) Upstream view, (b) side view
Water is conducted from the inlet pipe to the 3-blade backward swept impeller via the inlet bowl (see figure 2.3 and 2.4). Upon leaving the impeller, the flow enters the 8vane stator that is slightly radial to fit into a conical diffuser to compensate the flow disturbances created by the spherical hub of the propeller pump (see figure 2.4). The stator is supposed to restore the flow to axial direction. A conical diffuser follows the stator, and discharges the flow into the outlet pipe. The dimensions (in mm) of these components are detailed in the next paragraph Description of Single-Stage Axial Flow Pump.
An induction motor with a transmission shaft drives the axial pump. Bearings in the stator house of the propeller pump support the shaft that is mounted at the induction motor with a universal joint. This driving console (see figure 2.2, indicated with a text box and figure 2.6) provides also a torque - and frequency converter so that the power absorbed by the pump or produced by the turbine can be directly read from the converter. A frequency converter that powers the 755 kW AC motor regulates the rotation speed of the propeller pump. In figure 2.6 is the assembly of the power console shown. Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 2.3
An encoder attached to the shaft of the pump provides the clock signal necessary to analyse the measurements of the flow (see figure 2.6, on the right side of the power console). This encoder delivers a reference impulse per one runner rotation to the data acquisition of the Laser Doppler Velocimetry. The static head of the test pump is measured with 4 wall pressure taps combined in a ring tube at the inlet and outlet of the pump unit (see figure 2.2). Downstream the axial pump, a diffuser (15, figure 2.2) mounts the axial pump in the circuit. At the outlet of the hydraulic circuit, a butterfly valve is fitted to simulate the pipe characteristics (21, figure 2.2). All butterfly valves operate hydraulic and potentiometers read the angles of the valves for data acquisition. A computer console operates the valves and reads the instrumentations that are needed for the measurement of the performance of the test pump. This code is assigned with Labview and figure 2.7 shows the interface of this console.
2.4
All pipe work including elbows and volutes are made of stainless steel, except the 8 stationary blades, 3-blade impeller and the shaft of the axial pomp that are cast in bronze and fixed in a casing of Ertalon. The test unit may be disassembled and removed in about 2 workdays. However access to the rotor and stator blades is possible in less time by removing the cover at the outlet of the axial pump (14, figure 2.2).
Chapter 2: Experimental Test Facility Pump). In the present work, velocity measurements are done at design flow Q = Qd and several off-design conditions are performed for the validation of the numerical performance with the experimental one. Rotational Speed Flow Rate Head Power Reynolds number Specific speed 1 n Qd Hd P Re Ns 755 302 1.24 4.4 2,4.106 353 rpm l/s m kW -
The rotor comprises 3 blades and it has a variable chord length of 161.7 mm at the tip and a chord length of 109.9 mm at 25% span. The blade angle of the rotor at the tip leading edge is 76.83 and at the hub 55.24. The blade stagger angle varies from 14.45 at the hub to 6.26 at the tip. The blade angle can be changed using a blade rotating mechanism contained within the hub of the rotor. Blade angle variation is made possible using the spherical hub and tip contours. In this work, the pitch angle is fixed. In order for the rotating blades to avoid rubbing the casing endwall, a clearance exists between the rotor tip and the casing. The rotor tip clearance to chord ratio is s/c = 0.93% with the tip clearance of about 1.5 mm and a chord c = 161.7 mm at the tip of the impeller. An 8-vane stator completes the stage. It is fitted in a diffuser and compensates the flow disturbances created by the spherical hub. The blade row of the rotor and the stator are separated at the zero span by nearly 98% of the axial tip rotor chord from rotor trailing edge to the stator leading edge and 67% axial tip rotor chord at full span height. It has a variable chord length of 86.6 mm at the tip and a chord length of 59.1 mm near the hub. The blade angle of the stator at the tip leading edge is 13.31 and at the hub 45.67. The blade stagger angle varies from 45.67 at the hub to 13.31 at the tip Other absent geometrical dimensions of the impeller and stator are shown in table2.2.
