International Journal of Rotating Machinery

The purpose of this paper is to carry out an alternative to the present transient models for field wound synchronous machines, which is able to take into account the nonlinearity of the magnetic materials as well as the cross-magnetization. After presenting the principal model structures according to the state variables, a model based on two lookup tables for the magnetizing flux linkages is introduced and built step by step. The resulting signal flowchart shows an algebraic loop within the model, where the main flux linkage rapidly converges to its instantaneous value by simple iteration. The proof of this convergence is given for both saturated and unsaturated machine. Even though the proposed model uses the total linkage flux as state variable, as many alternative models do, it does not require the inversion of the current to flux linkage function (i.e., of lookup tables). This can spare a heavy computational task, especially with very large lookup tables. In the proposed model, the computational effort in the worst case scenario is reduced to few iterations (<10). Finally, the nonlinear behavior of the model is verified in four different transient scenarios by comparing its outcomes with those of a linear model for the same test machine.

The extensive use of the pump as a turbine (PAT) for micro-hydropower applications has a significant value from economic and technical viewpoints. However, the unavailability of the characteristics curve and relatively lower efficiency are the two basic limitations when considering pumps for power-generating applications. In this paper, the performance of the PAT is analyzed using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software called Ansys CFX in conjunction with standard -. Then, experiments were done to verify the results of the simulation. Measurement inaccuracy effects are also taken into account. The initial performance of the PAT is refined by controlling basic design parameters (i.e., increasing the number of impeller blades, decreasing blade thickness, blade tip rounding, and adjusting blade inlet angle). Additionally, a new modification method known as blade grooving is also introduced in this research. Finally, all listed modification techniques are applied simultaneously to achieve maximum performance. The output of the study confirms that the adopted modification techniques have a positive effect on performance improvement. When the number of impellers is increased, the power output is enhanced by 5.72%, and blade grooving provides the most efficiency improvement, i.e., 7.00%. But decreasing blade thickness has no remarkable impact on the performance; the power output and efficiency are improved by 1.24% and 2.60%, respectively. The maximum performance improvement was achieved when the modification techniques are applied simultaneously with 10.56 and 10.20 percent of power and efficiency increments, respectively. From the entire study, it can be concluded that the chosen design parameters have an important effect on stabilizing the internal flow, decreasing the required head, decreasing the hydraulic loss in the impeller, and increasing the overall performance. The study also helps to figure out which modification technique is the most practical.

Film cooling is a commonly-accepted effective way to protect the gas turbine hot sections from the high temperature products of the combustion chamber. Numerous film hole geometries have been the subject of investigation by many researchers over the past three decades with the aim of keeping the target wall under the maximum allowable temperature with the least amount of precious cooling air and minimum aerodynamic losses. In this study, we are proposing a new trench geometry that is fed by 30°-inclined embedded circular film holes entering from the trench sidewall. The cooling jets impinge on the opposite wall of the trench which is tilted towards the jets and then is pushed over the coverage wall by the main flow. Three trench geometries with the same exit area and tilt angles (the angle between the trench side- and top-wall) of 75°, 90°, and 105° degrees are tested for three blowing ratios of 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0, and the film effectiveness results are compared using the adiabatic pressure sensitive paint technique. CFD analyses are also performed using the realizable turbulence model with the enhanced wall function option. Major conclusions of this study were that the trench geometry with the trench tilt angle of 75°, corresponding to the smallest trench volume, had the best performance at the lowest blowing ratio, and good agreement was observed between the CFD and test results.

The composite cylindrical roller is composed of a hollow cylindrical roller and a filler body and is a new type of structure roller bearing. In order to explore the influence of different parameters on the contact characteristics and vibration characteristics of bearings, finite element models of static contact, modal analysis, and harmonic response analysis of composite cylindrical roller bearings were established based on ABAQUS software. The effects of filling rate, radial force, and the number of rollers on parameters such as contact force, contact stress, and natural frequency were studied. The results show that when the filling rate of the cylindrical roller increases from 0% to 70%, the natural frequency of bearing and the peak frequency of its harmonic response decrease, the force distribution in the contact area is also more uniform, and the maximum contact stress of the roller is reduced by 29.1%; the radial force has no effect on the peak frequency of the harmonic response of the bearing, but the increase of the radial force will increase the peak value of the response displacement, and the contact force and stress of the rollers will also increase. When the number of rollers increases from 11 to 15, the natural frequency and the peak frequency of harmonic response increase, the peak displacement decreases, the contact force distribution of the rollers in the bearing area is more uniform, and the maximum contact stress of the roller is reduced by 21.1%. The research result can provide a theoretical reference for the structural optimization and engineering application of elastic composite cylindrical roller bearings.

Investigated is a transonic turbine blade tip with a squealer rim and a squealer recess, with a single dusting film cooling hole contained within the leading edge region of the squealer recess. Data are provided for transonic flow conditions for a range of film cooling blowing ratios for two tip gap values, using a linear cascade, with no relative motion between the blade and the casing. Surface heat transfer characteristics are measured using the transient impulse-response measurement approach, employed with infrared thermography. Line-averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness values, for the 1.4 mm tip gap, are generally very small along the pressure side rim, with only small, locally increased values along the suction side rim. For the 0.8 mm tip gap, line-averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness values are generally somewhat higher along the pressure side rim and along the suction side rim. In general, effectiveness values for both tip gap values, for these locations, and for the recess region, increase as the blowing ratio increases. As the tip gap decreases from 1.4 mm to 0.8 mm, line-averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness generally increases on the rims and downstream regions of the recess, with increased magnitudes which are spread over larger spatial surface areas. For tip gaps of 0.8 mm and 1.4 mm, for regions where the line-averaged heat transfer coefficient ratio deviates significantly from 1.00, values generally decrease as the blowing ratio increases. Across every region of the blade, line-averaged heat transfer coefficient ratios either decrease or remain approximately invariant, as the tip gap value decreases from 1.4 mm to 0.8 mm.

One popular method for the protection of gas turbines’ hot sections from high-temperature combustor gases is film cooling. Substantial amounts of research have been conducted to accomplish this task with the minimum cooling flow, maximum surface coverage, and minimal aerodynamic inefficiencies or structural penalties. In this study, a combined experimental and numerical investigation was conducted on three selected film-cooling hole geometries. These geometries were designed with the same initial metering (feed) section, a cylindrical hole of 30° inclination angle, followed by three different forward expansion section geometries. The expansion sections had a 7° laid-back angle and a 17° expansion angle in each lateral direction. However, different interior corner radii were used to blend the metering hole to the exit area, creating three different expansion geometries with almost the same exit areas. In practice, this variation in expansion geometry could represent manufacturing faults or tolerances in laser drilling of the film holes. This study shows that the variations in film-cooling effectiveness are not significant even though the expansion geometries are significantly different. The Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP) technique was used to obtain the detailed distribution of film-cooling effectiveness on the surface area downstream of these film holes. Adiabatic film cooling effectiveness was measured at blowing ratios of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0. CFD models of these film holes were also run, and the results were compared with the test data. The major conclusions of this study were that these proposed new geometries produced higher film effectiveness than the conventional 7°-7°-7° diffusion film holes, for the same exit area, the expansion section geometry of the film holes did not have a significant effect on the film coverage, and the numerical results were in good agreement with the test data.