scholarly journals Deterministic Stress Modeling for Multistage Compressor Flowfields

Author(s):  
Stefan Stollenwerk ◽  
Edmund Kügeler

Unsteadiness is one of the main characteristics in turbomachinery flows. Local unsteady changes in static pressure must exist within a turbo-machine in order for that machine to exchange energy with the fluid. The primary reason for unsteady effects lies in the interaction between moving and stationary blade rows. The industrial design process of aero-engines and gas turbines is still based on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) techniques where the coupling of blade rows is carried out by mixing-planes. However, this methodology does not cover deterministic unsteadiness in an adequate way. For standard aero-optimization, detailed unsteadiness is not essential to the designer of turbomachines but rather its effect on the time averaged solution. The time averaged deterministic unsteadiness can be expressed in terms of deterministic stresses. The present paper presents two different modeling strategies for deterministic stresses that constitute an improvement of the conventional steady mixing-plane approach. Whilst one of the presented models operates with deterministic flux terms based on preliminary unsteady simulations, the other one, a novel transport model for deterministic stress, is a stand-alone approach based on empirical correlations and a wide range of numerical experiments. A 4.5 stage transonic compressor is analyzed regarding blade row interaction effects and their impact on the time averaged solution. The two models are applied to the compressor and their solutions are compared to conventional mixing-plane, time accurate and experimental data. The results for the speedline, the wake shapes, the radial distributions and the rotor blade loadings show that the deterministic stress models strongly improve the RANS solution towards the time accurate and the experimental methods.

1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. N. Dawes

This paper describes recent developments to a three-dimensional, unstructured mesh, solution-adaptive Navier–Stokes solver. By adopting a simple, pragmatic but systematic approach to mesh generation, the range of simulations that can be attempted is extended toward arbitrary geometries. The combined benefits of the approach result in a powerful analytical ability. Solutions for a wide range of flows are presented, including a transonic compressor rotor, a centrifugal impeller, a steam turbine nozzle guide vane with casing extraction belt, the internal coolant passage of a radial inflow turbine, and a turbine disk cavity flow.


2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 385-391
Author(s):  
Jörg Bergner ◽  
Dietmar K. Hennecke ◽  
Martin Hoeger ◽  
Karl Engel

For Darmstadt University of Technology's axial singlestage transonic compressor rig, a new three-dimensional aft-swept rotor was designed and manufactured at MTU Aero Engines in Munich, Germany. The application of carbon fiber–reinforced plastic made it possible to overcome structural constraints and therefore to further increase the amount of lean and sweep of the blade. The aim of the design was to improve the mechanical stability at operation that is close to stall.To avoid the hazard of rubbing at the blade tip, which is found especially at off-design operating conditions close to the stability limit of the compression system, aft-sweep was introduced together with excessive backward lean.This article reports an investigation of the impact of various amounts of lean on the aerodynamic behavior of the compressor stage on the basis of steady-state Navier-Stokes simulations. The results indicate that high backward lean promotes an undesirable redistribution of mass flow and gives rise to a basic change in the shock pattern, whereas a forward-leaning geometry results in the development of a highly back-swept shock front. However, the disadvantage is a decrease in shock strength and efficiency.


Author(s):  
Stuart Moffatt ◽  
Li He

Forming the first part of a two-part paper, the methodology of an efficient frequency-domain approach for predicting the forced response of turbomachinery blades is presented. The capability and computational efficiency of the method are demonstrated in Part Two with a three-stage transonic compressor case. Interaction between fluid and structure is dealt with in a loosely coupled manner, based on the assumption of linear aerodynamic damping and negligible frequency shift. The Finite Element (FE) package ANSYS is used to provide the mode shape and natural frequency of a particular mode, which is interpolated onto the CFD mesh. The linearised unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are solved in the frequency domain using a single-passage approach to provide aerodynamic excitation and damping forces. Two methods of obtaining the single degree-of-freedom forced response solution are demonstrated: the Modal Reduction Technique, solving the modal forced response equation in modal space; and a new Energy Method, an alternative method allowing calculations to be performed directly and simply in physical space. Both methods are demonstrated in a preliminary case study of the NASA R67 transonic fan blade with excitation of the 1st torsion mode due to a hypothetical inlet distortion.


Author(s):  
Jean Lamouroux ◽  
Stéphane Richard ◽  
Quentin Malé ◽  
Gabriel Staffelbach ◽  
Antoine Dauptain ◽  
...  

Nowadays, models predicting soot emissions are, neither able to describe correctly fine effects of technological changes on sooting trends nor sufficiently validated at relevant operating conditions to match design office quantification needs. Yet, phenomenological descriptions of soot formation, containing key ingredients for soot modeling exist in the literature, such as the well-known Leung et al. model (Combust Flame 1991). This approach indeed includes contributions of nucleation, surface growth, coagulation, oxidation and thermophoretic transport of soot. When blindly applied to aeronautical combustors for different operating conditions, this model fails to hierarchize operating points compared to experimental measurements. The objective of this work is to propose an extension of the Leung model, including an identification of its constants over a wide range of condition relevant of gas turbines operation. Today, the identification process can hardly be based on laboratory flames since few detailed experimental data are available for heavy-fuels at high pressure. Thus, it is decided to directly target smoke number values measured at the engine exhaust for a variety of combustors and operating conditions from idling to take-off. A Large Eddy Simulation approach is retained for its intrinsic ability to reproduce finely unsteady behavior, mixing and intermittency. In this framework, The Leung model for soot is coupled to the TFLES model for combustion. It is shown that pressure-sensitive laws for the modelling constant of the soot surface chemistry are sufficient to reproduce engine emissions. Grid convergence is carried out to verify the robustness of the proposed approach. Several cases are then computed blindly to assess the prediction capabilities of the extended model. This study paves the way for the systematic use of a high fidelity tool solution in design office constraints for combustion chamber development.


