bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Developement of a Turning Mid Turbine Frame With Embedded Design: Part I — Design and Steady Measurements
Authors: Spataro Rosario , Göttlich Emil , Lengani Davide , Faustmann Christian , Heitmeir Franz 
Published: November 2013

The paper presents a new setup for the two-stage two-spool facility located at the Institute for Thermal Turbomachinery and Machine Dynamics (ITTM) of Graz University of Technology. The rig was designed in order to simulate the flow behavior of a transonic turbine followed by a counter rotating low pressure stage like the spools of a modern high bypass aero engine. The meridional flow path of the machine is characterized by a diffusing S-shaped duct between the two rotors. The role of turning struts placed into the mid turbine frame is to lead the flow towards the LP rotor with appropriate swirl.
Experimental and numerical investigations performed on the setup over the last years, which were used as baseline for this paper, showed that wide chord vanes induce large wakes and extended secondary flows at the LP rotor inlet flow. Moreover, unsteady interactions between the two turbines were observed downstream of the LP rotor.
In order to increase the uniformity and to decrease the unsteady content of the flow at the inlet of the LP rotor, the mid turbine frame was redesigned with two zero-lifting splitters embedded into the strut passage.
In this first part paper the design process of the splitters and its critical points are presented, while the time-averaged field is discussed by means of five-hole probe measurements and oil flow visualizations. The comparison between the baseline case and the embedded design configuration shows that the new design is able to reduce the flow gradients downstream of the turning struts, providing a more suitable inlet condition for the low pressure rotor. The improvement in the flow field uniformity is also observed downstream of the turbine and it is consequently reflected in an enhancement of the LP turbine performance.
In the second part of this paper the influence of the embedded design on the time-resolved field is investigated.
Control of a Supercritical CO2 Electro-Thermal Energy Storage System
Authors: Wright S. A. , Z’Graggen A. , Hemrle J. 
Published: November 2013

Transcritical CO2 power systems are being investigated for site independent electro-thermal energy storage (ETES). The storage plant uses electrical energy with a standard vapor-compression heat pump/refrigeration cycle to store thermal energy as hot water and ice over a period of approximately 8 hours during low power demand. The power cycle is then reversed and operated as a simple Rankine cycle to produce ∼100 MWe for about 4.5 hours during peak demand. During the power generation cycle the storage plant uses the heat stored in the hot water tanks, together with ice melting, plus ambient heat rejection for the heat sink. For 100 MWe class power plants, the round trip efficiency is estimated to be up to 60%. CO2 was selected as the working fluid because it improves the ability of the plant to operate with high reversibility. In addition, it is compact and can operate below the freezing point of water.
This report describes the major control characteristics of the plant, together with methods, tools, and results of the model. Because the plant is nearly “closed”, it must operate only by consuming electrical energy during the charging cycle and by producing electrical energy plus some waste heat during the discharge cycle. All other heat transfer processes occurs solely within the storage plant itself and consists of either heating or cooling water and by making or melting ice. For the plant to operate continuously, both the water thermal storage and ice storage must be returned to their initial conditions after every 24 hour period. Otherwise, small changes in the thermal environment during waste heat rejection or performance variations of internal components will cause the storage system to drift from its designed operating temperature, pressure and energy storage capability, challenging its ability to operate.
The control concept for the storage plant addresses both the operation of the plant during charging and discharging. It also addresses strategies for control during off-design situations or due to disturbances such as load following or changes in ambient heat rejection conditions. The process simulations described in the paper include models for the main physical components of the plant including the turbomachinery, the heat exchanger network, states of charge of the cold and hot storage, and CO2 inventory.
Regeneration-Induced Forced Response in Axial Turbines
Authors: Aschenbruck Jens , Meinzer Christopher E. , Pohle Linus , Panning-von Scheidt Lars , Seume Joerg R. 
Published: November 2013

