Performing Member Contact:

Professor Ralph J. Volino

U.S. Naval Academy
Mechanical Engineering Department
590 Holloway Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
410-293-6520/FAX-410-293-3041
volino@usna.edu

• Aerodynamics, Heat Transfer, Endwall Flows

• Aerodynamics, Heat Transfer, Endwall Flows, Film Cooling

• Two Open Return Wind Tunnels, One Closed Loop Wind Tunnell

U.S. Naval Academy

Research at the Naval Academy has included several studies related to gas turbine engines in the recent past. Interest are in turbine aerodynamics and heat transfer and have included detailed measurements to improve understanding of existing flows and test new concepts for reducing aerodynamic losses and improved cooling. Included have been a study of endwall flow modification in the passage between two airfoils and a study of the effect of concave curvature on boundary layer transition under high freestream turbulence conditions.

A current study involved boundary layer separation, transition and reattachment on suction side of low pressure turbine airfoils. This study began with documentation of the flow over a wide range of Reynolds numbers under both high and low freestream turbulence conditions. This has been followed by studies including both active and passive flow control to limit separation. The active control has been with synthetic vortex generator jets. The passive control utilizes various two and three dimensional devices to romote earlier transition and reattachment.

The most recent initiative involved unsteady film cooling. Flows are documented with film cooling jets subject to periodic wakes generated by upstream bars. The effects of jet pulsation on film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer are also under study.

Available facilities include three low speed wind tunnels. Two of these are open return tunnels and ahve been used with single turbine blade passage and flat plate test sections. The third tunnel is a closed loop facility with a corner test section for a turbine cascade. The corner test section has full optical access.

Instrumentation includes hot-wire anemometry, a three component LDV system and a stereo PIV system for velocity measurement. Instrumentation for temperature measurements includes an infrared camera as well as constant current (cold-wire) anemometry.