U.S. patent application number 13/775376 was filed with the patent office on 2014-08-28 for blade leading edge tip rib.
This patent application is currently assigned to PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.. The applicant listed for this patent is PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.. Invention is credited to Nicolas GRIVAS, Remo MARINI, Edward VLASIC.
Application Number | 20140241899 13/775376 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 51388347 |
Filed Date | 2014-08-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140241899 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
MARINI; Remo ; et
al. |
August 28, 2014 |
BLADE LEADING EDGE TIP RIB
Abstract
A rotor blade for a gas turbine engine includes a leading edge
tip rib projecting outwardly from an airfoil of the blade at a tip
region thereof. The tip rib continuously surrounds a leading edge
of the airfoil and extends rearwardly from the leading edge along
respective pressure and suction side surfaces to thereby alter the
blade tip leakage vortex structure and strength, resulting in a
stage efficiency benefit.
Inventors: |
MARINI; Remo; (Montreal,
CA) ; GRIVAS; Nicolas; (Dollard des Ormeaux, CA)
; VLASIC; Edward; (Beaconsfield, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.; |
|
|
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA
CORP.
Longueuil
CA
|
Family ID: |
51388347 |
Appl. No.: |
13/775376 |
Filed: |
February 25, 2013 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
416/236R |
Current CPC
Class: |
F01D 5/20 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
416/236.R |
International
Class: |
F01D 5/20 20060101
F01D005/20 |
Claims
1. A rotor blade for a gas turbine engine, comprising: an
attachment; and an airfoil defining a pressure side surface and a
suction side surface, extending between the attachment and a tip, a
base region disposed adjacent to the attachment, a tip region, and
a transition region located between the base region and the tip
region, the tip defining a chord line, and the pressure side
surface adjacent to the tip being substantially planar; and wherein
the tip region includes a tip rib projecting outwardly from the
airfoil, the tip rib continuously surrounding a leading edge of the
airfoil, extending from the leading edge rearwardly along the
respective pressure side surface and suction side surface, to
define a first axial extension on the pressure side surface and a
second axial extension on the suction side surface, each of the
first and second axial extensions being in a range between 5% and
35% of the length of the chord line immediately downstream of the
leading edge.
2. The rotor blade as defined in claim 1 wherein the tip rib has a
lateral extension in a range between 5% and 30% as thick as the
maximum airfoil thickness along the mean camber line.
3. The rotor blade as defined in claim 1 wherein the tip rib has a
lateral extension which is 25% as thick as the maximum airfoil
thickness along the mean camber line.
4. The rotor blade as defined in claim 1 wherein each of the first
and second axial extensions is 35% of the length of the chord line
immediately downstream of the leading edge.
5. The rotor blade as defined in claim 1 wherein tip rib is flush
with the tip of the airfoil.
6. The rotor blade as defined in claim 1 wherein the chord line is
substantially parallel to the pressure side surface.
7. The rotor blade as defined in claim 1 wherein a chord line
increases as the airfoil extends from the attachment to the
tip.
8. The rotor blade as defined in claim 1 wherein the first and
second axial extensions of the tip rib are equal.
9. The rotor blade as defined in claim 1 wherein the first and
second axial extensions of the tip rib are different.
10. The rotor blade as defined in claim 3 wherein the lateral
extension on the respective leading edge, pressure side surface and
suction side surface are equal.
11. The rotor blade as defined in claim 3 wherein the lateral
extension varies on the leading edge, pressure side surface and
suction side surface.
12. A gas turbine engine, comprising: a compressor section; a
combustor section; and a turbine section; wherein the turbine
section includes a plurality of rotors having a plurality of
radially disposed rotor blades, each of the rotor blades including
an attachment and an airfoil, the airfoil defining a pressure side
surface and a suction side surface, extending between the
attachment and a tip, a base region disposed adjacent to the
attachment, a tip region, and a transition region located between
the base region and the tip region, the tip region defining a chord
line and the pressure side surface in the tip region being
substantially planar; and wherein the tip region includes a tip rib
projecting outwardly from the airfoil, continuously surrounding a
leading edge of the airfoil, extending from the leading edge
rearwardly along the respective pressure side surface and suction
side surface to define a first axial extension on the pressure side
surface and a second axial extension on the suction side surface,
each of the first and second axial extensions being in a range
between 5% and 35% of the length of the chord line immediately
downstream of the leading edge.