The regeneration of highly loaded turbine blades causes small variations of their geometrical parameters. To determine the influence of such regeneration-induced variances of turbine blades on the nozzle excitation, an existing air turbine is extended by a newly designed stage. The aerodynamic and the structural dynamic behavior of the new turbine stage are analyzed. The calculated eigenfrequencies are verified by an experimental modal analysis and are found to be in good agreement.
Typical geometric variances of overhauled turbine blades are then applied to stator vanes of the newly designed turbine stage. A forced response analysis of these vanes is conducted using a uni-directional fluid-structure interaction approach. The effects of geometric variances on the forced response of the rotor blade are evaluated. It is shown that the vibration amplitudes of the response are significantly higher for some modes due to the additional wake excitation that is introduced by the geometrical variances e.g. 56 times higher for typical MRO-induced variations in stagger-angle.
Damping Identification and its Comparison for Various Types of Blade Couplings
Authors: Kubin Zdenek , Polreich Vaclav , Cerny Vaclav , Babkova Petra , Prchlik Lubos 
Published: November 2013

Regarding steam turbine blade vibrations, damping of blade as well as bladed disc mode shapes is one of the most important parameters in terms of steam turbine operation. A value of the parameter depends on properties of material used for manufacturing and construction elements of the blades and the discs such as blade roots, shrouds, tiebosses (snubbers) and dampers.
This article deals with a comparison of damping of mode shapes for particular blade couplings and shows which methods are suitable for determination of the damping in individual cases. The whole identification procedure of the damping together with its specifics is also presented. At first, an identification technique of material damping ratio is introduced and its results are given for different materials. The material damping ratio is assessed as material strain dependent. Subsequently, damping ratio of bladed disc mode shapes under bladed disc rotation is identified taking into account two alternatives. The alternatives differ in such a way that blades have been free for the first time and then coupled with friction dampers.
Outcomes presented in the article illustrate good agreement between damping ratio of bladed disc mode shapes with free blades and material used for manufacturing of the blades. On the other hand, damping ratio of bladed disc mode shapes with friction dampers is significantly different and strongly dependent on blade vibration amplitudes as well as nodal diameters of bladed disc mode shapes. Finally, nonlinear behavior of the bladed disc has been revealed along large blade vibration amplitudes and higher nodal diameters of the disc. The non-linear behavior manifests itself in such a way that values of natural frequencies of the disc have become dependent on blade vibration amplitudes.
Hybrid Analysis of Gas Annular Seals With Energy Equation
Authors: Migliorini Patrick J. , Untaroiu Alexandrina , Witt William C. , Morgan Neal R. , Wood Houston G. 
Published: November 2013

Annular seals are used in turbomachinery to reduce secondary flow between regions of high and low pressure. In a vibrating rotor system, the non-axisymmetric pressure field developed in the small clearance between the rotor and the seal generate reactionary forces that can affect the stability of the entire rotor system.
Traditionally, two analyses have been used to study the fluid flow in seals, bulk-flow analysis and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Bulk-flow methods are computational inexpensive, but solve simplified equations that rely on empirically derived coefficients and are moderately accurate. CFD analyses generally provide more accurate results than bulk-flow codes, but solution time can vary between days and weeks. For gas damper seals, these analyses have been developed with the assumption that the flow can be treated as isothermal. Some experimental studies show that the difference between the inlet and outlet temperature temperatures is less than 5% but initial CFD studies show that there can be a significant temperature change which can have an effect on the density field. Thus, a comprehensive analysis requires the solution of an energy equation.
Recently, a new hybrid method that employs a CFD analysis for the base state, unperturbed flow and a bulk-flow analysis for the first order, perturbed flow has been developed. This method has shown to compare well with full CFD analysis and experimental data while being computationally efficient. In this study, the previously developed hybrid method is extended to include the effects of non-isothermal flow. The hybrid method with energy equation is then compared with the isothermal hybrid method and experimental data for several test cases of hole-pattern seals and the importance of the use of energy equation is studied.
Accuracy of Centrifugal Compressor Stages Performance Prediction by Means of High Fidelity CFD and Validation Using Advanced Aerodynamic Probe
Authors: Satish K. V. V. N. K. , Guidotti Emanuele , Rubino Dante Tommaso , Tapinassi Libero , Prasad Sridhar 
Published: November 2013

