scholarly journals Design, Optimization and Analysis of Supersonic Radial Turbines

Author(s):  
Lukas Benjamin Inhestern ◽  
James Braun ◽  
Guillermo Paniagua ◽  
José Ramón Serrano Cruz

Abstract New compact engine architectures such as pressure gain combustion require ad-hoc turbomachinery to ensure an adequate range of operation with high performance. A critical factor for supersonic turbines is to ensure the starting of the flow passages, which limits the flow turning and airfoil thickness. Radial outflow turbines inherently increase the cross section along the flow path, which holds great potential for high turning of supersonic flow with a low stage number and guarantees a compact design. First the preliminary design space is described. Afterwards a differential evolution multi-objective optimization with 12 geometrical design parameters is deducted. With the design tool AutoBlade 10.1, 768 geometries were generated and hub, shroud, and blade camber line were designed by means of Bezier curves. Outlet radius, passage height, and axial location of the outlet were design variables as well. Structured meshes with around 3.7 million cells per passage were generated. Steady three dimensional Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations, enclosed by the k-omega SST turbulence model were solved by the commercial solver CFD++. The geometry was optimized towards low entropy and high power output. To prove the functionality of the new turbine concept and optimization, a full wheel unsteady RANS simulation of the optimized geometry exposed to a nozzled rotating detonation combustor (RDC) has been performed and the advantageous flow patterns of the optimization were also observed during transient operation.

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Benjamin Inhestern ◽  
James Braun ◽  
Guillermo Paniagua ◽  
José Ramón Serrano Cruz

Abstract New compact engine architectures such as pressure gain combustion require ad hoc turbomachinery to ensure an adequate range of operation with high performance. A critical factor for supersonic turbines is to ensure the starting of the flow passages, which limits the flow turning and airfoil thickness. Radial outflow turbines inherently increase the cross section along the flow path, which holds great potential for high turning of supersonic flow with a low stage number and guarantees a compact design. First, the preliminary design space is described. Afterward a differential evolution multi-objective optimization with 12 geometrical design parameters is deducted. With the design tool autoblade 10.1, 768 geometries were generated and hub, shroud, and blade camber line were designed by means of Bezier curves. Outlet radius, passage height, and axial location of the outlet were design variables as well. Structured meshes with around 3.7 × 106 cells per passage were generated. Steady three-dimensional (3D) Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations, enclosed by the k-omega shear stress transport turbulence model were solved by the commercial solver CFD++. The geometry was optimized toward low entropy and high-power output. To prove the functionality of the new turbine concept and optimization, a full wheel unsteady RANS simulation of the optimized geometry exposed to a nozzled rotating detonation combustor (RDC) has been performed and the advantageous flow patterns of the optimization were also observed during transient operation.


Author(s):  
R. C. Schlaps ◽  
S. Shahpar ◽  
V. Gümmer

In order to increase the performance of a modern gas turbine, compressors are required to provide higher pressure ratio and avoid incurring higher losses. The tandem aerofoil has the potential to achieve a higher blade loading in combination with lower losses compared to single vanes. The main reason for this is due to the fact that a new boundary layer is generated on the second blade surface and the turning can be achieved with smaller separation occurring. The lift split between the two vanes with respect to the overall turning is an important design choice. In this paper an automated three-dimensional optimisation of a highly loaded compressor stator is presented. For optimisation a novel methodology based on the Multipoint Approximation Method (MAM) is used. MAM makes use of an automatic design of experiments, response surface modelling and a trust region to represent the design space. The CFD solutions are obtained with the high-fidelity 3D Navier-Stokes solver HYDRA. In order to increase the stage performance the 3D shape of the tandem vane is modified changing both the front and rear aerofoils. Moreover the relative location of the two aerofoils is controlled modifying the axial and tangential relative positions. It is shown that the novel optimisation methodology is able to cope with a large number of design parameters and produce designs which performs better than its single vane counterpart in terms of efficiency and numerical stall margin. One of the key challenges in producing an automatic optimisation process has been the automatic generation of high-fidelity computational meshes. The multi block-structured, high-fidelity meshing tool PADRAM is enhanced to cope with the tandem blade topologies. The wakes of each aerofoil is properly resolved and the interaction and the mixing of the front aerofoil wake and the second tandem vane are adequately resolved.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Puterbaugh ◽  
W. W. Copenhaver

