Extra-Low Reynolds Number Vane Separation Using Immersed Boundary Method

Nowadays, mini unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAVs) and micro air vehicles (MAVs) are not only beneficially used as aviation models but also as modern drones for military missions and other civilian applications. Hence, research and development of propulsion sources for MUAVs and MAVs dynamically increase with a future trend of high performance, but low energy consumption. Certainly, using micro and ultra-small-size gas turbine is a good option for the propulsion source. To achieve ideal flight of MUAVs and MAVs powered by micro and ultra-small-size gas turbines under this trend, understanding of flow phenomena at wide ranges of Reynolds number is essential. This research presents a 2D numerical study of characteristics of laminar flow separation and the trailing-edge vortex on a turbine vane at extra-low Reynolds numbers (Res) i.e. Re = 1800 and 3600, and three rotational angles (α) i.e. α = 0°, 15° and 30° using immersed boundary method (IBM). With this method, the problem of incompressible flow is addressed by a sharp interface IBM. Numerical results indicate that IBM can characterize phenomena of laminar separation flow, which usually happens on the turbine airfoil when laminar boundary layer cannot overcome adverse pressure gradients and viscous effects. To our current knowledge, this may be the first research to study flow behavior at such low Res for gas turbine vanes using IBM. Even though it is now not common to operate micro and ultra-small-size gas turbines under these conditions, it is important to know how aerodynamic performance may be if micro and ultra-small-size gas turbines need to run under such conditions in the near future.