GAS TURBINE
Axial Flow Turbine
A gas turbine unit for power generation or a turbojet engine for production of thrust primarily consists of a compressor, combustion chamber and a turbine. The air as it passes through the compressor, experiences an increase in pressure. There after the air is fed to the combustion chamber leading to an increase in temperature. This high pressure and temperature gas is then passed through the turbine, where it is expanded and the required power is obtained.
Turbines, like compressors, can be classified into radial, axial and mixed flow machines. In the axial machine the fluid moves essentially in the axial direction through the rotor. In the radial type, the fluid motion is mostly radial. The mixed-flow machine is characterized by a combination of axial and radial motion of the fluid relative to the rotor. The choice of turbine type depends on the application, though it is not always clear that any one type is superior.
Comparing axial and radial turbines of the same overall diameter, we may say that the axial machine, just as in the case of compressors, is capable of handling considerably greater mass flow. On the other hand, for small mass flows the radial machine can be made more efficient than the axial one. The radial turbine is capable of a higher pressure ratio per stage than the axial one. However, multistaging is very much easier to arrange with the axial turbine, so that large overall pressure ratios are not difficult to obtain with axial turbines. In this chapter, we will focus on the axial flow turbine.
Generally the efficiency of a well-designed turbine is higher than the efficiency of a compressor. Moreover, the design process is somewhat simpler. The principal reason for this fact is that the fluid undergoes a pressure drop in the turbine and a pressure rise in the compressor.The pressure drop in the turbine is sufficient to keep the boundary layer generally well behaved, and the boundary layer separation which often occurs in compressors because of an adverse pressure gradient, can be avoided in turbines. Offsetting this advantage is the much more critical stress problem, since turbine rotors must operate in very high temperature gas. Actual blade shape is often more dependent on stress and cooling considerations than on aerodynamic considerations, beyond the satisfaction of the velocity-triangle requirements.
Because of the generally falling pressure in turbine flow passages, much more turning in a giving blade row is possible without danger of flow separation than in an axial compressor blade row. This means much more work, and considerably higher pressure ratio, per stage.
In recent years advances have been made in turbine blade cooling and in the metallurgy of turbine blade materials. This means that turbines are able to operate successfully at increasingly high inlet gas temperatures and that substantial improvements are being made in turbine engine thrust, weight, and fuel consumption.
|
