Date of Award
1-1-2016
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Mechanical Engineering
First Advisor
Guillermo Paniagua
Committee Member 1
Ilias Bilionis
Committee Member 2
Jay P Gore
Committee Member 3
Nicole L Key
Committee Member 4
Wolfgang Schroder
Committee Member 5
Tom I Shih
Committee Member 6
Ali A Ameri
Committee Member 7
Francesco Contino
Committee Member 8
Laurent Bricteux
Abstract
Developments in turbomachinery focus on efficiency and reliability enhancements, while reducing the production costs. In spite of the many noteworthy experimental and numerical investigations over the past decades, the turbine tip design presents numerous challenges to the engine manufacturers, and remains the primary factor defining the machine durability for the periodic removal of the turbine components during overhaul. Due to the hot gases coming from the upstream combustion chamber, the turbine blades are subjected to temperatures far above the metal creep temperature, combined with severe thermal stresses induced within the blade material. Inadequate designs cause early tip burnouts leading to considerable performance degradations, or even a catastrophic turbine failure. Moreover, the leakage spillage, nowadays often exceeding the transonic regime, generates large aerodynamic penalties which are responsible for about one third of the turbine losses. In this view, the current doctoral research exploits the potential through the modification and optimization of the blade tip shape as a means to control the tip leakage flow aerodynamics and manage the heat load distribution over the blade profile to improve the turbine efficiency and durability.
Recommended Citation
De Maesschalck, Cis Guy M, "Design, Analysis, Optimization and Control of Rotor Tip Flows" (2016). Open Access Dissertations. 1363.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1363