Improved clearance designs to minimize aerodynamic losses in a variable geometry turbine vane cascade

Variable geometry turbine exists in small mobile gas turbines or some marine gas turbines to enhance the part-load performance. However, there are efficiency penalties associated with the vane partial gap, which is needed for the movement of variable vanes. This paper investigates the vane-end clearance leakage flow for a flat tip, a cavity tip, a winglet tip, a tip with passive injection, and a cavity-winglet tip to assess the possibility of minimizing vane-end clearance losses in a variable geometry turbine cascade. First, calculations were done at the test rig conditions for comparison with measured data, and they were used for validation of computational fluid dynamics model. Then, numerical calculations were done for turbine typical conditions. Specific flow structures of the various clearance designs of variable vanes are described, and then the effects of vane turning, including exit Mach numbers of 0.34, 0.44, and 0.54 as well as turning angles of –6°, 0°, and 6° on total pressure losses and outflow yaw angle for different vane tips are shown. In addition, the sensitivity of aerodynamic losses to vane tip gap height is evaluated. Results show that the strong interactions near the tip endwall region change the near-tip loading distribution significantly. With winglet and cavity-winglet tip designs, the loading distribution becomes very similar to the typical fixed vane, and the total loading is reduced, thus reducing the vane-end losses. Among the different vane tips presented, the cavity-winglet tip achieves the best aerodynamic performance, and the cavity tip has the lowest sensitivity to vane tip gap height. Overall, the cavity-winglet tip is found to be the best choice for variable vanes. The research results can provide useful reference for the vane design in a real high endwall-angle variable geometry turbine.