Steady and unsteady velocity measurements in a small turbocharger turbine with computational validation

Abstract

The detailed flow characteristics of three high-pressure-ratio mixed-flow turbines were investigated under both steady and pulsating flow conditions. Two rotors featured a constant inlet blade angle, one with 12 blades and the second with 10. The third rotor was shorter and had a nominally constant incidence angle. The rotors find application on an automotive high-speed large commercial diesel turbocharger. The steady flow entering and exiting the blades has been quantified by a laser Doppler velocimetry system. The measurements were performed at a plane 3.0-mm ahead of the rotor leading edge and 9.5-mm downstream the rotor trailing edge. The turbine test conditions corresponded to the peak efficiency point at two rotational speeds, 29,400 and 41,300-rpm. The results were resolved in a blade-to-blade sense to examine fully the nature of the flow at turbocharger representative conditions. A correlation between the combined effects of incidence and exit flow angle with the isentropic efficiency has been verified. Regarding pulsating flow, the velocity data and their corresponding instantaneous velocity triangles were resolved in a blade-to-blade sense to understand better the complex phenomenon. The results highlighted the potential of a nominally constant incidence design to absorb better the inadequacy of the volute to discharge the exhaust gas uniformly along the blade leading edge. A double vortex rotating in a clockwise sense propagated on the plane normal to the meridional direction. This should be attributed to the effect of the passing blade that was acting as a blockage to the flow. The phenomenon was more pronounced near the suction and pressure surfaces of the blade, but diminished at the mid-passage region where the flow exhibited its best level of guidance. The full mixed flow turbine stage under transient conditions was modelled firstly with a steady inlet and secondly with a pulsating inlet boundary condition. In both cases comparison was made to experiment performance and LDV measurements. With the steady inlet boundary condition, a high level of accuracy was achieved when compared to the experimental performance and velocity field. The velocity along the leading edge showed the same discrepancy as the single passage analysis that is with the radial and axial component from mid span to the blade tip. At the trailing edge features identified in the experimental data are identified in the numerical results; the velocity field appears more diffused across the plane as per the experimental data than from the single passage analysis. With the pulsating inlet boundary, the predicted velocity traces in the volute and close to the turbine lead and trailing edge show excellent agreement in both form (against time) and magnitude. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.