Three-Dimensional Flow and Aerodynamic Loss Downstream of a Turbine Rotor Blade with a Squealer Tip

Three-dimensional flow and aerodynamic loss in the tip-leakage flow region of a high-turning first-stage turbine rotor blade with a squealer tip have been measured with a straight miniature five-hole probe for the tip gap-to-chord ratio, h/c, of 2.0%. This squealer tip has a indent-to-chord ratio, h(st)/c, of 5.5%. The results are compared with those for a plane tip (h(st)/c = 0.0%). The squealer tip tends to reduce the mass flow through the tip gap and to suppress the development of the tip-leakage vortex. Therefore, it delivers lower aerodynamic loss in the near-tip region than the plane tip does. At the mid-span, however, the aerodynamic loss has nearly the same value for the two different tips.