Axial-Flow Turbines

Axial-flow turbines power most gas turbine units, except the

smaller horsepower turbines, and they are more efficient than
radial-inflow turbines in most operational ranges.
There are two types of axial turbines:
(1) impulse type turbine has its entire enthalpy drop in the
nozzle; therefore it has a very high velocity entering the rotor.
(2) reaction type turbine divides the enthalpy drop in the
nozzle and the rotor.
Most axial flow turbines consist of more than one stage, the
front stages are usually impulse (zero reaction) and the later
stages have about 50% reaction.
The impulse stages produce about twice the output of a
comparable 50% reaction stage.
The efficiency of an impulse stage is less than that of a 50%
reaction stage.
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Schematic of an axial flow turbine flow characteristics

Impulse Turbine
The impulse turbine is the simplest type of
turbine. It consists of a group of nozzles
followed by a row of blades.
The gas is expanded in the nozzle, converting
all the high thermal energy into kinetic energy.
The high-velocity gas impinges on the blade
where a large portion of the kinetic energy of
the moving gas stream is converted into
turbine shaft work.
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 The static pressure

decreases in the nozzle
with a corresponding
increase in the absolute
velocity. The absolute
velocity is then reduced in
the rotor, but the static
pressure and the relative
velocity remain constant.
To get the maximum
energy transfer, the blades
must rotate at about onehalf the velocity of the gas
jet velocity.

Schematic of an impulse
turbine
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 Two or more rows of

moving blades are
sometimes used in
conjunction with one
nozzle to obtain wheels
with low blade tip speeds
and stresses.
In-between the moving
rows of blades are guide
vanes that redirect the
gas from one row of
moving blades to
another. This type of
turbine is sometimes
called a Curtis turbine.
Pressure and velocity5distributions in
a Curtis-type impulse turbine

 Another impulse turbine is the pressure

compound or Ratteau turbine. In this turbine the
work is broken down into various stages. Each
stage consists of a nozzle and blade row where
the kinetic energy of the jet is absorbed into the
turbine rotor as useful work.
The air that leaves the moving blades enters the
next set of nozzles where the enthalpy
decreases further, and the velocity is increased
and then absorbed in an associated row of
moving blades.
The total pressure and temperature remain
unchanged in the nozzles, except for minor
frictional losses.
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Pressure and velocity distributions in a Ratteau-type

Reaction Degree
The axial-flow reaction turbine is the most widely
used turbine.
By definition, the impulse turbine has a degree of
reaction equal to zero.
This degree of reaction means that the entire
enthalpy drop is taken in the nozzle, and the exit
velocity from the nozzle is very high.
Since there is no change in enthalpy in the rotor, the
relative velocity entering the rotor equals the relative
velocity exiting from the rotor blade. For the
maximum utilization factor (ratio of ideal work to
the energy supplied), the absolute exit velocity must
be axial.
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Reaction Turbine
In a reaction turbine both the nozzles and blades act as
expanding nozzles. Therefore, the static pressure decreases
in both the fixed and moving blades.
The fixed blades act as nozzles and direct the flow to the
moving blades at a velocity slightly higher than the moving
blade velocity.
In the reaction turbine, the velocities are usually much lower,
and the entering blade relative velocities are nearly axial.
The 50% reaction turbine has been used widely and has
special significance. The velocity diagram for a 50% reaction
is symmetrical and, for the maximum utilization factor, the
exit velocity must be axial.
The 50% reaction turbine has the highest efficiency of all the
various types of turbines.
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10
Schematic of a reaction-type turbine

The effect of inlet velocity and air angle on the utilization factor

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Comparison Impulse & Reaction Turbine

The work produced in an impulse turbine with a
single stage running at the same blade speed is
twice that of a reaction turbine. Hence, the cost of a
reaction turbine for the same amount of work is
much higher, since it requires more stages.
It is a common practice to design multistage
turbines with impulse stages in the first few stages
to maximize the pressure decrease and to follow it
with 50% reaction turbines. The reaction turbine has
a higher efficiency due to blade suction effects. This
type of combination leads to an excellent
compromise, since otherwise an all-impulse turbine
would have a very low efficiency, and an all-reaction
turbine would have an excessive number of stages.
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Turbine Blade Cooling Concepts

The turbine inlet temperatures of gas turbines have
increased considerably over the past years. This
trend has been made possible by advancement in
materials and technology, and the use of advanced
turbine blade cooling techniques.
The first stage blade must withstand the most
severe combination of temperature, stress, and
environment; it is generally the limiting component
in the machine.