13. The gas turbine engine as defined in claim 12 wherein the tip
rib has a lateral extension in a range between 5% and 30% as thick
as the maximum airfoil thickness along the mean camber line.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The application relates generally to gas turbine engines and
more particularly, to a rotor blade for such engines.
BACKGROUND OF THE ART
[0002] A rotor blade for a gas turbine engine typically includes an
attachment and an airfoil. The airfoil extends between the
attachment and a tip and has a concave pressure side surface, a
convex suction side surface, a leading edge and a trailing edge.
The airfoil is sized such that when it is configured within the
engine, a clearance gap is defined between the blade tip and the
surrounding static structure. Blade tip clearance for an unshrouded
turbine blade, and the resultant air flow that flows from the
pressure side surface to the suction side surface through this
space, is a significant contributor to energy loss in an axial flow
turbine stage. This "leakage" airflow mixes with the suction side
airflow to form a vortex. The vortex disburses, causing relatively
significant flow disturbances along most of the suction side
surface. The cumulative result of these flow disturbances is a
reduction in engine efficiency. Therefore, it is a challenging task
to disrupt, block and/or reduce the leakage flow in order to
mitigate the resultant damaging effects.
[0003] Accordingly, there is a need for an improved rotor blade
configuration to reduce tip gap flow leakage.
SUMMARY
[0004] In one aspect, there is provided a rotor blade for a gas
turbine engine, comprising: an attachment; an airfoil defining a
pressure side surface and a suction side surface, extending between
the attachment and a tip, a base region disposed adjacent to the
attachment, a tip region, and a transition region located between
the base region and the tip region, the tip defining a chord line,
and the pressure side surface adjacent to the tip being
substantially planar; and wherein the tip region includes a tip rib
projecting outwardly from the airfoil, the tip rib continuously
surrounding a leading edge of the airfoil, extending from the
leading edge rearwardly along the respective pressure side surface
and suction side surface, to define a first axial extension on the
pressure side surface and a second axial extension on the suction
side surface, each of the first and second axial extensions being
in a range between 5% and 35% of the length of the chord line
immediately downstream of the leading edge.
[0005] In another aspect, there is provided a gas turbine engine,
comprising: a compressor section; a combustor section; and a
turbine section; wherein the turbine section includes a plurality
of rotors having a plurality of radially disposed rotor blades,
each of the rotor blades including an attachment and an airfoil,
the airfoil defining a pressure side surface and a suction side
surface, extending between the attachment and a tip, a base region
disposed adjacent to the attachment, a tip region, and a transition
region located between the base region and the tip region, the tip
region defining a chord line, and the pressure side surface in the
tip region being substantially planar; and wherein the tip region
includes a tip rib projecting outwardly from the airfoil,
continuously surrounding a leading edge of the airfoil, extending
from the leading edge rearwardly along the respective pressure side
surface and suction side surface to define a first axial extension
on the pressure side surface and a second axial extension on the
suction side surface, each of the first and second axial extensions
being in a range between 5% and 35% of the length of the chord line
immediately downstream of the leading edge.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] Reference is now made to the accompanying figures in
which:
[0007] FIG. 1 is a partial schematic side cross-sectional view of a
gas turbine engine, illustrating an example of the application of
the described subject matter;
[0008] FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a rotor blade for the
gas turbine engine in FIG. 1;
[0009] FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a cross-sectional
slice of the airfoil of the rotor blade of FIG. 2;
[0010] FIG. 4 is a partial schematic front elevational view of the
rotor blade of FIG. 2; and
[0011] FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a tip of the rotor blade of
FIG. 2.
[0012] It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like
features are identified by like reference numerals.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates a turbofan gas turbine engine according
to one embodiment. The engine includes a housing or nacelle 10, a
core casing 13, a low pressure spool assembly (not numbered) which
includes a fan rotor 14, a low pressure compressor assembly 16 and
a low pressure turbine assembly 18 connected by a shaft 12, and a
high pressure spool assembly (not numbered) which includes a high
pressure compressor assembly 22 and a high pressure turbine
assembly 24 connected by a turbine shaft 20. The housing or nacelle
10 surrounds the core casing 13 and in combination with the housing
10 and the core casing 13, defines an annular bypass duct 28 for
directing a bypass flow. The core casing 13 surrounds the low and
high pressure spool assemblies to define a core fluid path 30
therethrough. In the core fluid path 30 there is provided a
combustor 26 to form a combustion gas generator assembly which
generates combustion gases in order to power the high pressure
turbine assembly 24 and the low pressure turbine assembly 18. The
engine therefore defines in series a compressor section (not
numbered), a combustor section (not numbered) and a turbine section
(not numbered). Low and high pressure compressor assemblies 16, 22
in the compressor section and the high and low pressure turbine
assemblies 18, 24 in the turbine section, each include a plurality
of radially disposed rotor blades 32 attached to a rotor disc. The
radially disposed rotor blades 32 are rotatable along a
longitudinally extending axis 33 of the engine.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of one embodiment of the
rotor blade 32 for use, for example in the high pressure turbine
assembly 24 of the gas turbine engine. The rotor blade 32 includes
an attachment 34, a platform 35, and an airfoil 36. Some
embodiments of the rotor blade 32 may not include the platform 35.
