A theoretical approach for calculating the movement of liquid water following deposition onto a turbomachine rotor blade is described. Such a situation can occur during operation of an aero-engine in rain. The equation of motion of the deposited water is developed on an arbitrarily oriented plane triangular surface facet. By dividing the blade surface into a large number of facets and calculating the water trajectory over each one crossed in turn, the overall trajectory can be constructed. Apart from the centrifugal and Coriolis inertia effects, the forces acting on the water arise from the blade surface friction, and the aerodynamic shear and pressure gradient. Nondimensionalization of the equations of motion provides considerable insight and a detailed study of water flow on a flat rotating plate set at different stagger angles demonstrates the paramount importance of blade surface friction. The extreme cases of low and high blade friction are examined and it is concluded that the latter (which allows considerable mathematical generalization) is the most likely in practice. It is also shown that the aerodynamic shear force, but not the pressure force, may influence the water motion. Calculations of water movement on a low-speed compressor blade and the fan blade of a high bypass ratio aero-engine suggest that in low rotational speed situations most of the deposited water is centrifuged rapidly to the blade tip region.
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April 2007
Technical Papers
Movement of Deposited Water on Turbomachinery Rotor Blade Surfaces
John Williams,
John Williams
Department of Engineering Science,
e-mail: john.williams@eng.ox.ac.uk
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK and Whittle Laboratory, Cambridge University Engineering Department, Cambridge University
, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
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John B. Young
John B. Young
Hopkinson Laboratory, Cambridge University Engineering Department,
e-mail: jby@eng.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge University
, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
Search for other works by this author on:
John Williams
Department of Engineering Science,
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK and Whittle Laboratory, Cambridge University Engineering Department, Cambridge University
, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UKe-mail: john.williams@eng.ox.ac.uk
John B. Young
Hopkinson Laboratory, Cambridge University Engineering Department,
Cambridge University
, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UKe-mail: jby@eng.cam.ac.uk
J. Turbomach. Apr 2007, 129(2): 394-403 (10 pages)
Published Online: June 16, 2006
Article history
Received:
May 29, 2006
Revised:
June 16, 2006
Citation
Williams, J., and Young, J. B. (June 16, 2006). "Movement of Deposited Water on Turbomachinery Rotor Blade Surfaces." ASME. J. Turbomach. April 2007; 129(2): 394–403. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2437780
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