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Firing temperature increase

with blade material improvement
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 Importance of this increase can be appreciated by noting

that an increase of 100 F (56 C) in turbine firing
temperature can provide a corresponding increase of 813% in output and 2-4% improvement in simple-cycle
efficiency.
The cooling air is bled from the compressor and is
directed to the stator, the rotor, and other parts of the
turbine rotor and casing to provide adequate cooling.
The effect of the coolant on the aerodynamics depends on
the type of cooling involved,
the temp. of the coolant compared to the mainstream
temperature,
the location and direction of coolant injection, and
the amount of coolant.
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 Pressure of the cooling air must be at higher pressure than

that part of flow path to be cooled
Blades are cooled by combination of internal and external
cooling
Internal cooling : Convection driven
External cooling : Film Cooling

COOLING SYSTEMS

Turbine Blade Cooling Methods

1. Convection cooling, flowing air inside the turbine blade. The
most common technique.
2. Film cooling, allowing the cooling air to established an
insulating layer between the hot gas and the blades.
3. Water cooling, passing water through tubes embedded in the
blade. The most promising technique as keeping temperature
below 540C

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4. Impingement cooling, blasting air on the inner surface of the

blades by high velocity air jets.
5. Transpiration cooling, passing the cooling through the porous
wall of the blade

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INTERNAL COOLING

Cooling air is pumped through

inside of blades
Air is pumped in at root and
makes multiple passes before
exiting at root
Material is cooled by forced
convection on inside surface and by
conduction through blade
Different regions of blades can have
different cooling profiles
Large surface area on inside
Many designs employ roughened
internal microfin structure

The strut insert (convection and impingement

cooling) design has a midchord section that is
convection-cooled through horizontal fins,
and a leading edge that is impingement cooled.
The coolant is discharged through a split trailing
edge. The air flows up the central cavity formed
by the strut insert and through holes at the
leading edge of the insert to impingement cool
the blade leading edge. The air then circulates
through horizontal fins between the shell and
strut, and discharges through21slots in the trailing
edge.

The midchord region is convection-cooled, and

the leading edges are both convection and filmcooled. The cooling air is injected through the
blade base into two central and one leading edge
cavity. The air then circulates up and down a series
of vertical passages. At the leading edge, the air
passes through a series of small holes in the wall
of the adjacent vertical passages, and then
impinges on the inside surface of the leading edge
and passes through film cooling holes. The trailing
edge is convection-cooled by air discharging
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through slots.

FILM COOLING

FILM COOLING BEHAVIOR

FILM COOLING OPTIONS

FILM COOLING OPTIONS

EXAMPLE OF FILM-COOLING DATA

Tr Trf
Tr Tc

x/D

Cooling Effectiveness, (often called adiabatic film effectiveness)

Tr = Adiabatic recovery temperature = the temperature wall would reach if
adiabatic (no heat transfer) in the absence of film cooling
Trf = recovery temperature in the presence of film cooling

B (U)jet / (U) ~ 1.0

B (U)jet / (U) ~ 0.5

TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF DATA AVAILABLE

COOLING JET BEHAVIOR by CFD

2780

1800

2492

1640

2204

1480

1916

1320

1628

1160

1340

1000

1052

840

764

680

476

520

188

360

-100

200

Attached Jet: B (U)jet / (U) ~ 0.5

A-A: x/D = 10

A-A

Lifted Jet: B (U)jet / (U) ~ 2.0

A-A

x/D = 10

TRANSPIRATION COOLING
Wire cloth or mesh is used
for exterior of blade and air
is leaked uniformly through it
Consists of a plurality of
wires made of metal,
ceramic or other
materials, and arranged
with their longitudinal
axes generally and not
necessarily precisely,
parallel to the blade axis,
either with or without a
stiffener insert
Ample porosity is provided
for transportation cooling
Cools surface and provides
a protective layer

The shell attached to the strut is of wire from

porous material. Cooling air flows up the central
plenum of the strut, which is hollow with varioussize metered holes on the strut surface. The
metered air then passes through the porous
shell. The shell material is cooled by a
combination of convection and film cooling. This
process is effective due to the infinite number of
pores on the blade surface.
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Temperature distribution for a multiple

small-hole design (F, cooled)

With this particular design, primary cooling is

achieved by film cooling with cold air injected
through small holes over the airfoil surface. These
holes are considerably larger than holes formed with
porous mesh for transpiration cooling. Also,
because of their larger size, they are less
susceptible to clogging by oxidation. In this design,
the shell is supported by cross ribs and is capable of
supporting itself without a strut under engine
operating conditions.
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Water-Cooled

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Internal of the frame FA blades, showing cooling passages

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Turbine Losses
The primary cause of efficiency losses in an axialflow turbine is the build-up of boundary layer on the
blade and end walls.
The losses associated with a boundary layer
(profile losses) are viscous losses, mixing losses,
and trailing edge losses. The blade shape and the
pressure gradient to which the flow is subjected are
major factors in this type of loss.
The profile loss from this type of boundary-layer
build-up results in losses of stagnation pressure.
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 The endwall losses are also due to a loss of

momentum. Endwall losses are often combined with
secondary losses, since adjacent blade profiles cause
a pressure gradient from the pressure surface to the
suction surface.
The blade loading is produced by the different
pressures on the opposite side of the same blade.
The pressure gradient across the blade passage
induces flow from the higher to the lower-pressure
regions. This secondary flow causes losses and
results in vorticity in the exit flow.

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 Tip clearance loss occurs when the blade tip is

mechanically free of the shroud casing, and the
pressure gradient across the blade thickness induces
flow leakage through the clearance space. This flow
across the tip causes turbulence, a pressure drop,
and interferes with the main stream flow.
Another loss is caused by flow incidence when the
gas angle and the blade angle of the flow do not
coincide, resulting in a disruption of the flow at the
blade leading edge.
Wheel friction loss occurs in an axial-flow
compressor because of the close clearances between
the casing and the rotor disc.
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