Description Impeller Stator
Rotation Speed (rpm) Radius at tip of leading edge (mm) Radius at tip 25% downstream leading edge (mm) Radius at tip 50% downstream leading edge (mm)
n.Qd Hd
3
2.6
Radius at tip 75% downstream leading edge (mm) Radius at tip of trailing edge (mm) Hub to tip radius at leading edge Hub to tip radius 25% downstream leading edge Hub to tip radius 50% downstream leading edge Hub to tip radius 75% downstream leading edge Hub to tip radius at trailing edge No. of rotor blades Blade angle at tip leading edge (degree) Blade angle at hub leading edge (degree) Blade angle at tip trailing edge (degree) Blade angle at hub trailing edge (degree) Blade chord at tip (mm) Blade chord at 75% Span (mm) Blade chord at 50% Span (mm) Blade chord at 25% Span (mm) Blade maximum thickness-to-chord at tip Blade maximum thickness-to-chord at 75% Span Blade maximum thickness-to-chord at 50% Span Blade maximum thickness-to-chord at 25%Span
Data of Rotor-Stator
180.0 180.0 0.3263 0.3517 0.3619 0.3650 0.3569 3 76.83 55.24 70.57 40.79 161.7 144.4 127.2 109.9 0.040 0.069 0.099 0.142
191.9 195.7 0.3834 0.3118 0.3297 0.3644 0.3955 8 -14.95 -46.51 1.636 -0.843 86.6 80.4 69.6 59.1 0.0859 0.0716 0.0735 0.0835
Distance tip trailing edge rotorleading edge stator (mm) Distance hub trailing edge rotorleading edge stator (mm)
28.7 43.7
The Ganz Mavag Company in Budapest manufactured the stage. The pump in the test rig is a scaled version of an industry-size one, that is now manufactured by Flygt. The geometric scale of 1:1.5 has been chosen as big as possible to have high measuring accuracy in flow and power. Typical application areas for this pump include stormwater stations, sewage-treatment plants, land drainage, irrigation, aquaculture and water attractions. Both the stator and rotor blades have been machined with CAD/CAM techniques using the Flygt Computer vision computer connected to a 3-axis NC-milling machine. The maximum geometrical inaccuracy of the blade shapes is probably less than 0.1 mm. The inaccuracy of the blade general position is less than 0.7 mm. The suction and pressure side corner were rounded slightly to prevent the sharp corner from Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 2.7
Chapter 2: Experimental Test Facility breaking. Gearhart (1966) found that this rounded corner prevented local separation of the flow through the tip clearance and thus improved the gap cavitation performance.
2.2.2.1 Rotor and Stator Design
The geometry of the rotor and stator in 3 different spans are plotted in figure 2.8. The edges of the rotor blades and the stator blades are blunted. The plots of the blades on this page are orientated so that the flow run from left to right of the page and the impeller rotates from down to up.
Their dimensions are shown and written in table 2.3. Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 2.8
The geometry of the hub and the casing of the propeller pump are complicated. The meridional geometry of the shroud and hub are plotted in figure 2.9. The hub radius at the leading edge of the rotor is 53 mm and 59 mm at the trailing edge. The radius of the shroud is 177 mm at the leading edge and 180 mm at the trailing edge of the impeller. The nose of the hub is 57 mm from the leading edge of the rotor. The hub radius at the leading edge of the stator is 60 mm and increases to 78 mm at the trailing edge. The radius of the shroud varies from 181 mm at the leading edge of the stator to 196 mm at the trailing edge. The shape and the dimensions of the hub and shroud are shown in figure 2.9 and table 2.3. nr. 1 2 3 4 D [mm] 57 73 44 52 R [mm] 124 180 181 118 nr. 5 6 7 8 D [mm] 86 30 45 64 R [mm] 53 59 60 78
Stator R1 R2 Rotor R3
R4
R5 D1 D2
R6 D3
R7 D4
R8
2.9
Chapter 2: Experimental Test Facility diaphragm displacement is linear with the pressure applied, the bridge output is also linear with the pressure. The pressure transducers have to be calibrated and this is done regular with a manometer. The transducers and the manometer are connected with a reservoir of water. The transducer is calibrated for different water heights, varying between 20 cm H2O until 1,5 m H2O. The height of the column of a liquid of known density acted upon the force gravity can be measured with the manometer. The overall pressure-system accuracy is verified with a manometer and is maintained to within 0.25% F.S. Trade Mark Type Measuring range Accuracy Validyne DP15 0.88 m 1.4 m H2O
0.25 % FS
The total head of the pump (Htot) is estimated with the next equation
H tot = H +
2 v2 v2 1 2g 2g
2.1
With H is the difference of the measured static head of the wall pressure taps at the inlet (Hstat1) and outlet (Hstat2) of the axial flow pump
H = H stat2 H stat1
2.2
And where v1 and v2 are the averaged absolute velocities at the inlet and the outlet of the pump. These averaged velocity speed is the ratio of the measured flow Q and the cross-sectional area of fluid flow (Ai) where the static wall pressure are mounted (equation 2.3)
vi =
Q Ai
2.3
Chapter 2: Experimental Test Facility Furthermore, the rotor carries a toothed wheel with 15 teeth for the determination of speed. On the stator, there are evenly distributed, four inductive pick-ups. This produces pulses, which are proportional to speed. Data were taken with an amplifier for torque and speed rotation. This amplifier converts the pulse frequency into a voltage, which is proportional to the torque, and another module forms a voltage, which is proportional to the speed of rotation from a variable frequency rectangular pulse frequency. In both cases the output is read by the data acquisition. Trade Mark Instrument Measuring Amplifier Torque Measuring Amplifier Rotation Speed Nominal Torque Maximum Torque Maximum Rotation Speed Accuracy Rotation Speed Accuracy Torque HBM T32FN MD 2188 N 2119 A 2 kNm 2.5 kNm 15000 rpm 2 rpm
With this instrument the effective power Pe is directly measured on the shaft of the propeller pump as the product of the torque C and the rotation speed :
Pe = C.
