Original Article

Proc IMechE Part C:

J Mechanical Engineering Science
Advances in axial turbine blade profile 0(0) 1–18
! IMechE 2020

aerodynamics Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0954406220936316
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Jie Gao1,2,3 , Dongchen Huo1, Guojie Wang1 and Guojun Ma1

Abstract
The aerodynamic performance of axial turbines depends significantly on profile losses, secondary flow losses, and
clearance gap losses of vanes and blades. In modern high-efficiency turbomachinery operating at various working con-
ditions, profile losses are very important criteria for the development of vanes and blades, and turbine designers strive to
minimize the losses, based on better understandings of flow and loss characteristics at various working conditions. This
paper summarizes recent advances in the field of turbine blade profile aerodynamics, and covers: (1) flow and loss
characteristics of blade profiles, (2) flow structure and loss mechanism for transonic blade profiles, (3) off-design per-
formance, (4) flow control, (5) design and optimization, (6) engineering design considerations, and (7) research methods
of blade profile aerodynamics. The emphasis is placed on flow characteristics and loss control methods, and present
insights regarding the current research trends and the prospects for future developments.

Keywords
Turbine blade profile, boundary layer separation, transition effect, wake passing effects, profile loss, shock waves,
off-design performance, flow control, design optimization, aerodynamics