To simplify the description herein, the attachment 34 may be
considered to include the platform 35 for purpose of defining the
beginning of the airfoil 36. The rotor blade attachment 34 is
adapted to be received within a slot disposed within the rotor
disc. Rotor blade attachments are well known in the art and will
not be described herein. The described subject matter is not
limited to any particular attachment configuration.
[0015] The airfoil 36 has a leading edge 38, a trailing edge 40, a
pressure side or pressure side surface 42, and a suction side or
suction side surface 44. The pressure side surface 42 and the
suction side surface 44 extend radially between the attachment 34
(including the platform 35) and a tip 46. The airfoil 36 includes a
base region 50, disposed adjacent to the attachment 34, a tip
region 54 disposed adjacent to the tip 46 and a transition region
52 disposed between the base region 50 and the tip region 54. For
convenience of description, the base region 50 may be defined
between a first end 60 and a second end 62 thereof. The first end
60 of the base region 52 is located at a cross-sectional "slice" of
the airfoil 36 where the base region 50 abuts the attachment 34.
The second end 62 of the base region 52 is located at a
cross-sectional "slice" of the airfoil 36 where the base region 50
abuts the transition region 52. The transition region 52 is defined
between a first end 62a and a second end 64 thereof. The first end
62a of the transition region 52 is located at the same
cross-sectional "slice" of the airfoil 36 as the second end 62 of
the base region 50. The second end 64 of the transition region 52
is located at a cross-sectional "slice" of the airfoil 36 where the
transition region 52 abuts the tip region 54. The tip region 54 is
defined between a first end 64a and a second end 66 thereof. The
first end 64a of the tip region 54 is located at the same
cross-sectional "slice" of the airfoil 36 as the second end 64 of
the transition region 52. The second end 66 of the tip region 54 is
located at the tip 46 of the airfoil 36.
[0016] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the cross-sectional
"slices" of the airfoil 36 of FIG. 2, forming the respective ends
defining the base, transition and tip regions 50, 52 and 54.
Stagger angles 56, 56a, 56b and 56c in the respective
cross-sectional "slices" are defined as the angle between a
respective chord line 48, 48a, 48b or 48c of the airfoil 36 and an
axis (e.g. the longitudinally extending axis 33 of the gas turbine
engine, etc.). In accordance with one embodiment the stagger angle
may increase in a direction defined by a line (not shown) beginning
at the attachment 34 and extending along the span of the airfoil 36
toward the tip 46. In one embodiment the chord lines of the airfoil
36 such as indicated by 48, 48a, 48b or 48c as well as their
related stagger angles 56, 56a, 56b and 56c, may increase as the
airfoil extends from the attachment 34 to the tip 46. A maximum
camber line thickness of the airfoil 36 is measured by the maximum
distance between a "mean camber line" 69, 69a, 69b or 69c and the
corresponding chord line 48, 48a, 48b or 48c, and is indicated by
respective arrows 68, 68a, 68b, 68c. FIG. 3 illustrates that the
maximum camber line airfoil thickness may vary along the airfoil
span from the cross-sectional "slice" representing the first end 60
of the base region 50, to the cross-sectional slice representing
the second end 66 of the tip region 54, such as by decreasing. The
pressure side surface 42 adjacent to the tip 46 may be
substantially planar or may be substantially parallel to the chord
line 48c defined in the tip 46.
[0017] The embodiment of the airfoil 32 as above-described is
similar to the rotor blade described in US Patent Publication
2011/0135482 A1, published on Jun. 9, 2011 which is incorporated by
reference herein. The rotor blade as above-described is a rotor
blade with very low or no camber at the tip or a rotor blade having
a substantially un-cambered symmetrical airfoil tip. The difference
between the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 and the rotor
blade described in US 2011/0135482 A1 lies in that the rotor blade
32 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 includes a novel feature of a blade
leading edge tip rib 70.