2.4
The torque transducer is calibrated with a calibrated dead weight loading network attached to the end of a stiff beam acting as the moment arm. If the exact length of the arm from the centre of rotation to the suspension point of the weight is known, the resulting torque can be computed easily by multiplying the load force by the length of the moment arm. The moment arm is set approximately horizontal and the calibrating weights are suspended from it. The output of the measuring is observed. Knowing the shaft power into the rotor of the propeller pump and the energy net hydraulic power, equals to .Q.g.h, the overall pump efficiency of the propeller pump will be defined as
Q g H tot C
2.5
where is the density, Q is the flow rate, g is the gravity, Htot is the total head, C is the torque and is the rotation speed.
2.12
Chapter 2: Experimental Test Facility The power input to the rotor is always less than the power supplied at the coupling because of external energy losses in the bearings. This efficiency will be different than the hydraulic efficiency of the pump that is broadly defined as in the numerical code.
r = r ( X 1 , X 2 ,..., X J )
the uncertainty of the result is given by
2 2 2 2 r r r U r = UX + X U X 2 + ... + X U X j X 1 1 j 2 1
2.6
2.7
where Uxi are the uncertainties in the measured values Xi. The uncertainties correspond to our estimates of the combination of bias and precision error. For this uncertainty analysis, we attempted to estimate the uncertainties to 95% confidence. For the total head measurement, equations 2.1 to 2.3 are used. The uncertainties of the static pressure (H) and flow (Q) are given in table 2.4 and 2.5. In order to compute the uncertainty of the total head (Htot) we need to estimate the uncertainty of the velocity at the inlet (v1) and outlet of axial pump (v2)
R Q v1 = + 4. 1 v1 Q R1
2 2
2.8
2.9
where R1 is the radius of the inlet pipe, R2h is the inner radius of the outlet pipe, R2s is the outer radius of the outlet pipe and Ri=1,2 is the uncertainty of the dimensions of the pipe. The uncertainty of the total pressure Htot can be computed now as
H tot
2 v2 v2 v1 v12 2 2 = H + v 2 + g v1 + g 2 2 2 2
g g
2.10
2.13
Chapter 2: Experimental Test Facility The power of the axial flow pump is calculated with equation 2.4. The uncertainty of the power P becomes
P C = + P C
2 2
2.11
where C and are the uncertainties of the torque and the rotation speed given in table 2.6. The efficiency of the propeller pump is defined as equation 2.5. The uncertainty of the efficiency can be calculated as
Q H tot = + Q + H tot
g C + + + g C
2
2.12
During the test, we use the 95 % confidence level of the data. We focussed the number of data giving a precision error (P) less than 2 %. The total uncertainty is a combination of the bias error (B) with an estimate of the precision error as
= B 2 + (t v ,95 P) 2
2.13
Using the precision error of 2% and the bias errors of the technical tables of the measurement instruments, the maximum total uncertainties of the different physics quantities, which defined the performance of the pump, are resumed in table 2.7. Measured Quantity Uncertainty Measured Quantity
P (% ) P
Uncertainty
Q (% ) Q
H tot (% ) H tot
2.0
2.0
2.1
eff
eff
(% )
2.4
2.5 Summary
This chapter presented the infrastructure of the experimental test facility with its instrumentation, and introduced the experimental single stage axial flow pump, also called as propeller pump. The calibration methods of the instrumentation and their accuracy were discussed. The uncertainties of the measured quantities for the performance of the axial flow pump are given in table 2.7. These are conforming to ISO 3555.
