15.6 Turbine Flashcards
What is the primary purpose of the turbine?
Transform a portion of the exhaust gas kinetic energy, into mechnical energy to drive the compressor and its accessories. (about 60-70% of total pressure energy from exhaust).
What is the amount of energy absorption at the turbine, determined by?
Determined by the load the turbine is driving. (Compressor size, type, number of accessories).
Where is the turbine usually located within the GTE?
Aft (downstream) of the combustion chamber.
What are the two main components of the turbine?
- Turbine Nozzle Guide Vanes (stator).
- Rotor section, blades attached to a rotating turbine disc).
How many stages can a turbine have?
One or more, defined by number of pairs of rotors and stators, just like compressors.
What are the two types of turbine?
- Radial flow.
- Axial flow.
How many stages does a radial flow turbine have?
Always 1.
Where are radial flow turbines normally used?
Only in small GTEs, such as an APU.
What is the advantage of a radial flow turbine?
Simple design and easy manufacture.
What are the disadvantages of radial flow turbines?
- Only allows small airflow.
- Less efficient.
- High aerodyamic losses as air must pass through turbine opposing centrifugal forces.
Where are axial flow turbines used?
On modern GTEs and high bypass ratio engines.
Why are axial flow turbines the ideal choice for modern GTEs?
- They create very high airflow, necessary for high thrust.
- They allow for any number of stages necessary to operate the compressor and all the accessories.
How do the Nozzle Guide Vanes accelerate and direct the gas flow from the combustion chamber?
- They have a convergent shape to accelerate the gas flow.
- The shape and angle helps direct the airflow in the direction of rotation of the rotor blades.
What causes the turbine blades to rotate?
The impact of the gas flow.
What are the 3 types of turbine blade used?
- Impulse configuration.
- Reaction configuration.
- Reaction - Impulse configuration.
What is the key point of the impulse-type turbine blade?
The blades experience an impulse force caused by the impact of the gas on the blades.
With the impulse-type blades, where does the total pressure drop of each stage occur?
Occurs in the fixed nozzle guide vanes, which increases velocity as pressure decreases.
What type of energy is the pressure energy converted to, in an impulse-type blade configuration?
Kinetic energy.
How does the impulse force react?
It’s resolved into 2 components.
In a Reaction configuration, what do the fixed nozzle guide vanes do?
They alter the gas flow direction, without changing the pressure.
How do the converging blade passages experience a reaction force?
By the expansion and acceleration of the gas.
Which of the blade configuration types is normally used in GTEs?
Impulse-Reaction configuration.
Pure impulse/reaction configurations alone, are not normally used.
What is experienced at the root of the blades, in a reaction-impulse configuration?
Impulse.
What is experienced at the tip of the blades, in a reaction-impulse configuration?
Reaction.
What is the benefit of the reaction-impulse configuration?
Blade exit pressure can be held relatively constant.
How are turbine blades normally constructed?
Either forged or cast, but are normally precision cast.
Turbine blades cast as a ‘single crystal’ gives what benefits?
Better blade strength and heat properties.
What coating helps keeps the turbine blades and inlet nozzles resistant from heat?
Ceramic coating.
What is the MAIN benefit of having heat resistant turbine blades and inlet nozzles?
Allows for higher exhaust temperatures, which increases engine efficiency.