Momentum differences between the neighboring streamlines at the end wall/primary flow interaction region of an axial turbine stage induce three-dimensional vortical flow structures, such as the leading edge horseshoe vortex, resulting in significant aerodynamic performance deterioration. Reducing the effect of such flow instabilities requires turbine blade modification to discourage boundary layer roll-up, but traditional structural modification design systems can be prohibitively complex and time-intensive.
To address this problem, this study contributes a blade modification method involving airfoil shape optimization, designed to adjust the leading edge airfoil shape in horseshoe vortex-affected turbine applications. The key insight is that airfoil design (treated as a blunt body) does not consider incoming flow possessing various layers with different momentum, and two-dimensional total pressure and temperature radial distributions are unrealistic; the hub and tip sections operate at off-design-like conditions, i.e., the velocity triangles are unrepresentative of actual boundary conditions. This airfoil shape optimization approach utilizes actual incoming span-wise boundary conditions, obtained from 3D CFD, to establish new velocity triangles at the hub and tip regions, and to redesign the corresponding airfoil sections in light of the newly acquired triangles.
The presented results from a 1.5-stage axial turbine simulation demonstrate that adapting rotor blade hub and tip sections to the incoming radial flow distribution can significantly diminish the rotor passage and horseshoe vortices and can considerably improve overall rotor blade efficiency.
","abstract_html":"<p>Momentum differences between the neighboring streamlines at the end wall/primary flow interaction region of an axial turbine stage induce three-dimensional vortical flow structures, such as the leading edge horseshoe vortex, resulting in significant aerodynamic performance deterioration. Reducing the effect of such flow instabilities requires turbine blade modification to discourage boundary layer roll-up, but traditional structural modification design systems can be prohibitively complex and time-intensive.</p> <p>To address this problem, this study contributes a blade modification method involving airfoil shape optimization, designed to adjust the leading edge airfoil shape in horseshoe vortex-affected turbine applications. The key insight is that airfoil design (treated as a blunt body) does not consider incoming flow possessing various layers with different momentum, and two-dimensional total pressure and temperature radial distributions are unrealistic; the hub and tip sections operate at off-design-like conditions, i.e., the velocity triangles are unrepresentative of actual boundary conditions. This airfoil shape optimization approach utilizes actual incoming span-wise boundary conditions, obtained from 3D CFD, to establish new velocity triangles at the hub and tip regions, and to redesign the corresponding airfoil sections in light of the newly acquired triangles.</p> <p>The presented results from a 1.5-stage axial turbine simulation demonstrate that adapting rotor blade hub and tip sections to the incoming radial flow distribution can significantly diminish the rotor passage and horseshoe vortices and can considerably improve overall rotor blade efficiency.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Shulman, Vladislav"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering","degree_level":"Thesis - Open Access","degree_discipline":"Aerospace Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-04-22T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-04-22T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:26:08Z","subjects":["velocity","axial turbines","horseshoe vortex","Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics","Aerospace Engineering"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.erau.edu/edt/183","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Shulman, Vladislav"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aerospace Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - Open Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["velocity","axial turbines","horseshoe vortex","Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics","Aerospace Engineering"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.erau.edu/edt/183"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Momentum differences between the neighboring streamlines at the end wall/primary flow interaction region of an axial turbine stage induce three-dimensional vortical flow structures, such as the leading edge horseshoe vortex, resulting in significant aerodynamic performance deterioration. Reducing the effect of such flow instabilities requires turbine blade modification to discourage boundary layer roll-up, but traditional structural modification design systems can be prohibitively complex and time-intensive.
To address this problem, this study contributes a blade modification method involving airfoil shape optimization, designed to adjust the leading edge airfoil shape in horseshoe vortex-affected turbine applications. The key insight is that airfoil design (treated as a blunt body) does not consider incoming flow possessing various layers with different momentum, and two-dimensional total pressure and temperature radial distributions are unrealistic; the hub and tip sections operate at off-design-like conditions, i.e., the velocity triangles are unrepresentative of actual boundary conditions. This airfoil shape optimization approach utilizes actual incoming span-wise boundary conditions, obtained from 3D CFD, to establish new velocity triangles at the hub and tip regions, and to redesign the corresponding airfoil sections in light of the newly acquired triangles.
The presented results from a 1.5-stage axial turbine simulation demonstrate that adapting rotor blade hub and tip sections to the incoming radial flow distribution can significantly diminish the rotor passage and horseshoe vortices and can considerably improve overall rotor blade efficiency.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Performance Improvement through Velocity Triangle Optimization-Driven Redesign for Mitigating the Horseshoe Vortex in Axial Turbines"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Shulman, Vladislav"],"dc:description.abstract":["Momentum differences between the neighboring streamlines at the end wall/primary flow interaction region of an axial turbine stage induce three-dimensional vortical flow structures, such as the leading edge horseshoe vortex, resulting in significant aerodynamic performance deterioration. Reducing the effect of such flow instabilities requires turbine blade modification to discourage boundary layer roll-up, but traditional structural modification design systems can be prohibitively complex and time-intensive.
To address this problem, this study contributes a blade modification method involving airfoil shape optimization, designed to adjust the leading edge airfoil shape in horseshoe vortex-affected turbine applications. The key insight is that airfoil design (treated as a blunt body) does not consider incoming flow possessing various layers with different momentum, and two-dimensional total pressure and temperature radial distributions are unrealistic; the hub and tip sections operate at off-design-like conditions, i.e., the velocity triangles are unrepresentative of actual boundary conditions. This airfoil shape optimization approach utilizes actual incoming span-wise boundary conditions, obtained from 3D CFD, to establish new velocity triangles at the hub and tip regions, and to redesign the corresponding airfoil sections in light of the newly acquired triangles.
The presented results from a 1.5-stage axial turbine simulation demonstrate that adapting rotor blade hub and tip sections to the incoming radial flow distribution can significantly diminish the rotor passage and horseshoe vortices and can considerably improve overall rotor blade efficiency.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.erau.edu/edt/183"],"dc:subject":["velocity","axial turbines","horseshoe vortex","Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics","Aerospace Engineering"],"dc:title":["Performance Improvement through Velocity Triangle Optimization-Driven Redesign for Mitigating the Horseshoe Vortex in Axial Turbines"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Aerospace Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - Open Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:26:08Z"}