2.14
3.1
Measurement Procedure
The LDA does not measure the instantaneous velocity V(t) continuously in the manner that a fast-response device such as a hot-wire probe would. Instead, the LDA measures discrete samples of V(t). At each radial position, the LDA measure N particles samples, with each sample n given a value of depending on the decodermeasured circumferential location of the rotating shaft. In the stationary frame of reference, the values corresponding to rotor rotation can represent values of time. Therefore, the instantaneous velocity V(t) is represented by the discretized velocity Vn. This unsteady velocity can be decomposed into a time-averaged velocity V , a ~ periodic or deterministic unsteady velocity, V , and a random or non-deterministic unsteady velocity, V: ~ V (t ) = Vn = V + V + V '
3.1
Figure 3.1 shows this velocity decomposition. The entire rotor rotation through 2 can be divided into Nw discrete storage window or bins, as shown for one period T in figure 3.1. Any storage window contains M particle samples with each sample m having a value within the bounds of that particular window. Statistically, the velocity samples within each storage window yield an ensemble-averaged velocity,
V =
V
i =1
3.2
3.3
V '2 =
(V
M m =1
V )
3.4
M 1
This variance shows the level of non-deterministic unsteadiness at an average value of within a particular discrete storage window- a level of unsteadiness is either partially of entirely due to the turbulence. The time-average of the entire unsteady velocity signal,
V (t ) =
1 V (t )dt T 0
3.5
Could be found by averaging over all N samples in the entire discretized velocity signal. However, the particles are more likely to be measured in the free stream regions of the flow field and less likely to be measured in regions involving boundary layers, wakes or vortices because of problems in entraining particles into these regions.
3.2
In order to alleviate this bias problem (see more information in appendix B: Uncertainly LDA), one can obtain the time-average velocity by averaging all of the ensemble-averaged velocities in each storage window,
V =
V
i =1
Nw
3.6
Nw
Where Nw represents the total number of windows. This type of averaging is essentially an area averaging technique that gives the circumferential average value of the time-average velocity. Also, the level of non-deterministic unsteadiness of the entire velocity signal can be found by averaging the variances in each storage window,
V '2 =
V '
i =1
Nw
3.7
Nw
This total variance gives the circumferential-average level of non-deterministic unsteadiness. At this point, one can determine the periodic of deterministic unsteady velocity, ~ V =V-V 3.8
This deterministic unsteady velocity is a function of the average or t corresponding to a particular storage window. To show the level of deterministic unsteadiness (a
3.3
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment type of unsteadiness that correlates with rotor shaft speed), one can compute the variance
~ V2 =
n w =1
(V V )
Nw
3.9
Nw
%V % V z t =
n =1
w
(Vz Vz ).(Vt Vt )
N
w
3.10
Nw
To see how well the axial Vz and tangential Vt components of the deterministic unsteady velocity correlate with one another. Finally, if one computes the variance of all N samples in the entire velocity signal,
~ + V ') (V
(V
N n =1
n V
3.11
One obtains information on the level of overall unsteadiness. The entire velocity signal varies because of both the deterministic and non-deterministic unsteadiness. This overall unsteadiness level can also be computed from the previously defined levels of deterministic and non-deterministic unsteadiness, if one assumes that the deterministic and non-deterministic unsteady velocities do not correlate with one another,
~ (V + V ')
2
~ = V 2 + V '2
3.12
The use of the above equations was possible due to the fundamental assumption that fluctuations have a Gaussian distribution even in non-isotropic turbulence. A typical run consisted of collecting 1.500.000 measurements yielding an average of 4.000 measurements at each angular position. Run times typically vary between 30 and 60 minutes for every position. Data were collected using a filed point measurement method. In this procedure, the measurement volume remains stationary, and each LDA measurement sample is tagged with the angular position of the rotor via the trigger (see paragraph 3.4. Triggering). The circuits was filled with rainwater that enough seeding particle contain. The data acquisition software includes some filters in order to keep only, among detected particles, those considered as valid. This aims to exclude too heavy particles, which are not passively transported by the flow, and also particles, which went through the probe volume, but with a too large angle. This validation filter is done automatically during the measurement acquisition. Raw valid data are recorded for each position: velocity, transit time and arrival time. After the acquisition, data can be
Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 3.4