Date received: 12 March 2020; accepted: 31 May 2020

Introduction Based on better understandings of turbine blade

The enhancement of engine efficiency to reduce global
fuel consumption relies on aerodynamics of turbine
components requiring further improvement in blade
profile losses, secondary flow losses and clearance gap
losses. In modern high-efficiency turbines operating at
various working conditions, the profile loss is one of
very important criteria to development of highly
loaded vanes and blades.1 These highly loaded vanes
and blades are characterized by high suction side vel-
ocity peak followed by a considerable flow diffusion.
Therefore, the strong adverse pressure gradient is
likely to cause blade suction side boundary layer sep-
aration, particularly under low working conditions,
leading to significant increase in profile loss and
drop in efficiency.2 In addition, as the blade loading
increases, compressibility gradually becomes an influ-
encing factor that holds back further aerodynamic
performance improvement. When turbine exit Mach
numbers are increased above a certain threshold
dependent on the blade loading, the flow loss
increases rapidly due to the effects of shocks and asso-
ciated issues.3 Therefore, decreasing the blade profile
losses in modern highly loaded turbines for turboma-
chinery is a continuing engineering challenge, due to
the ongoing drive for increased efficiency.
profile flow and loss characteristics at various working
conditions, a turbine designer tries his best to minim-
ize the losses by means of design modifications and
geometrical influences for the turbomachinery. The
loss characteristics are influenced by different aero-
dynamic factors, Reynolds number, periodic
upstream wakes, inlet freestream turbulence in add-
ition to some geometrical parameters of blade profiles
including leading and trailing edge diameters, solidity,
roughness, etc.1,4 Therefore, many numerical and
experimental investigations have been conducted on
a wide variety of turbine blade profiles to deeply clar-
ify the gas flow and loss mechanisms at design and
1
College of Power and Energy Engineering, Harbin Engineering
University, Harbin, China
2
Center for Post-Doctoral Studies, Chongqing University, Chongqing,
China
3
Center for Post-Doctoral Research, Chongqing Jiangjin Shipbuilding
Industry Co., Ltd, Chongqing, China
Corresponding author:
Jie Gao, Harbin Engineering University, 145#, Nantong Street, Harbin
150001, China.
Email: gaojie_d@hrbeu.edu.cn
2 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
off-design conditions, and then explore profile loss
control methods and design methods, etc.
The recent advances in the field of turbine blade pro-
file aerodynamics for turbomachinery were discussed
below, which contains seven sections. Emphasis in the
discussion is placed on flow characteristics and loss con-
trol methods on turbine blade profiles, and insights
regarding the current research trends and the prospects
for future developments are also presented.
Flow and loss characteristics of turbine
blade profiles
In order to take measures to improve the blade profile
aerodynamic performance, flow, and loss characteris-
tics need to be clarified first. So, this section focuses
on the description and analysis of the turbine blade
profile aerodynamic characteristics, which is divided
into four parts, including inlet turbulence effects, tran-
sition effects, wake passing effects, and profile loss
prediction.
Effects of inlet turbulence on boundary layer
High-fidelity numerical calculations and particle image
velocimetry (PIV) experimental techniques have been
used to analyze the refined flow fields developing on a
high-performance turbine blade profile running at
various working conditions. Pichler et al.2 investigated
numerically the influence of inflow turbulence intensity
on the blade boundary layers, adopting highly
resolved large-Eddy simulations (LES) coupled with
the wall-adapting local Eddy Subgrid Scale model,
show that the blade suction side boundary layer tran-
sition location is much sensitive to both length scale
and turbulence intensity, and the flow transition pro-
cess is very intermittent and local. In the meantime,
Lengani and Simoni5 carried out experimental and
theoretical investigations of coherent flow structures
in the blade boundary layer at different inlet turbu-
lence intensities. The reported results can be used to
investigate the flow dynamics causing transition and
separation of blade suction side boundary layer.
Based on the understanding of turbine boundary
layer flow fields, Brachmanski and Niehuis4 investi-
gated the flow field characteristics with correlation of
the blade profile parameters. The results show that
important variation of inlet turbulence intensity
causes the shift of location of blade profile maximum
Mach number, and the optimum total-pressure loss
depends on the Reynolds number, and thus a correl-
ation between the suction side maximum Mach
number and the total-pressure loss has been established
which has also been confirmed by Michalek et al.6
Transition effects on blade profile loss
Because a great deal of the blade profile loss occurs on
the suction side and linked to boundary layer state, it
is necessary to clarify where the flow transition occurs.
Based on this reason, it is interesting to improve blade
profile loss prediction by the accurate determination
of the boundary layer transition.
Minot et al.7 and Collison et al.8 conducted the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) numerical
calculations with flow transition model about the
transition effects on the blade profile, and results
show that the best overall compromise between
trends and precision is obtained by means of the
adopted Langtry’s correlation for the transition
Reynolds number. Graveline and Sjolander9,10 carried
out a spectral study of a moderately loaded low-
pressure turbine profile, and a spectral analysis of
the data identifies two sets of wide peaks of turbulent
kinetic energy, one near 200 Hz and a second near
1 kHz. Furthermore, a method was developed to iden-
tify these peaks based on a combination of empirical
relations between the boundary layer thickness and
flow velocity and on the location of the frequency
peaks relative to the state of the free shear layer as
it transitions from laminar to turbulent. The above
method suggests the presence of Kelvin–Helmholtz
instabilities and Tollmien–Schlichting waves, and
the results show that the location and frequencies in
the shear layer of the above waves and instabilities are
affected by both turbulence intensity and Reynolds
number. Recently, Marty11 and Segui et al.12 have
adopted LES methods to investigate the boundary
layer transition characteristics, so as to predict the
separation bubble without any transition modeling,
and the results prove that the numerical method is
able to predict the separation bubble over the highly
loaded turbine blade and to identify the Kelvin–
Helmholtz instability that is the reason of the transi-
tion mechanisms. However, even though many inves-
tigations examine the flow behavior, the detailed flow
physics for the unsteady transition phenomena have
been not understood fully.
In addition, some researchers have conducted
experimental investigations about the blade suction-
side transition effects, and the initial investigations
were carried out based on the flat-plate experiments.
Coull and Hodson13 and Simoni et al.14 experimen-
tally investigated the boundary layer separation, shear
layer transition, and reattachment on the flat plate.
The results indicate that the flat plate boundary
layer flow transition is promoted by both the streaks
and the inherent inflectional instability of separation
bubbles, and the distinct energy peaks are generated
in the shear layer over the laminar separation bubble
appearing in the spectra.
Since the boundary layer transition from laminar
flow to turbulent flow plays an important role in the
loss generation on blade profiles, it is much needed to
know the accurate transition location. Stotz et al.15
