Numerical simulation of the effects of trailing edge thickness on aerodynamic performance of low pressure turbine

Numerical simulation method was used to study the effects of trailing edge thickness on aerodynamic performance of Pak-B low pressure turbine. The trailing edge thickness was increased to control the boundary layer separation and reduce losses of low pressure turbine,and the flow control mechanism of increasing the trailing edge thickness was also revealed. It was shown that appropriate increasing trailing edge thickness could decrease the energy loss of low pressure turbine and increase the turning angle. Appropriate increasing trailing edge thickness could decrease the energy loss coefficient based on inlet velocity by 10.4%, increase the turning angle by 1.73% for Reynolds number of 25000 and free stream turbulence intensity of 1%. Appropriate increasing the trailing edge thickness and pitch also could reduce the energy loss coefficient based on inlet velocity, increase the turning angle. When the trailing edge thickness increased to 4%s and the pitch increased by 2.2%, the energy loss coefficient based on inlet velocity decreased by 7.4% and the turning angle increased by 1.25% for Reynolds number of 25000 and free stream turbulence intensity of 1%. Increasing the thickness of trailing edge can be used to develop low solidity and highly loaded low pressure turbine cascade.