Numerical Study of Deterministic Fluxes in Compressor Passages

Author(s):  
Feng Wang ◽  
Mauro Carnevale ◽  
Luca di Mare

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been widely adopted at the compressor design process, but it remains a challenge to predict the flow details, performance and stage matching for multi-stage, high-speed machines accurately. The Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation with mixing plane for bladerow coupling is still the workhorse in the industry and the unsteady bladerow interaction is discarded. This paper examines these discarded unsteady effects via deterministic fluxes using semi-analytical and URANS calculations. The study starts from a planar duct under periodic perturbations. The study shows that under large perturbations, the mixing plane produces dubious mixed-out variables, e.g. whirl angle. The performance of the mixing plane can be considerably improved by including deterministic fluxes into the mixing plane formulation. This demonstrates the effect of deterministic fluxes at the bladerow interface. Furthermore the front stages of a 19-blade row compressor are investigated and URANS solutions are compared with RANS solutions. The magnitude of divergence of Reynolds stresses and deterministic stresses are compared. The effect of deterministic fluxes are demonstrated on whirl angle and radial profiles of total pressure and so on. The enhanced spanwise mixing due to deterministic fluxes are also observed. The effect of deterministic fluxes are confirmed via the non-linear harmonic method which includes the deterministic fluxes in the mean flow and the study of multistage compressor shows that unsteady effects, which are quantified by deterministic fluxes, are indispensable to have credible predictions of the flow details and performance of compressor even at its design stage.

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Wang ◽  
Mauro Carnevale ◽  
Luca di Mare

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been widely adopted in the compressor design process, but it remains a challenge to predict the flow details, performance, and stage matching for multistage, high-speed machines accurately. The Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation with mixing plane for bladerow coupling is still the workhorse in the industry and the unsteady bladerow interaction is discarded. This paper examines these discarded unsteady effects via deterministic fluxes using semi-analytical and unsteady RANS (URANS) calculations. The study starts from a planar duct under periodic perturbations. The study shows that under large perturbations, the mixing plane produces dubious values of flow quantities (e.g., whirl angle). The performance of the mixing plane can be considerably improved by including deterministic fluxes into the mixing plane formulation. This demonstrates the effect of deterministic fluxes at the bladerow interface. Furthermore, the front stages of a 19-blade row compressor are investigated and URANS solutions are compared with RANS mixing plane solutions. The magnitudes of divergence of Reynolds stresses (RS) and deterministic stresses (DS) are compared. The effect of deterministic fluxes is demonstrated on whirl angle and radial profiles of total pressure and so on. The enhanced spanwise mixing due to deterministic fluxes is also observed. The effect of deterministic fluxes is confirmed via the nonlinear harmonic (NLH) method which includes the deterministic fluxes in the mean flow, and the study of multistage compressor shows that unsteady effects, which are quantified by deterministic fluxes, are indispensable to have credible predictions of the flow details and performance of compressor even at its design stage.


Author(s):  
Yan-Ling Li ◽  
Abdulnaser Sayma

Variable Stator Vanes (VSVs) are commonly used in multi-stage axial compressors for stage matching at part load operations and during start up. Improper VSVs settings or malfunction of the controlling actuator system can lead to compressor instabilities including rotating stall and surge. It is important to be able to predict the aerodynamic behaviour of compressors in such events to either produce tolerant designs or incorporate diagnosis and recovery systems. This paper presents a numerical study of a compressor operating near the stall boundary for a mal-scheduled VSVs case. A high-speed three-stage axial compressor with Inlet Guide Vanes (IGV) is used in the investigation because of its relative simplicity and availability of geometry and aerodynamic data. A 3D RANS viscous unsteady time-accurate flow solver was used to perform the full annulus simulation with a downstream variable nozzle to control outflow boundary conditions. The unstructured mesh contained about 25 million grid points and the simulation was performed on a high performance computing cluster for many engine rotations. Rotating stall with one single cell covering several passages in all three rotors was predicted which propagated at approximately half of the shaft speed. Full analysis of the flow features is presented in the paper.


Author(s):  
E. Yim ◽  
P. Meliga ◽  
F. Gallaire

We investigate the saturation of harmonically forced disturbances in the turbulent flow over a backward-facing step subjected to a finite amplitude forcing. The analysis relies on a triple decomposition of the unsteady flow into mean, coherent and incoherent components. The coherent–incoherent interaction is lumped into a Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) eddy viscosity model, and the mean–coherent interaction is analysed via a semi-linear resolvent analysis building on the laminar approach by Mantič-Lugo & Gallaire (2016 J. Fluid Mech. 793 , 777–797. ( doi:10.1017/jfm.2016.109 )). This provides a self-consistent modelling of the interaction between all three components, in the sense that the coherent perturbation structures selected by the resolvent analysis are those whose Reynolds stresses force the mean flow in such a way that the mean flow generates exactly the aforementioned perturbations, while also accounting for the effect of the incoherent scale. The model does not require any input from numerical or experimental data, and accurately predicts the saturation of the forced coherent disturbances, as established from comparison to time-averages of unsteady RANS simulation data.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Chin ◽  
M. Li ◽  
C. Harkin ◽  
T. Rochwerger ◽  
L. Chan ◽  
...  