investigated the turbine blade suction side transition
process with a convenient design method to decide the
dynamic pressure close to the blade profile suction
Gao et al.
side adopting a Preston probe (Figure 1), and the
results show that this test method is very appropriate
to decide both the transition start&end and the sep-
aration&reattachment point, as long as the probe
height is small enough opposite to the boundary
layer thickness. In addition, Gomes et al.16 carried
out the tests of the near suction side wall flow using
hot-film anemometry on a turbine linear cascade, and
the analyses of the near-wall flow prove that the by-
pass transition (Figure 2) can be triggered by various
influences and that the flow differences will occur at
actual engine working conditions.
Wake passing effects upon aerodynamics of
turbine blade profiles
The flow rotating of turbomachinery blades is inher-
ently unsteady, because the relative motion between
vanes and blades induces both viscous interaction and
potential flow. Under these circumstances, the
unsteady wake migration induces significant
Figure 1. Determination of separation from the profile
pressure distribution.15
Figure 2. Typical histograms of the voltage deviation for
laminar, transitional and turbulent boundary layer flow.16
3
influences on the turbine blade boundary layer
flows, and thus strong influences on loss-generation
mechanisms.
Nagabhushana et al.17 numerically investigated the
flat plate transition of a separated shear layer with the
effects of periodic upstream wakes, using LES.
Results indicated that stronger ‘‘Klebanoff streaks’’
are generated in the presence of periodic wakes as
compared with the streaks due to free-stream turbu-
lence alone; these streaks promote much early transi-
tion; the weak Klebanoff streaks due to free-stream
turbulence continue to trigger transition in between
the wake passing cycles; so did numerical investiga-
tions by Li and Zheng.18 Then, the PIV measurements
have been analyzed by Davide et al.,19 in order to
characterize the flow dynamics of coherent structures
(eddies and streaks) within the suction side boundary
layer of a low-pressure turbine cascade perturbed by
impinging wakes.
Since the wake characteristics inside the turbine
blade passage is affected by the turbine pressure
fields, the profile for the blade loading is expected to
influence the blade wake dynamics inside the turbine
blade passage, and therefore to affect the turbine
blade profile losses. Experimental investigation by
Luymes et al.20 indicates that the upstream region
pressure field in the front-loaded blade designs is
thought to cause high-magnitude strain rates, thus
leading to increased turbulence kinetic energy as
well as mixing related losses; the higher wake turbu-
lence kinetic energy in the upstream passage for front-
loaded blades is thought the cause for increased total
pressure losses.
Based on the full understanding of the flow inter-
action of the upstream wakes with the blade suction
side boundary layer in the presence of separation bub-
bles, some researchers carried out studies on its
unsteady effects on the loss characteristics and aero-
dynamic performance for turbine profiles.
Investigations by Funazaki et al.21 were used to clarify
the influence of wakes upon the profile loss of the
cascade with flow separation on the profile suction
side. The results (Figure 3) indicate that the normal-
ized loss coefficients for the lowest solidity case varied
slightly with the Strouhal number, remaining to be
nearly the same level of design value; this means a
favorable aspect of the wake passing in terms of loss
control, although more investigations should be
devoted to the accurate evaluation of wake losses in
order to elucidate the influences of wake passing upon
the profile loss.
More recently, Funazaki et al.22 and Simoni et al.23
have conducted parametric investigations on the aero-
dynamic losses of various types of turbine blade pro-
files for different incoming wake parameters. The
numerical and experimental results have indicated
that the wake passing is effective in the suppression
of the blade suction side separation bubble, whereas
the upstream wakes are associated with additional
4 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Figure 3. Contours of calculated (upper) and experimental (lower) shape factors on the space-time diagrams.21
losses in the blade-to-blade passage, causing the
increase in the cascade loss with Strouhal number.
In addition, the total pressure loss distributions sig-
nificantly indicate that more the wake is mixed at the
cascade entrance, smaller the profile loss is caused by
the wake–boundary layer interaction; the momentum
deficit characterizing the incoming wake alters both
wake dilation and wake–boundary layer interaction
losses, with the higher level of losses measured for
the largest bar diameter at the highest reduced fre-
quency condition.
Profile loss prediction for axial turbines
The above studies have demonstrated that the turbine
blade aft diffusion and the suction-side flow deceler-
ation are the major contributions to increase the
profile losses, and the two-dimensional cascade inves-
tigations through either test rig or numerical calcula-
tions provide a valuable tool for predicting the blade
profile loss.24 However, the complexity of the bound-
ary layer flow behavior makes it very difficult to
numerically predict the blade profile loss.
Furthermore, in practice, blade profile design is gen-
erally based on loss prediction systems that adopt pro-
file loss correlation-based limited experimental data, in
order to speed up the initial turbine blade designs.
Various researchers have conducted profile loss
prediction and proposed several profile loss prediction
methods with different accuracy. Coull and Hodson25
have proposed an empirical method to predict the
momentum thickness and shape factor at the blade
suction-side trailing edge, allowing the profile loss to
be estimated. Cheon et al.26 has presented a prediction
Gao et al.
method based on entropy-creation, in order to ana-
lyze the cascade profile loss mechanisms, and the typ-
ical blade profile loss model was created by the blade
surface isentropic Mach number distributions. Liu
et al.27 has related the total pressure loss to the
boundary layer energy thickness, boundary layer
edge velocity, and density by theoretical derivation,
which can be adopted to obtain the boundary layer
flow loss at any position of the turbine linear cascade.
Baturin et al.28 has proposed a method to evaluate the
model reliability for estimating the blade row energy
losses, based on the statistical analyses of the experi-
mental data deviation from the calculation. In add-
ition, considering the mentioned statistical criteria, a
new theoretical equation was put forward, based on
the theoretical analyses of the profile loss characteris-
tics, and adopting mathematical optimization meth-
ods, and therefore, this equation makes possible to
define the turbine blade profile loss more accurate
than the investigated models. Kodama et al.29 pro-
posed the method for accurately predicting the blade
profile loss adopting measured flow parameters in a
linear low-speed cascade test, and the flow conditions
at the trailing edge adopted for the control volume
analysis are related to the experimental blade suction
surface velocity distributions from the profile throat
to the trailing edge adopting the circulation concept.
It is noted that the above profile loss prediction
models have large differences due to the adhoc
nature of each individual test and aerodynamic evo-
lution towards modern blade designs. Recently,
Hasselmann and Wiesche30 have conducted LES ana-
lyses to obtain the information about the unsteady
Figure 4. Flow separation zone and reattachment bubble.30
5
flow characteristics and the loss-generation in a
modern turbine cascade (Figure 4), and the results
show that although conventional RANS methods
are able to predict profile losses pretty good, the cur-
rent models represents an important extension to
model unsteadiness and separation. In addition,