During the design of modern high efficiency, wide operating range centrifugal compressor stages, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) plays an increasing role in the assessment of the performance prediction. Nevertheless experimental data are valuable and necessary to assess the performance of the stages and to better understand the flow features in detail.
A big effort is currently being made to increase the fidelity of the numerical models and the probe measurement accuracy during both the design and validation phases of centrifugal compressor stages. This study presents the flow analysis of centrifugal compressor stages using high fidelity computational fluid dynamics with a particular attention to the cavity flow modeling and comparison with experimental data, using an advanced fast response aerodynamic pressure probe.
Different flow coefficient centrifugal compressor stages were used for the validation of the numerical models with a particular attention to the effects of cavity flow on the flow phenomena.
The computational domain faithfully reproduced the geometry of the stages including secondary flow cavities. The availability of a new in-house automated tool for cavity meshing allowed to accurately resolve leakage flows with a reasonable increase in computational and user time.
Time averaged data from CFD analysis were compared with advanced experimental ones coming from the unsteady pressure probe, for both overall performance and detailed two-dimensional maps of the main flow quantities at design and off design conditions. It was found that the increase in computational accuracy with the complete geometry modeling including leakage flows was substantial and the results of the computational model were in good agreement with the experimental data. Moreover the combination of both advanced computational and experimental techniques enabled deeper insights in the flow field features.
The comparison showed that only with advanced high fidelity CFD including leakage flows modeling did the numerical predictions meet the requirements for efficiency, head and operating margin, otherwise not achievable with simplified models (CFD without cavities).
Time-Resolved Numerical Study of Axial Gap Effects on Labyrinth-Seal Leakage and Secondary Flow in a LP Turbine
Authors: Biester Marc H.-O. , Wiegmann Florian , Guendogdu Yavuz , Seume Joerg R. 
Published: November 2013

One of the most promising ways to improve the efficiency of modern turbomachinery is the reduction of secondary flow-structures and associated losses. A widely spread approach is the usage of shrouded airfoils in combination with labyrinth-seals. The disadvantage of this arrangement is a small but inevitable labyrinth-leakage flow that tends to increase the secondary-flow structures. The present work investigates how the axial gap of the blade rows and the corresponding shift of the labyrinth’s inlet and outlet influences leakage related effects on the flow-field and loss-generation. In order to capture the inter-blade and leakage interaction properly, time-resolved RANS computations of a 1 1/2 stage low pressure turbine have been performed. Besides accounting for labyrinth seals, fillets have been modeled. The axial gap is varied from 20% to 80% axial chord length. Clocking-effects induced by the axial gap variation are compensated.
The leakage flow nearly retains the flow direction of the flow entering the blade row. In case of the largest axial gap, mixing causes the flow-angle of the leakage to tend towards that of the main-flow, thus reducing the incidence on the downstream blade row. Therefore, the turning of the low-momentum flow is increased compared to a small axial gap. This leads to a higher loading in the affected region and an increased passage vortex can be observed. By comparing the entropy generation of computations with and without labyrinth seals, the regions where leakage-related losses occur are identified and the relevant mechanisms are distinguished.
Numerical and Experimental Comparison of a Tandem and Single Vane Deswirler Used in an Aero Engine Centrifugal Compressor
Authors: Wilkosz Benjamin , Schmidt Johannes , Guenther Christian , Schwarz Philipp , Jeschke Peter , Smythe Caitlin 
Published: November 2013

