A geometry generation framework for contoured endwalls

The mainstream, or primary, flow in a gas turbine annulus is characteristically two-dimensional over the mid-span region of the blading, where the radial flow is almost negligible. Contrastingly, the flow in the endwall and tip regions of the blading is highly three-dimensional, characterised by boundary layer effects, secondary flow features and interaction with cooling flows. Engine designers employ geometric contouring of the endwall region in order to reduce secondary flow effects and subsequently minimise their contribution to aerodynamic loss.Such is the geometric variation of vane and blade profiles - which hasbecome a proprietary art form - the specification of an effective endwall geometry is equally unique to each blade-row. Endwall design methods, which are often directly coupled to aerodynamic optimisers, are widely developed to assist with the generation of contoured surfaces. Most of these construction methods are limited to the blade-row under investigation, while few demonstrate the controllability required to offer a universal platform for endwall design.This paper presents a Geometry Generation Framework (GGF) for the generation of contoured endwalls. The framework employs an adaptable meshing strategy, capable of being applied to any vane or blade, and a versatile function-based approach to defining the endwall shape. The flexibility of this novel approach is demonstrated by recreating a selection of endwalls from the literature, which were selected for their wide-range of contouring approaches

Crossing boundaries: Exploring the theory, practice and possibility of a ‘Future 3’ curriculum

In this article, we examine a case of innovation in curriculum and pedagogy at a new school in the UK. We begin by outlining the 3 Futures model, which we use as a methodological heuristic in the case study of the school that appears to be both knowledge‐led and learner‐engaged; characteristics of the Future 3 scenario. In considering the school's curriculum, we also draw on a number of concepts from the work of Basil Bernstein: classification, framing and the idea of open schools, and a curriculum integration model developed by us to consider the degree of epistemic emphasis in the school's predominantly interdisciplinary curriculum. Together, these concepts provide the means to examine the organising principles of practice operating in the school, as links are drawn between the 3 Futures model, Bernstein's concepts and the data. We theorise this as a form of ‘opening up’, suggesting that even within the context of an interdisciplinary curriculum, access to powerful knowledge may be maintained in a whole‐school approach where the demands of both knowledge and knowers are brought into balance. The school's approach and the theorisation we offer may provide insights for other schools embarking on a futures model for education and for twenty‐first‐century educational discourses more generally