Lengani et al.31 has analyzed flow losses and the
loss-generation mechanisms in a low-pressure linear
turbine cascade by Proper-Orthogonal-
Decomposition (POD) applied to measurements.
The POD applied to the adverse pressure gradient
region of blade profiles provides a statistical represen-
tation of the flow oscillations by splitting the effects
induced by the different dynamics. And, details about
how POD can dissect the loss generation mechanisms
by separating the contributions to the Reynolds stress
tensor from the different modes can be seen in the
paper. The presented results provide both a complex
picture of the additional loss source caused by the
wake migration, and this extra loss production
should be considered in the aerodynamic design pro-
cess in view of further performance improvements in
modern turbines.
Flow structure and loss mechanism for
transonic turbine blade profiles
With the gradual increase in the requirements of the
turbine blade load, the turbine blade is gradually in a
state of transonic or even supersonic flows.
Researchers have begun to pay close attention to the
phenomena of shock waves and associated loss char-
acteristics of transonic turbine cascades.
6 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
The numerical and experimental results by Wolf
et al.,32 Xiang et al.,33 and Reznik et al.34 indicate
that the structure of the flow field at the trailing
edge of the transonic turbine cascade is relatively
complicated (Figure 5), and there are flow phenomena
such as separation expansion/shock waves, base area,
reattached shock waves, wakes, suction surface reflec-
tion waves, and even shock–boundary layer inter-
actions. Edwards et al.’s35 numerical calculations
and experimental studies further pointed out that
shock waves at the transonic-turbine cascade trail-
ing-edge are less affected by the incoming turbulence,
but it is more sensitive to the subtle geometry of the
middle and rear part of the cascade.
In view of the fact that it is difficult to effectively
distinguish the fine flow field structure in the trailing
edge region by the transonic turbine linear cascade
test, and considering the difficulty of the fine numer-
ical simulation of shock wave structures, the studies
on shock waves and associated phenomena in tran-
sonic turbines are increasingly tending to adopt high-
precision calculation methods such as LES/delayed
detached vortex simulation and direct numerical
simulation (DNS). In addition, research results indi-
cate that most of the turbulent dissipation is gener-
ated in the transonic cascade trailing edge region, and
further loss analysis results emphasize the importance
of the transonic-turbine trailing edge region flow.36
Figure 5. Stator Schlieren pictures for exit isentropic Mach number of 1.0.32
Note that the above investigations were mainly car-
ried out the typical transonic cascade only. As for the
ultra-highly loaded turbine investigations, there is
always a layer separation bubble at blade profile suc-
tion side at low-turbulence intensity and Reynolds
number, and the front-loaded profile is seen to have
better aerodynamic performance than other loading
type profiles; in addition, the suppressing influence
of unsteady upstream wakes to the boundary layer
separation is insufficient for the ultra-highly loaded
turbine profiles37–40 (Figure 6).
Based on the research on the flow structure and
flow characteristics of transonic/supersonic cascade
trailing edge shock waves, Melzer and Pullan41 have
used the linear cascade trailing edge model test
method to investigate the influence of the trailing-
edge structure shape on trailing-edge loss and its
mechanisms. The research results found that the
state and thickness of the boundary layer upstream
of the blade trailing edge is important to stimulate
the transonic vortex shedding, and the elliptical trail-
ing edge structure is conducive to suppressing the
trailing edge vortex shedding and reducing blade trail-
ing edge losses. Kibsey and Sjolander42 adopted a
combination of numerical calculations and linear cas-
cade experiments to study the effects of exit Mach
number on turbine blade profile losses (Figure 7).
The results have indicated that when the exit Mach
Gao et al.
Figure 6. A snapshot of interaction between the inlet tur-
bulence and the blade, visualized by means of vorticity
magnitude.37
Figure 7. Midspan loss data from three linear cascades
showing loss plateau behavior.42
number exceeds 0.8, a local supersonic region appears
in the cascade channel, shock waves are formed,
which interacts with the blade boundary layer, there-
fore leading to a sharp increase in the profile loss; the
transonic linear cascade test by Gao et al.43,44 has also
confirmed the above research results. In addition, in a
supersonic exit flow cascade, the profile loss is com-
posed of the losses caused by the boundary layer
development on turbine blade suction and pressure
surfaces, wakes arising from blade profile trailing
edge, and the flow losses associated with shock wave
systems emanating from the blade surface and at
blade trailing edge.45 Overall, in transonic/supersonic
7
turbines, the profile loss is one of the main sources of
the cascade loss, and the trailing edge shock loss is the
main part of the profile loss.46,47
The above research was mainly carried out on the
transonic cascade with coupled contraction–
expansion channels, but in an actual working envir-
onment, the cascade with pure contraction channels
will also experience transonic conditions. The prelim-
inary numerical studies by Ji et al.48 point out that the
constrictive cascade (the cascade cross-sectional area
reduces from inlet to outlet) usually do not produce
shock waves on the blade suction side due to the large
turning downstream of the suction side throat, but
strong oblique shock waves are generated at the
blade pressure side trailing edge due to the insufficient
flow following the blade suction side. In fact, two
types of cascades with both the constrictive channel
and constrictive-expandable channel commonly used
in turbine designs will experience subsonic, transonic,
or even supersonic Mach number operating condi-
tions, and will also experience variable incidence con-
ditions. Although Liu et al.49 initially studied the
various incidence flow and loss characteristics of tran-
sonic turbine cascades, however, limited to the test
conditions, the tests were conducted only at high sub-
sonic conditions, but the studies on the fine flow struc-
ture and aerodynamic characteristics of transonic
turbine cascades under variable working conditions
are rare.
Off-design aerodynamic performance
of turbine blade profiles
It is noted that turboamchinery for power generation
application has a wide operational envelope. Off-
design conditions occur when turbomachinery works
at conditions different from the design condition, and
the off-design conditions include variable incidence
conditions and variable Mach number conditions.
The investigations above are focused on the design
flow and loss characteristics for turbine blade profiles.
However, in order to obtain a wide-condition high-
efficiency turbine blade profile design, it is important
to clarify the off-design performance characteristics of
turbine blade profiles.50
For the variable incidence conditions effects, Wang
et al.51 have found that as the flow incidence changes
from positive angles to negative angles, the flow sep-
aration point on the blade suction-side moves down-
stream and the length of the separation bubble is
gradually shorter. The experimental investigations of
turbine blade pressure side flow separation at high
suction side incidence flow by Stotz et al.52 indicate
that the dependency of the total losses to the incidence
flow is less for an increased turbulence level, and the
contribution of a pressure side separation bubble to
the profile loss at various working conditions is neg-
ligible if the wake is axis-symmetric. Liu et al.49 and
Lazaro et al.53 found experimentally that the blade
8 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