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment processed. We will later indicate that the quantities and spatial positions of the measurements need an optical correction due to the distortion of the laser beams by the window and working fluid. This theme will be discussed more in the paragraph of optical correction. For each position, all the valid data have been stored. As indicated above, several statistical quantities have also been estimated for each position: first and second moments. The radial and axial positions of measurement were known to 0.0005 m and introduce no significant error. The circumferential position of measurement was evaluated to 0.2. The effect of the bandwidth of the spectrum analyser on the spectrum analyser was tested and found to be insignificant. The sweep rate of the analyser precluded the interpretation of an individual velocity to within 0.025 m/s for the axial velocity and 0.05 m/s for the circumferential component of velocity. 2D Laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA) system was used to record two components (vz, axial and vt, tangential) of the velocity of particles detected in a small volume. When seeding particles in the rainwater are illuminated with a laser beam, the frequency of the light scattered from the particles gives instantaneous values of the velocities. Then an average is performed over a large number (N) of particles, providing the following measured quantities: Mean value of axial velocity Vz = <vz> Mean value of radial velocity Vt = <vt> Average axial square fluctuations 1 =< (Vz vz )2 > Average radial square fluctuations 2 =< (Vt vt )2 > 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16
3.4 Triggering
An encoder attached to the shaft of the axial pump provided the clock signal necessary to analyse the flow in the pump. This encoder delivers a reference impulse per one revolution and another with 360 pulses by revolutions. These signals are sent to the spectrum analyser and used for the synchrony analysis. The reference impulse serves to determine the phase angle of the velocity measurements. There are two different ways which encoded data can be collected. The first is called time stamped. Time stamped encoded data uses the arrival time clock to determine where (relative to a reset pulse) the sample occurs in phase-space. Usually phase-space refers to an actual special position on the tip of the rotor or between two blades of the impeller. But, in general, phase-space refers to angular position relative to a reset pulse. The arrival time clock is reset periodically and the angular positions of the velocity measurements are calculated using the rpm of the rotating impeller and the time since the last reset pulse (assuming constant angular velocity). The second way in which encoded data can be collected is referred to as space stamping. Space stamping uses the encoder count as a direct indication of angular position. The encoder counter is reset periodically (usually once per revolution) and the encoder count corresponds to an actual angular position. Space stamping requires a large number of pulses per revolution to obtain an angular resolution comparable to Experimental and Numerical Study of an Axial Flow Pump 3.5
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment that obtained using time stamping, however, space stamping has the advantage of being able to map velocity measurements onto angular position correctly in the case of applications with fluctuating rpm. The first method is used because the measuring time. The encoder fixed on the pump shaft gives the positions of the measuring point in the blade-to-blade plane with a resolution of 3600 angular readings for our shaft revolution. Using the field point measurement method, we obtained LDA data with a stationary measurement volume and tagged each LDA measurement sample with the angular position of the rotor via a shaft encoder. In analysing these data, we divided the entire blade rotation of 360 degrees into discrete angular storage windows or bins. These bins are used to statistically determine circumferential variations due to the blade rate, as well as any blade-to-blade variations. However, a trade-off arises when deciding how small one should make the bin size. On one hand, smaller bin sizes result in a finer circumferential resolution and decrease the chance of averaging important circumferential features. On the other hand, smaller bin sizes result in fewer data samples per bin in which to perform a statistical analysing- giving higher standard deviations.
Figure 3.2: Bin size dependence for a rotor blade wake (Tangential velocity at 76.2 % span and 75 % chord axially downstream of the rotor tip leading edge)
In analysing the LDA measurements in the experiment, we completed a trade-off study to determine the best bin sizes in which to reduce the data. As an example, figure 3.2 shows a rotor blade wake analysed as a function of rotor position for various bin-sizes- with the ensemble-averaged velocity plotted for each bin. For bin sizes greater than 0.5 degrees, figure 3.2 shows that over averaging smears out the wake deficit. For smaller bin sizes, such as 0.1 degrees, the number of data samples per bin decreases below 850 for a single component of velocity (using the typical 50,000 sample size survey per component). The figure shows that this reduced the
3.6
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment number of samples in performing the ensemble averaging within each bin leads to a very uneven wake profile when the bin size equalled 0.1 degrees. Even though the profile corresponding to a bin size of 1.0 degree appeared quite acceptable, some bines contained as few as 8 or 9 samples giving an unacceptable confidence in the data. Therefore, for LDA surveys requiring a small circumferential resolution- such as the details of wakes and vortices- we chose a bin size of 0.5 degrees. In other surveys, we chose a bin size of 1.0 degree in order to educe the standard deviations associated with the ensemble averaging within each bin. After deciding on the size of the storage window or bin, one still needs to consider the uncertainly in determining quantities such as velocity and turbulence intensity from the LDA measurements. This study is done in appendix B: Experimental Uncertainties. In figure 3.3 is the uncertainty of tangential velocity for a rotor blade waked (tangential velocity at 76.2 % span and 75 % chord axially downstream of the rotor leading edge, cfr figure 3.2). The uncertainty of the tangential velocity is calculated with equation B.23.