The present work is part of the research project at the Institute of Jet Propulsion and Turbomachinery at the RWTH Aachen University in collaboration with GE Aviation. The subject is the numerical and experimental analysis of two blading strategies used in the diffusion system of an aero engine centrifugal compressor.
The transonic centrifugal compressor investigated contains a close-coupled impeller and passage diffuser [1], followed by a deswirler system. The deswirler redirects the flow towards the combustion chamber, while decreasing swirl and recovering pressure. It is characterized by a high aerodynamic loading, due to a moderate inlet Mach number of 0.35, in combination with a required flow redirection of 70° in circumferential and 135° in meridional direction. For this purpose, two different blading strategies are investigated, both retaining the same meridional flow path and integral chord length. The first design is a tandem configuration with 30 vanes in the first row and 60 vanes in the second row. In principal, this approach benefits from the small wetted surface, the short and thereby stable boundary layers as well as the positive blade interaction due to the close alignment [2]. The second design contains one row of 75 vanes. The higher solidity is needed to compensate for the longer boundary layers. The two deswirlers investigated are compared to a less compact baseline deswirler [3] with simple prismatic vanes.
Experimental and numerical data shows that both new configurations have very similar stage efficiency. The single row design shows a higher static pressure recovery, resulting in a +0.2%-points total-to-static isentropic efficiency increase compared to the tandem design. Detailed flow analysis in the deswirler system shows different characteristics in terms of losses, loss mechanisms and pressure build-up. Due to the required high turning, both designs suffer from flow separation. Nevertheless, the single row design shows its robustness under the impact of 3D flow, whereas the tandem suffers from end-wall induced losses. The results show that the classical mechanisms making a tandem favorable for high flow turning in 2D flow are counteracted by 3D flow mechanisms caused by the spanwise pressure gradient. The low aspect ratio even increases the effect of 3D end-wall mechanisms. These results, combined with a higher manufacturing effort, show that a tandem configuration is not necessarily the superior design for highly 3D flow conditions.
Mild Hybridization via Electrification of the Air System: Electrically Assisted and Variable Geometry Turbocharging Impact on an Off-Road Diesel Engine
Authors: Terdich Nicola , Martinez-Botas Ricardo F. , Romagnoli Alessandro , Pesiridis Apostolos 
Published: November 2013

Electric turbocharger assistance consists in incorporating an electric motor/generator within the turbocharger bearing housing to form a mild-hybrid system, without altering other mechanical parts of the engine. This makes it an ideal and economical short to medium term solution for the reduction of CO2 emissions.
The scope of the paper is to assess the improvements in engine energy efficiency and transient response correlated to the hybridization of the air system. To achieve this, an electrically assisted turbocharger with a variable geometry turbine has been compared to a similar, not hybridized, system over step changes of engine load. The variable geometry turbine has been controlled to provide different levels of initial boost, including one optimized for efficiency, and to change its flow capacity during the transient. The engine modeled is a 7-litre, 6-cylindres diesel engine with a power output of over 200 kW and a sub-10 kW turbocharger electric assistance power. To improve the accuracy of the model, the turbocharger turbine has been experimentally characterized by means of a unique testing facility available at Imperial College and the data has been extrapolated by means of a turbine meanline model.
Optimization of the engine boost to minimize pumping losses has shown a reduction in brake specific fuel consumption up to 4.2%. By applying electric turbocharger assistance, it has been possible to recover the loss in engine transient response of the efficiency optimized system, as it causes a reduction in engine speed drop of 71% to 86% and of 79% to 94% in engine speed recovery time. When electric assistance is present in the turbocharger, actuating the turbine vanes to assist transient response has not produced the desired result but only a decrement in energy efficiency. If the variable geometry turbine is opened during transients, an improvement in specific energy efficiency with negligible decrement in engine transient performances has been achieved.
Bacteriophages as Pathogens and Immune Modulators?
Authors: Lengeling A. , Mahajan A. , Gally D. L. 
Published: November 2013

