Computational Analysis of Compressor Blade Erosion in a Wet Compression System
In a gas turbine engine a wet compression system is installed to increase the net power output. However, this may erode compressor blades due to fine water droplets hitting the surface. In the present work, numerical investigations are carried out to study blade erosion by water droplets. The computational domain consists of a rotating blade jig on which four blades are mounted. This represents the simultaneous experiments being carried out. Sliding mesh method is used to incorporate rotary movement of the blades. Water is injected as spray using an impact-pin nozzle. Experimentally measured spray parameters like the flow rate, particle diameter, etc. are given as initial and boundary conditions in the simulations. Discrete Phase Model (DPM) is used to track the particles in the domain. Droplet parameters like average velocity, diameter and number of droplets hitting each cell on the blade surface are monitored. These parameters are then used to predict the rate of erosion on the surface. In this manuscript, the progresses in the prediction of blade erosion at various blade rotational speed (rpm) is reported.