Figure 3.3: Uncertainty dependence the bin size for a rotor blade wake (Tangential velocity at 76.2 % and 75 % chord axially downstream of the rotor tip leading edge)
The figure 3.3 concludes that the uncertainty of the measurements is less that 2 % when the bin size is 1.0 deg, except in the rotor blade wakes due to the smaller number of data samples near the rotor blades. These mean values are recorded for as many different positions as needed. An important practical limitation is time, since the detection of N different particles can be long, depending on the zone, which is explored. Indeed, the acquisition rate is proportional to the density of particles times the velocity of the flow; assuming a nearly homogeneous density of seeding particles, the acquisition rate is low in low velocity regions, such as stagnation zones, reverse flows and near wall boundary.
3.7
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment With 360 intervals per blade passage, the interval length varies between 3.1 mm at the tip of the blade and 1.1 mm at the hub.
3.8
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment necessary to seal the system, since fluids proper for refractive index matching are often volatile and noxious. A disadvantage from the fluid mechanical point of view is the relatively high kinematic viscosity of these fluids relative to standard fluids like water. This simple method of matching the refractive index of the test fluid to that of the pipe wall has often been applied in small-scale laboratory measurements. It is impossible in most industrial applications with big volume of fluid.
Corrective lenses. It is possible to anticipate for the effect of refraction by the use of corrective lenses that deflect the laser beams before they enter the flow system. An example of this approach is the work of Durret et al (1985), who proposes the use of simple spherical lenses, included machining circular tubes with rectangular outer walls.
The general disadvantage of the use of such strategies is, that each optical situation requires specific lens geometry. Often, rather complicated lenses are required. Furthermore, it may be necessary to realign the lenses between two measurement positions. Even when a complete correction for the measurement position is obtained, the beam intersection angle will vary from point to point, which further complicates the measurement procedure. Due to the complex geometry of the casing, it is not possible to use this method.
Thin pipe walls. It is obvious that a reduction of the pipe wall thickness leads a smaller amount of refraction, provided that the pipe is surrounded by a rectangular box as described above. Although it is possible to manufacture pipe sections with a wall thickness smaller than 100 m out of a thicker pipe, it is difficult to obtain a satisfactory optical quality in this way. A better result is obtained by the use of prefabricated flexible transparent films. Mizushina and Usui (1977) used short pipe sections made of polyester film with a thickness of 35 m and an internal diameter of 2.53 cm. Their test fluid was water with a dilute polyethylene oxide solution. Van Maanen and Fortuin (1983) removed a half part of 50 mm glass pipe over a length of 16 cm, while the complete inner wall of the pipe was covered with a thin transparent film (type unreported) with a thickness of 100 m. In this references, not attention is given to the complications encountered with transparent films, like motions generated by turbulent pressure fluctuations of the blade rotation, the optical behaviour of films, the technical set up of the test-section and handling procedures, the selection of sheet material, etc. The purpose of the present enumeration is to give the reader an impression of the practical possibilities and limitations of the method.
In other to allow the flow measurement in the propeller pump, the optical access within the impeller was provide through a flat polished polycarbonate window of 25 mm thickness that was contoured to match the inside wall of the casing. The window is 117 mm long in the axial direction and 51 mm width (16 deg arc) in the circumferential direction and is mounted in the casing, going halfway the chord of the stator blade until 110 % chord rotor blade upstream the leading edge of the rotor (see figure 3.4 and 3.5). The nominal design value of the rotor tip clearance to chord ratio was s/l = 0.92% with the tip clearance about 1.5 mm.
3.9
Figure 3.4: Detail view of window mounted in the casing of the propeller pump.
