Three-dimensional Centrifugal Instability

Abstract

At the DLR a research program has been started to study three-dimensional centrifugal instability as appearing in flows over turbine blades. Since up to date very little is known, at the beginning, main emphasis is placed on the experimental identification of the essential physical features. For the theoretical approach, nonlocal linear and nonlinear stability analyses are being extended to take surface curvature into account. The experiments are performed in a non-rotating system so that in contrast to flows over turbine blades Coriolis forces are not operable.