A numerical study of compressible jet flows is carried out using Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) turbulence models such as k-ɛ and k-ω-SST. An experimental investigation is performed concurrently using high-speed optical methods such as Schlieren photography and shadowgraphy. Numerical and experimental studies are carried out for the compressible impinging at various impinging angles and nozzle-to-wall distances. The results from both investigations converge remarkably well and agree with experimental data from the open literature. From the flow visualizations of the velocity fields, the RANS simulations accurately model the shock structures within the core jet region. The first shock cell is found to be constraint due to the interaction with the bow-shock structure for nozzle-to-wall distance less than 1.5 nozzle diameter. The results from the current study show that the RANS models utilized are suitable to simulate compressible free jets and impinging jet flows with varying impinging angles.


2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. Younis ◽  
A. Abrishamchi

The paper reports on the prediction of the turbulent flow field around a three-dimensional, surface mounted, square-sectioned cylinder at Reynolds numbers in the range 104–105. The effects of turbulence are accounted for in two different ways: by performing large-eddy simulations (LES) with a Smagorinsky model for the subgrid-scale motions and by solving the unsteady form of the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (URANS) together with a turbulence model to determine the resulting Reynolds stresses. The turbulence model used is a two-equation, eddy-viscosity closure that incorporates a term designed to account for the interactions between the organized mean-flow periodicity and the random turbulent motions. Comparisons with experimental data show that the two approaches yield results that are generally comparable and in good accord with the experimental data. The main conclusion of this work is that the URANS approach, which is considerably less demanding in terms of computer resources than LES, can reliably be used for the prediction of unsteady separated flows provided that the effects of organized mean-flow unsteadiness on the turbulence are properly accounted for in the turbulence model.


Author(s):  
Jose Moreno ◽  
John Dodds ◽  
Mehdi Vahdati ◽  
Sina Stapelfeldt

Abstract Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are employed for aerodynamic and aeroelastic modelling in axial compressors. Their solutions are highly dependent on the turbulence models for closure. The main objective of this work is to assess the widely used Spalart-Allmaras model’s suitability for compressor flows. For this purpose, an extensive investigation of the sources of uncertainties in a high-speed multi-stage compressor rig was carried out. The grid resolution near the casing end wall, which affects the tip leakage flow and casing boundary layer, was found to have a major effect on the stability limit prediction. Refinements in this region led to a stall margin loss prediction. It was found that this loss was exclusively due to the destruction term in the SA model.


Author(s):  
Xiufeng Liang ◽  
Jianmin Yang ◽  
Longfei Xiao ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
Jun Li

The importance of understanding air gap response and potential deck impact is well-known in the design stage of semi-submersible platform. The highly non-linear nature of wave elevation around large structures in steep waves makes it difficult to accurately predict wave field under the deck and wave run up along the columns. Present engineering tools for the prediction of air gap response generally based on simplified models. Even the models accounting for nonlinear wave diffraction is not free of uncertainties. A method adopted here couples a Navier-Stokes solver, VOF technique capturing violent free surface and DNV/Seasam predicting motions of moored semi-submersible platform. Air gap response at different locations of the hull was evaluated in predetermined irregular wave train. Wave run up was also measured by wave probes near the columns. Load cells were mounted under the deck of the platform to trace potential deck impact. The predetermined irregular wave train was simulated in a numerical wave tank and verified against physical tank results. Analysis of the air gap response, wave run up and impact loads on the semi-submersible platform were conducted.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (33) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Andrea Ruju ◽  
Pablo Higuera ◽  
Javier L. Lara ◽  
Inigo J. Losada ◽  
Giovanni Coco

This work presents the numerical study of rip current circulation on a barred beach. The numerical simulations have been carried out with the IH-FOAM model which is based on the three dimensional Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The new boundary conditions implemented in IH-FOAM have been used, including three dimensional wave generation as well as active wave absorption at the boundary. Applying the specific wave generation boundary conditions, the model is validated to simulate rip circulation on a barred beach. Moreover, this study addresses the identification of the forcing mechanisms and the three dimensional structure of the mean flow.


1999 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Spall ◽  
Blake M. Ashby

Solutions to the incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations have been obtained for turbulent vortex breakdown within a slightly diverging tube. Inlet boundary conditions were derived from available experimental data for the mean flow and turbulence kinetic energy. The performance of both two-equation and full differential Reynolds stress models was evaluated. Axisymmetric results revealed that the initiation of vortex breakdown was reasonably well predicted by the differential Reynolds stress model. However, the standard K-ε model failed to predict the occurrence of breakdown. The differential Reynolds stress model also predicted satisfactorily the mean azimuthal and axial velocity profiles downstream of the breakdown, whereas results using the K-ε model were unsatisfactory. [S0098-2202(00)01601-1]


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Reinhardt ◽  
Leonhard Kleiser

The objective of the present numerical study is the validation of wall-bounded, turbulent particle-laden air flow simulations for a wide range of flow and particle parameters (i.e., flow and particle Reynolds numbers, Stokes number, particle-to-fluid density ratio, ratio of particle diameter to turbulent length scale) covering the one-, two- and four-way coupling regimes. The applied computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model follows the Eulerian two-fluid approach in a Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) context and is based on the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF) for closures concerning the particulate phase. The fluid turbulence is modeled applying a low-Reynolds-number k–epsilon turbulence model. The main focus is put on the modeling of turbulence coupling between the fluid and the particle phase. Different from common practice, the choice of a model accounting for turbulence modulation is made dependent on the prevailing coupling regime. For the case of four-way coupling, a new modulation model is suggested that well predicts turbulence augmentation and attenuation. The predictive capabilities of the present approach are evaluated by comparing simulation results to experimental benchmark data of various pipe and channel flows. Very good agreement with reference data is obtained for the mean flow and turbulence profiles of both phases.


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