Effects of Non-Equilibrium Condensation on Deviation Angle and Performance Losses in Wet Steam Turbines

In this paper, effects of non-equilibrium condensation on deviation angle and performance losses of wet stages of steam turbines are investigated. The AUSM-van Leer hybrid scheme is used to solve the two-phase turbulent transonic steam flow around a turbine rotor tip section. The dominant solver of the computational domain is the non-diffusive AUSM scheme (1993), while a smooth transition from AUSM in regions with large gradients (e.g. in and around condensation- and aerodynamic-shocks) to the diffusive scheme by van Leer (1979) guarantees a robust hybrid scheme throughout the domain. The steam is assumed to obey nonequilibrium thermodynamic model, in which abrupt formation of liquid droplets produces a condensation shock. To validate the results, the experimental data by Bakhtar et al. (1995) has been used. It is observed that as a result of condensation, the aerothermodymics of the flow field changes. For example for supersonic wet case with back pressure Pb=30 kPa, the deviation angle and total pressure loss coefficient change by 65% and 200%, respectively, with respect to that in dry case.