Turbomachinery designers wish to reduce the size and weight of engines. One way of achieving this is by reducing the distance between rotor and stator elements. In doing so, the rotor-stator interaction becomes more significant. In particular, the long-range influence of pressure potential is no longer negligible, and affects both upstream and downstream flow. Previously, only downstream interactions of blade wakes were considered important. Here we examine the upstream potential effect generated by downstream moving cylindrical rods on an upstream low pressure turbine blade. A large scale rectilinear blade cascade was constructed to improve access to the boundary layer. The Reynolds number, based on the chord, was 1.6 × 105. Pressure measurements and two-dimensional Laser Doppler Anemometry around the blade were performed to study the boundary layer behavior. Recorded data points are phase averaged with the downstream moving cylindrical rods. A grid is placed upstream of the blade cascade to increase the inlet turbulence intensity. A numerical investigation, based on a laminar simulation with low velocity preconditioning method was carried out on the same configuration. The flow streamlines and the pressure distribution around the blade were found to depend strongly on the downstream rod position. No unsteady effects in the boundary layer of the pressure side were observed, for the inlet turbulence intensities used in our study. Steady experimental results revealed a boundary layer separation bubble on the blade suction side at a low turbulence intensity (Tu−in = 1.2%), whereas the boundary layer became turbulent via by-pass transition at a higher turbulence intensity (Tu−in = 4.2%).It is seen that, in the unsteady configuration, at a low turbulence intensity (Tu−in =1.8%), the laminar boundary layer experiences separation once per rod period. Two transition modes were identified that alternate during a rod period : a separation transition mode and a by-pass mode, which were conditioned by the downstream rod position. Ata higher turbulence intensity (Tu−in = 4.0%), no boundary layer separation occurred thereby following a bypass transition mode during an entire rod period. The experimental results presented here demonstrate the large influence of the downstream potential effect generated by a downstream row on the upstream blade boundary layer behavior. In order to improve the efficiency of engines, this effect and its interaction with the wake effect must be taken into account in turbomachinery design.
