Computational Study of a Two-Passage Turbine Guide-Vane Cascade with End-Wall Contouring

CFD simulations based on the ensemble-averaged compressible Navier-Stokes equations, closed by two different turbulence models - the standard k-ε model with wall functions and the two-layer model of Chen and Patel - were performed to guide the design of a two-passage experimental setup, which models a linear cascade by using only three airfoils. Results generated show that the angle of the tailboards can be adjusted to give the same flow rates through the two passages. Results also show that once the flow rates are nearly the same, the pressure distributions become nearly periodic, indicating that the two-passage experimental setup does indeed mimic a linear cascade. The discrepancies between the two-passage experimental setup and a truly periodic linear cascade include the location of the stagnation zone about the airfoil's leading edge and the shape of the pressure distribution in the trailing-edge region.