Author(s):  
Gregory Bloch ◽  
James Loellbach ◽  
Chunill Hah

A numerical investigation of unsteady blade row interaction in a transonic axial compressor was performed. The compressor consists of an upstream wake generator (WG) blade row followed by a rotor blade row. Blade row interaction consists of two main effects: the downstream influence on the rotor flowfield of wakes and unsteady vortices shed from the wake generator, and the upstream influence on the wake generator of the rotor bow shock waves. An unsteady, two-dimensional, Navier-Stokes simulation was performed at the 75% span location of the compressor. Results from the numerical simulation are compared to previously reported numerical results and to experimental measurements from a similar case.


Author(s):  
David P. Gutzwiller ◽  
Mark G. Turner

Turbomachinery disks are highly stressed, heavy components used in virtually all axially configured gas turbines. Historically, simple plane stress models have primarily been used to quickly analyze the thickness profiles of thin compressor disks. The application of a plane stress model to a more complex system including large thermal gradients or composite materials is much less common. This paper will focus on low fidelity design studies of complex disk systems using a plane stress model. The automated design of a thick, high pressure turbine (HPT) disk with a large radial thermal gradient will be explored. This system clearly shows the limitations of a plane stress model. Discussion will focus on ways to identify and account for inaccuracies in the low fidelity turbine disk results. This paper will also explore the use of a low fidelity stress model in a fan disk design study including both isotropic and composite disk materials. This study shows that with proper assumptions, a plane stress model may be used to investigate a wide range of disk loading and geometry configurations in much less time than would be needed with higher fidelity tools. As examples, hardware from the GE E3 HPT and GE90 fan will be investigated using the disk design program T-Axi Disk. With proper assumptions and an understanding of the stress model, complex disk systems can be designed and optimized accurately at a low fidelity level. The time savings from using a low fidelity tool allows the designer to perform design studies that would be much more difficult or expensive using higher fidelity tools.


Author(s):  
Kevin Menzies

The gas turbine presents significant challenges to any computational fluid dynamics techniques. The combination of a wide range of flow phenomena with complex geometry is difficult to model in the context of Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) solvers. We review the potential for large eddy simulation (LES) in modelling the flow in the different components of the gas turbine during a practical engineering design cycle. We show that while LES has demonstrated considerable promise for reliable prediction of many flows in the engine that are difficult for RANS it is not a panacea and considerable application challenges remain. However, for many flows, especially those dominated by shear layer mixing such as in combustion chambers and exhausts, LES has demonstrated a clear superiority over RANS for moderately complex geometries although at significantly higher cost which will remain an issue in making the calculations relevant within the design cycle.


1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Sato ◽  
L. He

A 3-D unsteady thin-layer Navier-Stokes code has been used to calculate the flow through a centrifugal compressor stage. The validation of the code for steady flows in centrifugal compressors was conducted for the Krain’s impeller with a vaneless diffuser as a test case and the numerical results were compared with the experimental results. The predicted flow field and performance agreed well with the experimental data. An unsteady stage solution was then conducted with this impeller followed by a generic low-solidity vaned-diffuser to examine the unsteady effects on the impeller performance. The computational results showed a stabilising effect of the blade row interaction.


2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hembera ◽  
H.-P. Kau ◽  
E. Johann

This article presents the study of casing treatments on an axial compressor stage for improving stability and enhancing stall margin. So far, many simulations of casing treatments on single rotor or rotor-stator configurations were performed. But as the application of casing treatments in engines will be in a multistage compressor, in this study, the axial slots are applied to a typical transonic first stage of a high-pressure 4.5-stage compressor including an upstream IGV, rotor, and stator. The unsteady simulations are performed with a three-dimensional time accurate Favre-averaged Navier-stokes flow solver. In order to resolve all important flow mechanisms appearing through the use of casing treatments, a computational multiblock grid consisting of approximately 2.4 million nodes was used for the simulations. The configurations include axial slots in 4 different variations with an axial extension ranging into the blade passage of the IGV. Their shape is semicircular with no inclination in circumferential direction. The simulations proved the effectiveness of casing treatments with an upstream stator. However, the results also showed that the slots have to be carefully positioned relative to the stator location.


Author(s):  
Stefan Stollenwerk ◽  
Dirk Nu¨rnberger

The unsteady interaction between blade rows is very important in highly loaded compressors because of its influence on operating performance. One important effect in this context is the impact of a rotor bow shock on the wake of an upstream stator blade. A new transport model is proposed which introduces such deterministic unsteady effects in a steady solution environment. Deterministic stresses are added to the stationary RANS equations by means of an additional source term. The presented approach combines the advantages of time-accurate and stationary simulation procedures, i.e. physical accuracy and computational efficiency. A generic cascade of flat plates and a transonic stator-rotor configuration are investigated numerically using time-accurate methods in order to analyze the wake-shock interactions. The results are compared with steady mixing-plane solutions to point out their shortcomings regarding unsteady effects and to illustrate the demands of a deterministic stress approach. The model is then calibrated for the generic cascade before it is applied to the real three-dimensional compressor stage.


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