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment beams. For this type of measurement, the probe with the third pair of laser beams (1Dprobe) must be mounted off-axis in order to resolve the third velocity component. There are two main experimental difficulties in the use of such a 2-probe system. First, it is necessary to ensure all the three measurement volumes are coincident. This is difficult because of the very small dimensions of the available measurement volume (typically only 0.12 x 0.12 x 0.9 mm), which necessitates the aid of a pinhole for accurate adjustment. Second, as will be shown in this paragraph, the coincidence of all three measurements volumes is only valid at the point of the adjustment. A twodimensional readjustment is than needed when the measurement volumes are traversed in the flow. Another case of off-axis alignment of the LDA probes is needed when measurements are done in turbomachines with strong staggered blades. Due to the blade twist, it cause shadowed region in the measurement region. To measure the velocity field over the complete blade passage, it is than necessary to mount the probe in off-axis alignment. These off-axis alignments of the LDA probe, even for the special case of a plane window due: Change in the fringe spacing, Change in the orientation of the measurement volume, Change in the path of the measurement volume when traversing, Effect of astigmatism 1 , Distortion of fringe patterns and Change to the maximum data rate. These effects can be sufficiently large to deviate the beams from their initial positions and to significantly influence the accuracy of LDA measurements. The next paragraph analyses these aspects of off-axis alignments of LDA probes.
3.11
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment The degree of the off-axis probe alignment, The beam intersection angle, The colour difference between the two pairs of laser beam, The thickness of glass window and The depth of the beam intersection points in flow. In fact the dispersion caused by different colours of the laser beams (514.5 and 488 nm) has only a negligible effect on beam refraction and is therefore not considered here. The consequent changes in the laser beam path may be determined from Snells law: n1.sin 1 = n2 .sin 2 3.17
Where ni is de index of refraction in medium i and i is the angle between the normal to the interface and the laser beam, in medium i. Figure 3.6 illustrates how index of refraction changes alter not only the half-angle between two laser beams but also the location at which the two beams intersect. For this particular example, Snells law and trigonometry may be used to determine the change in the half angle and the shift in the location of the probe volume.
Figure 3.6: Refraction of laser beams during velocity measurements (Durst, 1981).
According to detailed calculations using the theory of geometric optics (Zhang 1993), the displacement between both intersection points for a measurement arrangement according to figure 3.7 is given as:
xm = 1
(L1 1 + L2 2 )
3.18
where
m = tan A2 tan B 2
3.19
3.12
1 =
n n 1 cos 2 cos 2 / 2
2 1 2 0
3.20
2 =
n n 1 cos 2 cos 2 / 2
2 2 2 0
3.21
3.22
with A1 , A2 , B1 and B 2 as the refraction angles of the laser beams (A and B) in media 1 and 2 respectively, as defined in figure 3.7.
Figure 3.7: Beam transmittance through a glass window into the flow and formation of two intersection points (Zhang, 1995).
In the above equations m refers to the medium in which the intersection point is present (here medium 2). 1 and 2 refer to the media, through which the refracted laser beams are transmitted from the probe into the flow. In equation 3.19 xm is a linear function of L1 and L2, the thickness of the corresponding optical media before the intersection point m1 (fig 3.7). A similar linear equation, but with more than two terms can be derived, if there are more than two layers of media which refract the laser beams. It can also be demonstrated, that those terms in equation 3.19, denoted by i , disappear if the medium ni has the same refractive index as the medium no (ni = n0 ) . In particular if an internal airflow (n2 = 1) were to be measured by a probe in air n0 = 1 , then 2 = 0 and only the thickness of the glass window determines the displacement xm . The spatial displacement between both measurement volumes according to fig 3.7 is then
S = xm cos o 2
3.23
with o 2 as the refraction angle of the optical axis. In fact neither of the intersection points m1 and m2 lie on the refracted optical axis, but this deviation can be show to be negligibly small.
3.13
Figure 3.8: Displacement S between both intersection points of two pairs of laser beams form a 2Dprobe dependent on the depth of the measurement volume in the water L2 and on the off-axis alignment angle . The half intersection angle of beams in air is /2=3.70
Figure 3.8 presents the displacement between the intersection points of the two pairs of laser beams in a single probe when the probe is aligned off-axis. These have been calculated from Eqs. 3.18 to 3.23 for the beam transmittance of an air-glass-water system with a polycarbonate glass thickness of L1 = 25 mm. Values S at L2 = 0 show the effect of glass window. It can be seen that, because of the large displacement between two intersection points, it becomes impossible to carry out twocomponents coincident measurements with an off-axis configuration of a single probe. This determines that for a two-probe system (used for simultaneous measurements of three components of velocity) only the 1D-probe may be positioned off-axis, and, in fact, it must be realigned in the plane of both laser beams to ensure their intersection.
n 2 sin ( / 2 )on
3.24
where the wavelength n and the half intersection angle of the laser beams / 2 are for the refraction index n . The fringe spacing in this case is the same as the initial fringe spacing in air.