[0018] Shrouded blade tips with fins are used to counter the blade
tip clearance leakage however, this is not feasible for high
pressure turbines. For an un-shrouded blade tip in high pressure
turbines, various winglet configurations on the pressure and
suction sides have been studied. The pull-stress created by the
actual weight of the winglet configurations has been shown to be a
drawback to its use in actual aero engines. It is even more
challenging and has not been attempted, to provide a suitable
winglet design for a blade with a very low or no camber at the tip.
However, it has been found by computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
analysis on a specific blade design, such as the airfoil 36
described above, that a mini-winglet at the leading edge, referred
to herein as a leading edge tip rib 70, smoothly blended on the
pressure and suction side surfaces 42, 44, has shown to provide up
to 80% of the improvement in stage efficiency with respect to a
full tip rib (not shown) which encompasses the leading edge,
pressure and suction side surfaces and trailing edge. Thus, most of
the benefit is obtained for the leading edge tip rib 70 with
minimum increase in pull-stress at the blade tip 46 and low impact
on modal frequencies.
[0019] In accordance with one embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4
and 5, the rotor blade 32 may have a specific highly loaded and
front-loaded airfoil tip loading distribution. The front-loaded
airfoil tip loading footprint is that the minimum pressure may
occur between 5% and 20% axial chord on the suction side surface 44
when the leading edge tip rib 70 is not incorporated with the
airfoil 36. The tip region 54 may include the leading edge tip rib
70 projecting outwardly from the airfoil 36, continuously
surrounding the leading edge 38 of the airfoil 36 and extending
from the leading edge 38 rearwardly along the respective pressure
side surface 42 and suction side surface 44 to define a first axial
extension 72 on the pressure side surface 42 and a second axial
extension 74 on the suction side surface 44. The leading edge tip
rib 70 in the tip region 54, for example may be flush with the tip
46 of the airfoil 36 and smoothly blended along the pressure and
suction side surfaces 42 and 44, for example by a suitable casting
requirement fillet 76. In some embodiments the leading edge tip rib
70 may have a lateral extension indicated for example by arrows 78,
which may or may not be equal one to another on the leading edge
38, pressure and suction side surfaces 42, 44. The axial extension
72 and 74 of the leading edge tip rib 70 on the respective pressure
and suction side surfaces 42, 44 may or may not be equal to each
other. However, equal lateral and equal axial extents may be
required from a structural point of view. The lateral extension 78
and the axial extensions 72, 74 of the leading edge tip rib 70 may
be selected depending on the blade pressure loading distribution
and thus tend to be an optimization for a particular blade
design.
[0020] In one embodiment of the rotor blade 32 the dimension for
the lateral extension 78 may be selected between a range of 5% and
30% as thick as the maximum airfoil thickness 75 along the mean
camber line 69c at the tip 46 (the preferred embodiment was 25%).
The dimensions for the axial extension 72 or 74 of the leading edge
tip rib 70 may be selected in a range of 5% and 35% of the length
of the chord line immediately downstream of the leading edge 38.
Diminishing returns in stage efficiency gains have been shown
outside these ranges and thus, optimum results are obtained with a
minimum leading edge tip rib in size and weight that can lend
itself applicable to high pressure turbines within structural
limitations. The previous assertion assumed smooth blending of the
axial extension 72 or 74 of the leading edge tip rib 70. Without
smooth axial blending, the first axial extension 72 on the pressure
side surface 42 would be up to a range between 5% and 10% and the
axial extension 74 on the suction side surface 44 would be up to a
range between 5% to 20% of the length of the chord line, both
normal to the airfoil walls, but this would be difficult to cast as
a blade shape and maintain structural integrity when being ground
for final blade tip radius at assembly. With the optimized leading
edge tip rib 70, the pass resistance for the leakage of fluid as it
migrates from the pressure side surface to the suction side surface
and from the leading edge to the suction side surface, is
increased, thus altering the blade tip leakage vortex structure and
strength. The latter leads to a stage efficiency benefit.
[0021] The above description is meant to be exemplary only, and one
skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made to the
embodiments described without departing from the scope of the
described subject matter. Still other modifications will be
apparent to those skilled in the art, in light of a review of this
disclosure and such modifications are intended to fall within the
appended claims.
* * * * *