Abstract

This research was undertaken an a preliminary investigation into the possibility of feeding steam into a turbine by means of a flow-vectoring volute scrol, intended as a replacement for the conventional guide vane ring in the first (contro) stage of the turbine. A volute-shaped inlet can serve to distribute flow evenly along the circumference of the blade ringg. The volutes considered in this paper are also intended to enerate correct angular momentum in the stream, so that correct rotor inlet angles can be obtained by by means of volute alone. A one-dimensional analytical model of compressible flow through a volute is proposed and evluated. The empirical coefficients needed for its closure are derived, for a range of volute configuration from 3D