Numerical and experimental study of the aerodynamic and aeroelastic performance of a low pressure turbine

This work presents the results of an experimental and numerical investigation conducted in the framework of a project focused on the influence of inlet distortions on the aeroelastic and aerodynamic performance of a low pressure turbine. The measurements were carried out in the subsonic test turbine facility at the Institute of Thermal Turbomachinery and Machine Dynamics at Graz University of Technology. Flow measurements were performed by means of five-hole-probe. In addition, a telemetry system in combination with strain gauges was applied to acquire the rotor blades vibration data. The numerical investigation was carried out at Bionic Surface Technologies Gmbh employing the commercial tool ANSYS CFX. Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were used for solving the flow-field. For the flutter analysis, the modal shapes of the rotor blades were calculated by pre-stressed modal analysis in ANSYS Mechanical and the aeroelastic solution was computed for different Inter Blade Phase Angles (IBPA).