Experimental Investigation of Characteristics of Liquid Behaviour around a Cascade Blade

Abstract

Fogging has been gaining considerable importance among the gas turbine manufacturer mainly because of being the most cost-effective and efficient method to augment the power output of gas turbines. In this paper, the fundamental experimental study was conducted to understand the characteristics of two-phase phenomena around the cascade blade. Water was ingested from the holes located at different spanwise positions at the blade’s leading edge. Detailed visualization was conducted by taking shadowgraph images using a high-speed camera. Characteristics of water film formation and the droplet size distribution were measured and were also theoretically investigated. It was found that the liquid film thickness and the droplet size aft the trailing edge of the cascade blade were mainly functions of the surface tension of the liquid and the surrounding air velocity, whereas, it was independent of the shape and size of water ingestion hole.