ABSTRACT

While Shiga toxins (Stx) are key determinants of enterohemorrhagic
Escherichia coli
(EHEC) pathophysiology in humans, their dissemination to target organs following gastrointestinal EHEC infection is still poorly understood. Most types of Stx target cells with globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) receptors, which are expressed on endothelial cells. According to current theory, Stx is trafficked on the surface of peripheral blood cells, and transfer of toxin from these trafficking cells to endothelial cells results in microvascular damage to target organs, including the kidneys and brain. Inside the cell, Stx inhibits protein synthesis, resulting in cell death. Host “repair” responses can lead to microthrombus formation, erythrocyte damage, and reduced oxygen supply, potentially resulting in organ failure. A recent study [L. V. Bentancor et al., mBio 4(5):e00501-13, 2013, doi:10.1128/mBio.00501-13] indicates that another mechanism for Stx “dissemination” needs to be considered. Bentancor et al. demonstrated that high-pressure injection of a plasmid encoding the “prokaryotic” Stx2 sequence into mice can lead to mortality, with pathology indicative of Stx activity and antibody responses to Stx. While the plasmid levels and injection methodology were extreme, the study indicates that these sequences are potentially taken up into eukaryotic cells, transcribed, and translated, producing active Stx. Stx genes are present on integrated bacteriophage genomes in EHEC, and Stx-encoding phages are released following bacterial lysis in the gastrointestinal tract. We therefore need to consider whether bacteriophage sequences can be expressed in eukaryotic cells, what the wider implications are for our understanding of many “bacterial” diseases, and the possibility of developing novel interventions that target bacteriophages.
Effects of Notch Signaling on Regulation of Myeloid Cell Differentiation in Cancer
Authors: Cheng Pingyan , Kumar Vinit , Liu Hao , Youn Je-In , Fishman Mayer , Sherman Simon , Gabrilovich Dmitry 
Published: November 2013

AbstractFunctionally altered myeloid cells play an important role in immune suppression in cancer, in angiogenesis, and in tumor cells' invasion and metastases. Here, we report that inhibition of Notch signaling in hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), and dendritic cells is directly involved in abnormal myeloid cell differentiation in cancer. Inhibition of Notch signaling was caused by the disruption of the interaction between Notch receptor and transcriptional repressor CSL, which is normally required for efficient transcription of target genes. This disruption was the result of serine phosphorylation of Notch. We demonstrated that increased activity of casein kinase 2 (CK2) observed in HPC and in MDSC could be responsible for the phosphorylation of Notch and downregulation of Notch signaling. Inhibition of CK2 by siRNA or by pharmacological inhibitor restored Notch signaling in myeloid cells and substantially improved their differentiation, both in vitro and in vivo. This study demonstrates a novel mechanism regulation of Notch signaling in cancer. This may suggest a new perspective for pharmacological regulation of differentiation of myeloid cells in cancer. Cancer Res; 74(1); 141–52. ©2013 AACR.
Surface-Modified Nanoparticles Enhance Transurothelial Penetration and Delivery of Survivin siRNA in Treating Bladder Cancer
Authors: Martin Darryl T. , Steinbach Jill M. , Liu Jingchun , Shimizu Shogo , Kaimakliotis Hristos Z. , Wheeler Marcia A. , Hittelman Adam B. , Mark Saltzman W. , Weiss Robert M. 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
Penetration of the bladder permeability barrier (BPB) is a major challenge when treating bladder diseases via intravesical delivery. To increase transurothelial migration and tissue and tumor cell uptake, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid; PLGA) nanoparticles (NP) were modified by addition of a low molecular weight (2.5 or 20 kDa) positively charged mucoadhesive polysaccharide, chitosan, to the NP surface. In designing these NPs, we balanced the adhesive properties of chitosan with the release and bioactivity of the siRNA. Chitosan-functionalized NPs demonstrated increased binding to and uptake in intravesically instilled mouse bladders and human ureter at 10 times the level of unmodified NPs. Furthermore, we extended the bioactivity of survivin siRNA in vitro for up to 9 days and demonstrated a decrease in proliferation when using chitosan-modified NPs relative to unmodified NPs. In addition, treatment of xenograft tumors with chitosan-modified NPs that encapsulate survivin siRNA (NP-siSUR-CH2.5) resulted in a 65% reduction in tumor volume and a 75% decrease in survivin expression relative to tumors treated with blank chitosan NPs (NP-Bk-CH2.5). Our low molecular weight chitosan delivery system has the capacity to transport large amounts of siRNA across the urothelium and/or to the tumor site, thus increasing therapeutic response. Mol Cancer Ther; 13(1); 71–81. ©2013 AACR.