An experimental investigation concerning tip flow field unsteadiness was performed for a high-performance, state-of-the-art transonic compressor rotor. Casing-mounted high frequency response pressure transducers were used to indicate both the ensemble averaged and time varying flow structure present in the tip region of the rotor at four different operating points at design speed. The ensemble averaged information revealed the shock structure as it evolved from a dual shock system at open throttle to an attached shock at peak efficiency to a detached orientation at near stall. Steady three-dimensional Navier Stokes analysis reveals the dominant flow structures in the tip region in support of the ensemble averaged measurements. A tip leakage vortex is evident at all operating points as regions of low static pressure and appears in the same location as the vortex found in the numerical solution. An unsteadiness parameter was calculated to quantify the unsteadiness in the tip cascade plane. In general, regions of peak unsteadiness appear near shocks and in the area interpreted as the shock-tip leakage vortex interaction. Local peaks of unsteadiness appear in mid-passage downstream of the shock-vortex interaction. Flow field features not evident in the ensemble averaged data are examined via a Navier-Stokes solution obtained at the near stall operating point.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (5) ◽  
pp. 735-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwang-Yong Kim ◽  
Seoung-Jin Seo

In this paper, the response surface method using a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes analysis to optimize the shape of a forward-curved-blade centrifugal fan is described. For the numerical analysis, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the standard k-ε turbulence model are discretized with finite volume approximations. The SIMPLEC algorithm is used as a velocity–pressure correction procedure. In order to reduce the huge computing time due to a large number of blades in forward-curved-blade centrifugal fan, the flow inside of the fan is regarded as steady flow by introducing the impeller force models. Four design variables, i.e., location of cutoff, radius of cutoff, expansion angle of scroll, and width of impeller, were selected to optimize the shapes of scroll and blades. Data points for response evaluations were selected by D-optimal design, and a linear programming method was used for the optimization on the response surface. As a main result of the optimization, the efficiency was successfully improved. Effects of the relative size of the inactive zone at the exit of impeller and momentum fluxes of the flow in scroll on efficiency were further discussed. It was found that the optimization process provides a reliable design of this kind of fan with reasonable computing time.


Author(s):  
Tom I-P. Shih ◽  
Yu-Liang Lin ◽  
Andrew J. Flores ◽  
Mark A. Stephens ◽  
Mark J. Rimlinger ◽  
...  

Abstract A pre-processor was developed to assist CFD experts and non-experts in performing steady, three-dimensional Navier-Stokes analysis of a class of inlet-bleed problems involving oblique shock-wave/ boundary-layer interactions on a flat plate with bleed into a plenum through rows of circular holes. With this pre-processor, once geometry (e.g., hole dimensions and arrangement) and flow conditions (e.g., Mach number, boundary-layer thickness, incident shock location) are inputted, it will automatically generate every file needed to perform a CFD analysis from the grid system to initial and boundary conditions. This is accomplished by accessing a knowledge base established by experts who understand both CFD and the class of problems being analyzed. For experts in CFD, this tool greatly reduces the amount of time and effort needed to setup a problem for CFD analysis. It also provides experts with knobs to make changes to the setup if desired. For non-experts in CFD, this tool enables reliable and correct usage of CFD. A typical session on a workstation from data input to the generation of all files needed to perform a CFD analysis involves less than ten minutes. This pre-processor, referred to as AUTOMAT-V2, is an improved version of a code called AUTOMAT. Improvements made include: (1) multi-block structured grids can be patched in addition to being overlapped; (2) embedded grids can be introduced near bleed holes to reduce the number of grid points/cells needed by a factor of up to four; (3) grid systems generated allow up to three levels of multigrid; (4) CFL3D is supported in addition to OVERFLOW, two well-known and highly regarded Navier-Stokes solvers developed at NASA’s Langley and Ames Research Centers; (5) all files needed to run RONNIE for patched grids and MAGGIE for overlapped grids are also generated; and (6) more design parameters can be investigated including the study of micro bleed and effects of flow/hole misalignments.


Author(s):  
Francesco Balduzzi ◽  
Alessandro Bianchini ◽  
Giovanni Ferrara ◽  
David Marten ◽  
George Pechlivanoglou ◽  
...  