profile total pressure loss in the entire range of inci-

dences is low within the exit Mach number of 0.9.
In addition, for the variable Mach number condi-
tion effects, Kibsey and Sjolander42 and Zhong et al.54
have found that the profile losses of the investigated
cascades exhibit a loss ‘‘plateau,’’ where the total pres-
sure loss coefficient becomes approximately constant
over a range of outlet Mach numbers spanning the
low supersonic range, and cascades of different geo-
metries exhibit different extents of this loss plateau.
However, the studies on the fine flow structure and
aerodynamic characteristics of transonic turbine cas-
cades under variable working conditions are rare. In
order to provide reference for the wide working-
condition aerodynamic design of turbine blade pro-
files, further aerodynamic investigations about this
are much needed.

Flow control on turbine blade profiles

Both passive and active methods have been
explored for their potential in suppressing flow separ-
ation in axial turbines. Since compressibility effects
introduce shocks for transonic turbines, some studies
have also tested flow control in high Mach number Figure 8. Reduced shock blade design results of static tem-
flows. perature distribution.59

Turbine blade boundary layer separation
suppression
The turbine blade profile boundary layer separation
flow control is to reduce the separated flows and low-
energy clusters on the turbine blade suction side
through flow control methods, thus reducing turbine
blade profile losses. Based on the basic ideals of flow
control, designers have proposed a variety of flow
control schemes, which are divided into passive
flow control and active flow control according to the
presence or absence of energy input.55
In general, passive flow control methods are often
more preferred by industries due to simplicity in
implementation and their low cost-to-benefit ratio.
Numerous types of passive flow control devices or
methods have been investigated, including gurney-
flaps,56 grooves,57,58 and herringbone riblets59
(Figure 8). These passive flow control methods delay
the flow separation either by introducing flow instabil-
ities that promote transition in the separated bound-
ary layer or by triggering blade profile boundary layer
transition before flow separation starts. However, des-
pite their abilities to reduce the size of the separation
region, an overall loss reduction effect may be limited
due to the extra loss introduced by the passive flow
control. In the meantime, active flow control meth-
ods, such as jet-flaps60,61 (Figure 9), vortex-generator
jets62,63 (Figure 10), synthetic jets,64 and fluidic oscil-
lators65 have been actively studied. Although these
active flow-control devices look promising, they
must overcome some issues, such as durability, cost,
power supply, or off-design performance, before being
applied in actual turbomachienry.
Shock control for transonic turbine blade profiles
Based on the research on the shock wave characteris-
tics of transonic turbine blades, researchers have grad-
ually conducted numerical calculations and
experimental investigations on turbine blade shock
wave control and associated issues. It should be note
that if compressibility influences do not introduce
shock waves, no differences are seen in the flow control
performance. Nonetheless, with the appearance of
shock-induced separation and at higher Mach num-
bers, shock wave control is more demanding.
Recently, research institutions such as NASA and
GE66 jointly proposed the Reduced Shock Blading
concept, that is, adopting flat-back blade shape with
narrow trailing-edge, convergent-divergent throat
passage, and so on, in order to effectively reduce the
shock wave intensity (Figure 11). It is the first time
that the open published literatures clearly put forward
the research direction of shock-wave control.
Subsequently, some researchers used computer-aided
design optimization to conduct research on weaken-
ing shock waves for transonic cascades.67 In the
meantime, others proposed novel transonic turbine
blade profile design concepts and methods to effect-
ively reduce transonic turbine blade profile shock
wave losses, such as Zhao et al.’s68,69 negative curva-
ture blade profile suction side design, Gao et al.’s43
method of micro-jet near the reflection point of shock
Gao et al. 9

Figure 9. Jet slot geometry.61

Figure 10. vortex-generator jets geometry and CFD domain with jets mesh details.63

Figure 11. Reduced shock blade design results of static temperature distribution.66
10 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Figure 12. Grooved vane.70

waves at blade suction side, Zhao et al.’s70 trenching

treatment downstream of the blade suction side
(Figure 12), etc. However, these numerical and experi-
mental studies are mainly based on two-dimensional
linear cascades, and the aerodynamic performance
improvement influences in the actual turbine blade
flow environments have yet to be further verified.