3.14
Considering the off-axis probe alignment to the flow, the half intersection angle of the laser beams refracted in the flow should be determined by the application of the law of refraction to each of the laser beams (Fig. 3.9):
( / 2)off = ( A 2 B 2 ) / 2
The fringe spacing of the measurement volume in this case then becomes:
x =
3.28
Figure 3.10: Distortion of the fringe spacing of an off-axis probe compared to that of an on-axis probe, as function of the off-axis alignment angle. Calculated from equation 3.28 for the water flow (n=1.34). o/2 is the initial half intersection angle of laser beams
In Fig. 3.10 the distortion of the fringe spacing x/x0, according to equation 3.28, is show as a function of the off-axis alignment of the probe () for the initial half
3.15
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment intersection angles (0/2) of laser beams. As can be seen, the off-axis alignment of the probe results in an increase in the fringe spacing, which usually cannot be neglected.
3.29
3.30
Because the displacement of the probe is the same as the displacement of the virtual intersection point m, Equation 3.30 gives the proportion of the x-displacement between the measurement volume and the probe. The measurement volume m will also move in the y-direction, even though the probe is moving merely in the x-direction. According to Fig 3.9, the y-coordinate of the measurement volume can be written as
ym = xm tan A 2 x p tan A1
3.31
3.32
3.16
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment This describes the path, which the measurement volume follows, when the probe is moving in the x-direction, dx p / dxm in Equation 3.31 is simply the reciprocal value of Equation 3.30. It should be noted that in Equation 3.31 only the beam A is considered. If the beam B is also considered, the statement for dym/dxm will be different to Equation 3.32. However the result for dym/dxm is the same in both cases. In fact, considering any point on both beams refracted in the flow will yield the same result. As seen in Equation 3.32 dym / dxm is normally not equal to zero, except for the special cases of on-axis alignment, of off-axis alignment with a single laser beam perpendicular to the flow interface, or with the flow medium the same as the medium in which the probe is present. Therefore the path of the measurement volume is normally two-dimensional.
Figure 3.11: Two-dimensional shift of the measurement volume in water (n=1.34) dependent on the off-axis alignment angle
Figure 3.11 presents this two-dimensional displacement of the measurement volume according to Eqs. 3.30 and 3.32. Although dym / dxm is small, it should not be neglected if the measuring points in the flow have to be traversed across a large distance. This two-dimensional behaviour of the shift of the measurement volume was derived by Zhang (1993) and considered by Eisele et al. (1994) in LDA measurements in a pump. It is of special importance in cases where simultaneous three-component velocity measurements are made using two probes. Normally both probes are fixed to the same traversing system and aligned for obtaining coincidence of all threemeasurement volumes. The movement of the traversing system in the x-direction will then lead to separation measurement volumes. The separation is not only in xdirection but also in y-direction. This means that the coincidence of measurement volumes is valid only at a single point in the flow, and measurement of three separate velocity components during a traverse is not possible without realignment.
3.17
Figure 3.12: Data rate dependence on the off-axis alignment angle . Measured in a pump by Zhang (1993)
Fig 3.12 presents an example of the dependence of the data rate on the off-axis alignment of the LDA probe relative to the normal of the water flow in the pump (Zhang 1993). The data rate is here strongly dependent on the off-axis alignment angle ( ) of the probe, as mentioned above, because of the effect of astigmatism. To minimize the effect of astigmatism on the data rate, the off-axis alignment angle of the probe should not be too large.
Chapter 3: Applications of the Laser Doppler Anemometry Equipment long as the optical plane is kept parallel to the pipe axis, without having to go through it, the intersection angle between the two refracted laser beams remains unchanged and the intersection of the point will move as equation 3.24. When deviations of the optical plane from the pipe axis exist, the effect of astigmatism becomes significant and the quality of velocity signals will be considerably deteriorated. Since the deviation of the LDA optical plane from the pipe axis brings about undesirable features, large deviations should be avoided. For moderate deviations and as long as the signal rate is sufficiently high, no particular attention needs to be paid to this. The fringe distortion in the measurement volume, which results from the dislocation of laser beam waists and which is dependent on the deviation of LDA optical plane form the pipe axis, is anyhow not evident and will not be treated (Zhang, 2004)