Design and flow field calculations for transonic and supersonic radial inflow turbine guide vanes

The design of radial inflow turbine guide vanes depends very much on the discharge conditions desired, especially if the choking mass flow is reached. Because of the choking mass flow condition and supersonic discharge Mach numbers, an inverse design procedure based on the method of characteristics is presented. Various designs corresponding to different discharge Mach numbers are shown. Viscous and inviscid flow field calculations for varying discharge conditions show the properties of the guide vanes at design and off-design conditions. In a previous paper (Reichert and Simon, 1994), an optimized design for transonic discharge conditions has been published. In the present paper, additional results concerning the optimum design are presented. For this optimum design an advantageous adjusting mechanism for a variable geometry guide vane has been developed. The effect of guide vane adjustment on the discharge conditions has been investigated using viscous flow field calculations.