Measurements and Predictions of Surface Roughness Effects on the Turbine Vane Aerodynamics

Abstract

The aerodynamic performance of a turbine vane was measured in a linear cascade. These measurements were conducted for exit-true chord Reynolds numbers between 150,000 and 1,800,000. The vane surface rms roughness-to-true chord ratio was approximately 2 × 10−4. Measurements were made for exit Mach numbers between 0.3 and 0.9 to achieve different loading distributions. Measurements were made at three different inlet turbulence levels. High and intermediate turbulence levels were generated using two different blown grids. The turbulence was low when no grid was present. The wide range of Reynolds numbers was chosen so that, at the lower Reynolds numbers the rough surfaces would be hydraulically smooth. The primary purpose of the tests was to provide data to verify CFD predictions of surface roughness effects on aerodynamic performance. Data comparisons are made using a two-dimensional Navier-Stokes analysis. Both two-equation and algebraic roughness turbulence models were used. A model is proposed to account for the increase in loss due to roughness as the Reynolds number increases.