Design and optimization methods for

turbine blade profiles
Apart from the development of flow control tech-
niques on turbine blade profiles, researchers have Figure 13. Snapshots of instantaneous flow fields around
also been investigating the direct design and optimiza- base profile (top) and device model profile (bottom) calculated
tion methods for turbine blade profiles. However, the by large Eddy simulation.71
related studies are few and are mainly focused on the
transonic blade profiles.
For the transonic blade design method investiga-
tions, Funazaki et al.71 proposed a novel method,
which adopts two types of approaches: one is two-
dimensional contouring with small step on the blade
suction surface, and the other is a re-shaping of the
blade near its trailing edge (Figure 13). Chen et al.72
proposed that, by properly constructing the wave
system structure of the transonic flow region and
pre-compression designs, the blade aerodynamic
load is increased and the shock wave intensity is
decreased. Dong et al.73 indicated that, for the blade
suction side shock wave, the controlled expansion
design concept combined with a curvature-based
blade design method is brought forward to control
the flow expansion by adjusting the curvature distri- Figure 14. Unsteady loss data for different turbine profiles.75
bution on the blade suction surface; the reduced shock
wave method based on bump design on the suction
surface is developed to control the blade pressure side The aerodynamic optimization techniques have
shock wave effects. In addition, Zeng et al.74 proposed been applied to the transonic blades. The highly
a method of normalized blade loading determination, loaded profiles employed by Praisner et al.75 were cre-
combined with the inverse cascade design method, to ated adopting both designer input, for example,
carry out similarity modeling design of turbine blade reduced frequency of wake passing (fr) and compu-
profiles. It should be noted that these transonic tur- ter-aided optimization methods with transition mod-
bine blade design methods have shown some posi- eling (Figure 14). In addition, the adaptive Kriging
tive control influences on the shock wave control to surrogate model has been adopted to optimize the
some extent. turbine blade profile by Yu et al.76
Gao et al.
It is noted that the above studies are focused on the
design point optimization only. Recently, some inves-
tigations have gradually paid attention to the wide
working-condition optimization of transonic blade
profiles. Yu et al.77 adopted the adjoint method with
the constraints of massflow rate and outflow angle to
find the best geometrical parameters for the optimum
aerodynamic performance at different back pressures.
Zhao and Pan78 have introduced a method of optimal
design of highly loaded profile based on computer-
aided optimization, and results show that compared
with the baseline, the blade incidence angle range is
broadened about 2 degree under the premise that the
total pressure loss coefficient is reduced little and the
outflow angle is unchanged. In addition, in view of
the design difficulty of global optimization design
for turbine blades, a feasible optimization design
method is put forward by Li et al.79 Seventeen par-
ameters controlling the blade profile are adopted as
optimization variables, and the second generation of
multiobjective genetic algorithm is applied for global
optimization automatically. Overall, the turbine blade
design and optimization investigations are relatively
few, and further studies are needed to improve the
wide-condition aerodynamic performance for highly
loaded turbine blade profiles.
Engineering design considerations for
turbine blade profiles
With the rapid development of computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) technology and the improvement
of computing power, the numerical simulation meth-
ods coupling with cooling effects and actual environ-
ment influences have been the key technology for the
improvement of turbine blade profile aerodynamics; it
is also important in improvement of the conventional
turbine aerodynamic design tools. More and more
researchers have been gradually exploring the engin-
eering design for turbine blade profiles.
Turbine blade profile aerodynamics and optimiza-
tion considering cooling effects
The blade profile variation during the aerodynamic
design process will influence the heat transfer charac-
teristics, and adequate consideration of the heat trans-
fer performance in turbine design process will benefit
the subsequent cooling design and shorten the turbine
design cycle.
For effects of cooling on turbine blade profile aero-
dynamics, Gao et al.43,44,80 carried out numerical and
experimental investigations of trailing-edge injection
in a transonic turbine cascade, and the results show an
obvious influence of trailing-edge injection on the
wake development and its blockage effect on the tur-
bine passage flows. Lin and Sharma81 quantified the
stabilizing influences of wall-cooling on turbine blade
boundary layer development by adopting a linear
11
Figure 15. Schematic diagram of the optimization design
system.86
boundary-layer stability theory. The detailed results
show that it is very practical for maintaining laminar
flow on turbine profile suction sides, which opens a
potential opportunity to yield high cycle performance
and reduced cooling air requirements; the potential
advantage of such a design is enormous and the key
to realizing such a high efficiency turbine is to over-
come laminar separation. Mamaev et al.82 investi-
gated the improvement of cooled turbine profiles by
special cutback and have shown that the trailing-edge
injection leads to a slight increase of flow losses due to
extra mixing losses, and the profile contour bend is
valuable for the performance improvement.
Based on the above investigations, some research-
ers have conducted the turbine blade profile aero-
dynamic optimization studies considering cooling
effects83–86 (Figure 15), since it should be noted that
the blade profile variation during the turbine blade
aerodynamic design process will affect the blade
heat transfer characteristics. Therefore, adequate con-
sideration of blade heat transfer characteristics in the
turbine blade aerodynamic design process (i.e., conju-
gate heat transfer (CHT) analysis) will benefit the sub-
sequent blade cooling design and shorten the turbine
blade design cycle. However, in view of the limited
computational resources, numerical investigations on
turbine blade profile aerodynamics and optimization
considering cooling effects are still few.
Aerodynamics for turbine blade profiles in actual
working environment
After turbomachinery works in the actual environ-
ment for a period of time, blade surfaces will inevit-
ably be rubbed, and thus surface roughness of blades
increases. Montis et al.87 and Edwards et al.35 found
that blade surface roughness has no effects on the
blade profile pressure distribution, and in the region
with adverse pressure gradient on the suction side, the
highest roughness produces a noticeably thinner
boundary layer, which could explain the reduction
12 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

