Research into flows in turbine blade seals. Part I: research methods

Flows in the shroud clearance affect leakage losses and, thus, the turbine stage efficiency. However, at the same time, the distribution of pressure in the seal gaps plays an important role in the generation of the so-called "pressure forces", which may cause self-excited rotor vibrations of the aerodynamic type. Our investigations were carried out in order to show how a CFD code can cope with determining the pressure field in a rotor-blade shroud clearance. Experimental investigations of the pressure field in the shroud clearance were performed on a one-stage air model turbine of the impulse type. Measurements of pressure distribution were carried out for various rotor speeds and turbine loads. 3D calculations of flows in the model turbine were performed using the FLUENT CFD code. The calculations were carried out for the same variants which had been measured experimentally. In this part of the paper, the experimental stand and the numerical methods are described, while a detailed numerical analysis and a comparison between the experimental and the calculated results are presented in parts II and III, respectively