Wake Flow Structure of a Seal-Whisker-Inspired Power Turbine Blade
Robert Ahlman, Curtis Flack, Vikram Shyam, Wei Zhang
Abstract
One of the key challenges in aerospace is continuously improving engine efficiency and reducing fuel consumption of planes. Biomimicry (or biomimetics) can be a viable solution which aims to design and renovate engineering components and systems to emulate the performance of living systems or their constructs, especially when an organism’s performance exceeds human-engineered technologies. Studies of hydrodynamics of seal whiskers have evidenced desirable flow performance in drag reduction and suppression of vortex-induced vibrations, solely due to their unique three-dimensional undulating morphology. The application of seal-whisker-like geometry to power turbine blades by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) shows promising results in improving aerodynamic performance. However, limited experimental results are available to quantify the detailed wake structure under the effects of the undulating seal-whisker-like geometry. This study aims to examine the wake flow generated by a seal-whisker-inspired variable speed power turbine (VSPT) blade in a water tunnel, compared against a baseline original VSPT blade. Results will be used, not only to guide the design of power turbine blades, but also to inform a wide variety of other aerodynamic applications.