of profile loss compared to the smooth blade found at

low Reynolds numbers.
In addition, in the aerodynamic design of turbine
blades, the design-point aerodynamic characteristics
of turbine blades are usually evaluated when subjected
to thermal and aerodynamic loads, and the blade
designed by the aerodynamic engineer is called a hot
working blade. That is, a cold blade (there is no ther-
mal load or aerodynamic load effects) has been
deformed after work, and therefore, there is a differ-
ence between the hot and cold blade profiles. If the
deformation has little effect on the aerodynamic par-
ameters, the hot working blade can be directly pro-
cessed as a cold blade according to the traditional
method; otherwise, the deformation pre-compensa- Figure 16. Sampling point for spectrum analysis (contour
tion needs to be performed at the design stage to con- shows local magnitude of density gradient on the very fine
vert the hot working blade into a cold processed grid).92
blade, causing the cold blade to be deformed to
achieve the required surface accuracy, and overall
the aerodynamic parameters can be accurately
controlled.88
Cao et al.88 proposed a novel method of generating
the blade profile manufacturing coordinates based on
the cold profile, comprised of ordering, interpolating,
adding location bias, removing endwall fillet, and fit-
ting endwall profile. Ren et al.89 proposed a turbine
blade deformation compensation method, and an
iterative design optimization method to conduct
deformation compensation for the blades, converting
the cold blade profile from a hot blade profile. In
addition, the actual turbine blade may have deviation
because of mismatch tolerance, which affects strongly
aerodynamic performance. Li and Zhu90 found that Figure 17. Instantaneous static pressure distribution near
the variations of maximum thickness and radius of the separation bubble.92
blade leading edge are the most important factors
that lead to performance variations of actual blades.
It should be noted that in most current numerical
Research methods of axial turbine blade studies the RANS equations are solved. RANS meth-
ods are calibrated to give good predictions for high
profile aerodynamics
Reynolds number flows with a fully turbulent bound-
An analysis of publications devoted to the perform- ary layer. However, RANS methods have limitations
ance improvement of turbine operation shows that in the accurate modeling of flow transition and sep-
most of the researchers have focused on identifying aration as well as vortex flows. Therefore, although
the flow field structure and exploring the ways to the RANS results are quite promising, there is still
organize the flow inside the turbine blade passage. A space for performance improvement in the transition
large part of these investigations was conducted using and turbulence models, especially in low Reynolds
the CFD methods. Up to now, CFD simulations have number applications.91,92
become a necessary tool in last few decades for study- As the computational power increases, the applica-
ing the influences of profile losses and shock losses for tion of LES becomes more popular for understanding
turbomachinery blades. It offers advantages, for the complex flow physics of turbine blade profiles, and
example, better understanding of flow features related to overcome the deficiencies of RANS simulations.
to turbine profiles, and quick and less expensive pro- Since the LES method is inherently an unsteady ana-
cess. Recently, a number of numerical investigations lysis and capable of time-dependent capturing of
deal with turbine blade boundary layer flow charac- highly resolved motions associated with blade
teristics, wake passing effects, blade profile loss pre- separated flows, it does not contain any transition
diction, flow control on turbine blade profiles, design modeling, regardless of separation-induced or distur-
optimization methods for blade profiles, and so on, bance-induced ones.30 So, it is worth pursuing possi-
using RANS91,92 (Figures 16 and 17), LES,30 or even bilities of LES approach in practical application,
DNS93 (Figure 18). along with the experimental data.
Gao et al. 13

