NAVIER-STOKES ANALYSIS OF FLOW AND HEAT-TRANSFER INSIDE HIGH-PRESSURE-RATIO TRANSONIC TURBINE BLADE ROWS

A detailed numerical study of the flow and the heat transfer inside high-pressure-ratio transonic/supersonic turbine blade rows is described. A high-order upwinding relaxation method is used to solve the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation inside three different turbine blade rows. A two-equation turbulence model with a low-Reynolds-number modification is used to describe turbulent shear stress and turbulent heat flux. The numerical results are compared with available experimental data on two-dimensional geometries. It is found that very complex flow phenomena near the trailing edge of transonic turbine blade rows can be very well predicted numerically, and the method can be used in the development of new designs for HP turbines.