Measurement and Calculation of Turbine Cascade Endwall Pressure and Shear Stress

The complex three-dimensional fluid flow on the endwall in an axial flow turbine blade or vane passage has been extensively investigated and reported on in turbomachinery literature. The aerodynamic loss producing mechanisms associated with the endwall flow are still not fully understood or quantitatively predictable. To better quantify wall friction contributions to endwall aerodynamic loss, low Mach number wind tunnel measurement of skin friction coefficients have been made on one endwall of a large scale cascade of high pressure turbine airfoils, at engine operating Reynolds numbers. Concurrently, predictive calculations of the endwall flow shear stress have been made using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Use of the oil film interferometry skin friction technique is described and applied to the endwall, to measure local skin friction coefficients and shear stress directions on the endwall. These are correlated with previously reported measured local endwall pressure gradients. The experimental results are discussed and compared to the CFD calculations, to answer questions concerning endwall aerodynamic loss predictive ability.