Figure 18. Instantaneous ISO-surfaces of Q contoured by velocity magnitude.93

Figure 19. Optical setup for turbine flows.97

Figure 20. Density distribution in a horizontal plane in 92 mm downstream the blades and in a vertical plane in the blades midsection
estimated by background oriented Schlieren.97
14
It should be noted that, although recent efforts in
the LES approach are encouraging, the high computa-
tional costs are still a major drawback, especially since
turboamchienry manufacturers now strongly rely on
the optimization processes to refine the blade shapes.
Recently, the aerodynamic optimization methods
based on CFD simulations have been applied grad-
ually to turbine blade profile designs. The inverse cas-
cade design method74 and the adaptive Kriging
surrogate model76 were adopted to optimize the
design-point performance of turbine blade profiles.
Especially, some researchers used computer-aided
design optimization,67 or its combination with
designer input75 to optimize transonic blade profile
aerodynamics. In addition, the adjoint method or
genetic algorithm was used to carry out wide work-
ing-condition aerodynamic optimization of blade pro-
files.75–79 Furthermore, researchers have gradually
conducted the turbine blade profile aerodynamic
optimization studies considering cooling effects, and
thus, the CHT optimization design system is proposed
and built. It should be noted that the turbine blade
profile design optimization studies are relatively few,
and further studies about the application of other
optimization algorithms to the wide working-
condition blade profile optimization are needed.
In addition, the linear low-speed cascade tests have
been widespread adopted to investigate experimen-
tally the flow characteristics and loss generation
mechanisms of turbine blade profile losses, since a
large scale of turbine blades enable researchers to
test the blade boundary layer flow structures.94–96
To study the unsteady flow influences of inlet periodic
wakes on the turbine blade boundary layer develop-
ment, a moving-bar mechanism was adopted to simu-
late the inlet wakes.
Up to now, a considerable number of studies
reporting results of experimental investigations on
turbine blade profile aerodynamics have been pub-
lished over the last years. It should be noted that
these experimental investigations were done mainly
with pneumatic probes which are measuring static
and total pressures. To eliminate the influence of the
pneumatic probe on the turbine blade profile flows,
optical means of experimental measurement have also
been adopted by some researchers, because of its non-
intrusiveness characteristics97 (Figures 19 and 20) In
addition, several ways to identify experimentally the
transition region can be using a Preston tube to test
the dynamic pressure close to the surface, measuring
the heat transfer coefficient or using hot-film
anemometry, which is, with restrictions, comparable
to measuring the convective heat transfer. The latter
seems to be more suited for measuring the transition
on a front-loaded blade profile due to the amount of
different statistical data available and the feasibility to
measure unsteady flow conditions as with stator–rotor
interaction. Additionally, the hot-film technique may
help to distinguish different ways of by-pass
Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
transition, which is widely found in turbomachinery
due to the high free stream turbulence levels. Several
paths can be followed for transition including transi-
ent growth, eigenmode growth, parametric instabil-
ities, or direct bypass mechanisms. A distinction
between the transition paths could help improving
transition models for numerical simulations.
Conclusions
This paper summarizes the recent advances in the
research field of axial turbine blade profile aero-
dynamics for turbomachinery. The boundary layer
flow physics, shock waves, profile loss characteristics,
off-design flow mechanism and loss characteristics,
flow control methods, design optimization methods,
and research methods for turbine blade profiles are
discussed and analyzed. The following conclusions
can be drawn from this study:
1. The boundary layer transition process is highly
intermittent and local, and it is promoted by the
inherent inflectional instability of the separation
bubble. Distinct energy peaks, associated with the
Kelvin–Helmholtz waves are generated in the shear
layer over the laminar separation bubble appearing
in the spectra. The upstream wake passing is effect-
ive in the suppression of the separation bubble,
whereas the upstream wakes are accompanied
with additional losses in the blade-to-blade passage,
leading to the increase in cascade loss coefficient.
2. The state and thickness of the boundary layer
upstream of the blade trailing edge is important
to stimulate the transonic vortex shedding. Shock
waves at the trailing edge for transonic turbines
are less affected by the incoming turbulence, but
it is more sensitive to the subtle geometry of the
middle and rear part of the cascade. In transonic/
supersonic turbines, most of the turbulent dissipa-
tion is generated in the blade trailing edge region.
3. Numerous types of passive flow control devices or
methods have been investigated, including gurney-
flaps, grooves, and herringbone riblets. Active
flow control methods, such as jet-flaps, vortex-
generator jets, synthetic jets, and fluidic oscillators
have been actively studied. Passive flow control
methods are often more preferred by industries.
Although the active flow control devices look pro-
mising, they must overcome some issues, such as
durability, cost, and off-design performance,
before being applied in actual turbomachienry.
4. Reduced Shock Blading concept has been pro-
posed, in order to effectively reduce shock wave
intensity. Subsequently, researchers either used
computer optimization to conduct research on
weakening shock waves for transonic cascades,
or proposed novel transonic turbine blade profile
design concepts and methods to effectively reduce
shock wave losses.
Gao et al.
5. With the development of CFD technology and the
improvement of computing power, the numerical
simulation method coupling with heat transfer and
cooling effects has been the key technology for the
improvement of turbine blade profile aerodynam-
ics. The blade designed by aerodynamic engineers
is a hot working blade, and a cold blade has been
deformed after work, leading to a difference
between the hot and cold blade profiles. The appli-
cation of LES on the practical engineering, along
with accumulation of the experimental data,
becomes more popular for understanding the com-
plex turbine profile flow physics.
Overall, the axial turbines often operate under vari-
able working conditions, and the off-design working
conditions lead to large separation flows of turbine
profiles, causing a great of profile losses. Therefore,
the experimental and numerical studies on the fine
flow structure and aerodynamic characteristics of tur-
bine cascades under the off-design working conditions
are urgently needed. Furthermore, the research focus
should also be placed on the wide working-condition
turbine blade profile design optimization.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial
support for the research, authorship, and/or publication
of this article: This work has been supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
No. 51979052, 51779051) and the Aviation Power Fund of
China (No: 6141B09050392), which are gratefully
acknowledged.
ORCID iD
Jie Gao https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3202-1231
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