This two-part paper deals with the influence of high-pressure turbine (HPT) purge flows on the aerodynamic performance of turbine center frames (TCF). Measurements were carried out in a product-representative one and a half-stage turbine test setup. Four individual purge mass flows differing in flow rate, pressure, and temperature were injected through the hub and tip, forward and aft cavities of the unshrouded HPT rotor. Two TCF designs, equipped with nonturning struts, were tested and compared. In this first part of the paper, the influence of different purge flow rates (PFR) is discussed, while in the second part of the paper, the impact of the individual hub and tip purge flows on the TCF aerodynamics is investigated. The acquired measurement data illustrate that the interaction of the ejected purge flow with the main flow enhances the secondary flow structures through the TCF duct. Depending on the PFR, the radial migration of purge air onto the strut surfaces directly impacts the loss behavior of the duct. The losses associated with the flow close to the struts and in the strut wakes are highly dependent on the relative position between the HPT vane and the strut leading edge (LE), as well as the interaction between vane wake and ejected purge flow. This first-time experimental assessment demonstrates that a reduction in the purge air requirement benefits the engine system performance by lowering the TCF total pressure loss.

Since the experiment in turbulence research is of very high importance for evaluating turbulence hypothesis, turbulence measurements were carried out in a two-stage two-spool transonic turbine test rig at the Institute for Thermal Turbomachinery and Machine Dynamics in Graz in which the two rotors are counter-rotating with two different rotational speeds. For the current measurement campaign, triple hot-wire probes, which represent a very new measurement technique in this test rig, were used and their results validated with a fast response aerodynamic pressure probe (FRAPP). Based on the data measured with this device, turbulence intensities may be determined using a method called Fourier filtering. If the classical ensemble averaging procedure with only one trigger is applied, the periodic fluctuations of the other rotor will artificially increase the stochastic fluctuations. Therefore, the two trigger signals of the two rotors require a special analysis method, which was established at Graz University of Technology. The results from this method will be compared to the classical triple decomposition, which uses only one trigger signal. With this analysis tool, it is not only possible to evaluate unsteady signals triggered by one of the two rotors, but also the unsteady interactions of the rotors can be determined and investigated.

For this study, measurements were carried out in a one-and-a-half stage test turbine. In order to characterize the flow field and to obtain steady flow quantities, five-hole probes are used in the rig in several measurement planes. Although a very high resolution in circumferential and radial direction is possible with five-hole probes, only certain sectors of the flow field can be measured due to quite long measurement times. For this reason, total pressure rakes, which can be traversed 360 degrees in a circumferential direction, were built for this test configuration. During foregoing measurements, differences between the total pressure measured with the rakes and the total pressure measured with a five-hole probes were observed, especially in the measurement plane downstream of the rotor where the flow is highly unsteady. It was found that the measured value for total pressure is particularly influenced by the stochastic pressure fluctuations and turbulence and can therefore deviate significantly from the “real” value.

For this work, reality effects, more precisely backward-facing steps (BFSs) and forward-facing steps (FFSs), and their influence on the flow through a two-stage two-spool turbine rig under engine-relevant conditions were experimentally investigated. The test rig consists of an high pressure (HP) and an low pressure (LP) stage, with the two rotors rotating in opposite direction with two different rotational speeds. An S-shaped transition duct, which is equipped with turning struts (so-called turning mid turbine frame (TMTF)) and making therefore a LP stator redundant, connects both stages and leads the flow from a smaller to a larger diameter. This test setup allows the investigation of a TMTF deformation, which occurs in a real aero-engine due to non-uniform warming of the duct during operation—especially during run up—and causes BFSs and FFSs in the flow path. This happens for nonsegmented ducts, which are predominantly part of smaller engines. In the case of the test rig, steps were not generated by varying temperature but by shifting the TMTF in horizontal direction while the rotor and its casing were kept in the same position. In this way, both BFSs and FFSs between duct endwalls and rotor casing could be created. In order to avoid steps further downstream of the interface between HP rotor and TMTF, the complete aft rig was moved laterally too. In this case, the aft rig incorporates among others the LP rotor, the LP rotor casing, and the deswirler downstream of the LP stage. In order to catch the influence of the steps on the whole flow field, 360 deg rake traverses were performed downstream of the HP rotor, downstream of the duct, and downstream of the LP rotor with newly designed, laser-sintered combi-rakes for the measurement of total pressure and total temperature. Only the compact design of the rakes, which can be easily realized by additive manufacturing, makes the aforementioned 360 deg traverses in this test rig possible and allows a number of radial measurements positions, which is comparable to those of a five-hole probe. To get a more detailed information about the flow, also five-hole probe measurements were carried out in three measurement planes and compared to the results of the combi-rakes.