Secondary-flow loss in a gas-turbine blade passage
Single-passage RANS with mixing-plane rotor-stator interfaces to map horseshoe-vortex and passage-vortex loss generation and inform endwall contouring.
Problem
A turbine stage was carrying more secondary-flow loss than the design intent predicted, and the client needed the loss mechanism mapped spatially before committing to endwall contouring changes.
Approach
Single-passage RANS (Spalart–Allmaras) was run with mixing-plane interfaces between rotor and stator rows, resolving the horseshoe vortex at the endwall leading edge and its evolution into the passage vortex — the classical secondary-flow structure first characterised in cascade testing.
Outcome
The loss coefficient distribution across the span identified the passage-vortex contribution as the dominant term, directly informing where endwall contouring would give the best return.
// CANONICAL REFERENCES
The literature behind this run
- Langston, L. S. (1980). Crossflows in a Turbine Cascade Passage. ASME Journal of Engineering for Power, 102(4)
- Sieverding, C. H. (1985). Recent Progress in the Understanding of Basic Aspects of Secondary Flows in Turbine Blade Passages. ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 107(2)
- Denton, J. D. (1993). Loss Mechanisms in Turbomachines. ASME Journal of Turbomachinery, 115(4)
These are the foundational papers the underlying method or validation approach is built on — not client deliverables. Full citation details are provided so the physics can be checked independently.
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