Effects of Reynolds Number and Freestream Turbulence on Turbine Tip Clearance Flow

Tip clearance losses represent a major efficiency penalty of turbine blades. This paper describes the effect of tip clearance on the aerodynamic characteristics of an unshrouded axial-flow turbine cascade under very low Reynolds number conditions. The Reynolds number based on the true chord length and exit velocity of the turbine cascade was varied from 4.4×104 to 26.6×104 by changing the velocity of fluid flow. The freestream turbulence intensity was varied between 0.5% and 4.1% by modifying turbulence generation sheet settings. Three-dimensional flow fields at the exit of the turbine cascade were measured both with and without tip clearance using a five-hole pressure probe. Tip leakage flow generated a large high total pressure loss region. Variations in the Reynolds number and freestream turbulence intensity changed the distributions of three-dimensional flow, but had no effect on the mass-averaged tip clearance loss of the turbine cascade.