The Influence of Leading-Edge Geometry on Secondary Losses in a Turbine Cascade at the Design Incidence

The paper presents detailed experimental results of the secondary flows from two large-scale, low-speed linear turbine cascades. The aerofoils for the two cascades were designed for the same inlet and outlet conditions and differ mainly in their leading-edge geometries. Detailed flow field measurements were made upstream and downstream of the cascades using three and seven-hole pressure probes and static pressure distributions were measured on the aerofoil surfaces. All measurements were made exclusively at the design incidence. The results from this experiment suggest that the strength of the passage vortex plays an important role in the downstream flow field and loss behavior. It was concluded that the aerofoil loading distribution has a significant influence on the strength of this vortex. In contrast, the leading-edge geometry appears to have only a minor influence on the secondary flow field, at least for the design incidence.