Application of Design of Experiment to a Gas Turbine Cascade Test Cell

Testing of gas turbine blades within a specialized, well-understood, test cell environment remains a key part of the overall design process. This paper describes the simulation of a cascade of transonic turbine blades within the full test cell environment. The objective of this simulation is to bring CFD to bear to understand various installation issues which go into the design of the test cell. The focus here is on the role of the tailboards in managing periodic test conditions in a cascade with relatively few blades and transonic exit. Using a Design of Experiment methodology a series of simulations was performed with a systematic variation in both the location of solid tailboards and the open area ratio of a slotted tailboard. The flow relative to the target test blade was successfully optimized with respect to a reference periodic condition.