Due to the rapid progress in high-performance computing and the availability of increasingly large computational resources, Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) now offers a cost-effective, versatile and accurate means to improve the understanding of the unsteady aerodynamics of Darrieus wind turbines and deliver more efficient designs. In particular, the possibility of determining a fully resolved flow field past the blades by means of CFD offers the opportunity to both further understand the physics underlying the turbine fluid dynamics and to use this knowledge to validate lower-order models, which can have a wider diffusion in the wind energy sector, particularly for industrial use, in the light of their lower computational burden. In this context, highly spatially and temporally refined time-dependent three-dimensional Navier-Stokes simulations were carried out using more than 16,000 processor cores per simulation on an IBM BG/Q cluster in order to investigate thoroughly the three-dimensional unsteady aerodynamics of a single blade in Darrieus-like motion. Particular attention was payed to tip losses, dynamic stall, and blade/wake interaction. CFD results are compared with those obtained with an open-source code based on the Lifting Line Free Vortex Wake Model (LLFVW). At present, this approach is the most refined method among the “lower-fidelity” models and, as the wake is explicitly resolved in contrast to BEM-based methods, LLFVW analyses provide three-dimensional flow solutions. Extended comparisons between the two approaches are presented and a critical analysis is carried out to identify the benefits and drawbacks of the two approaches.


Author(s):  
Francesco Balduzzi ◽  
David Marten ◽  
Alessandro Bianchini ◽  
Jernej Drofelnik ◽  
Lorenzo Ferrari ◽  
...  

Due to the rapid progress in high-performance computing and the availability of increasingly large computational resources, Navier–Stokes (NS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) now offers a cost-effective, versatile, and accurate means to improve the understanding of the unsteady aerodynamics of Darrieus wind turbines and deliver more efficient designs. In particular, the possibility of determining a fully resolved flow field past the blades by means of CFD offers the opportunity to both further understand the physics underlying the turbine fluid dynamics and to use this knowledge to validate lower-order models, which can have a wider diffusion in the wind energy sector, particularly for industrial use, in the light of their lower computational burden. In this context, highly spatially and temporally refined time-dependent three-dimensional (3D) NS simulations were carried out using more than 16,000 processor cores per simulation on an IBM BG/Q cluster in order to investigate thoroughly the 3D unsteady aerodynamics of a single blade in Darrieus-like motion. Particular attention was paid to tip losses, dynamic stall, and blade/wake interaction. CFD results are compared with those obtained with an open-source code based on the lifting line free vortex wake model (LLFVW). At present, this approach is the most refined method among the “lower-fidelity” models, and as the wake is explicitly resolved in contrast to blade element momentum (BEM)-based methods, LLFVW analyses provide 3D flow solutions. Extended comparisons between the two approaches are presented and a critical analysis is carried out to identify the benefits and drawbacks of the two approaches.


2003 ◽  
pp. 55-82
Author(s):  
M. Despotovic ◽  
Milun Babic ◽  
D. Milovanovic ◽  
Vanja Sustersic

This paper describes a three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes code, which has been developed for analysis of turbocompressor blade rows and other internal flows. Despite numerous numerical techniques and statement that Computational Fluid Dynamics has reached state of the art, issues related to successful simulations represent valuable database of how particular tech?nique behave for a specifie problem. This paper deals with rapid numerical method accurate enough to be used as a design tool. The mathematical model is based on System of Favre averaged Navier-Stokes equations that are written in relative frame of reference, which rotates with constant angular velocity around axis of rotation. The governing equations are solved using finite vol?ume method applied on structured grids. The numerical procedure is based on the explicit multistage Runge-Kutta scheme that is coupled with modem numerical procedures for convergence acceleration. To demonstrate the accuracy of the described numer?ical method developed software is applied to numerical analysis of flow through impeller of axial turbocompressor, and obtained results are compared with available experimental data.


Author(s):  
Chan-Sol Ahn ◽  
Kwang-Yong Kim

Design optimization of a transonic compressor rotor (NASA rotor 37) using the response surface method and three-dimensional Navier-Stokes analysis has been carried out in this work. The Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model was used in the flow analysis. Three design variables were selected to optimize the stacking line of the blade. Data points for response evaluations were selected by D-optimal design, and linear programming method was used for the optimization on the response surface. As a main result of the optimization, adiabatic efficiency was successfully improved. It was found that the optimization process provides reliable design of a turbomachinery blade with reasonable computing time.


Author(s):  
M. Pau ◽  
F. Cambuli ◽  
N. Mandas

Three dimensional steady multistage calculations, using mixing plane approach, are presented for two different blade geometries in a two stage axial test turbine with shrouded blades. A 3D multiblock Navier-Stokes finite volume solver (TBLOCK) has been used in all the simulations. In order to study shroud leakage flow effects the whole shroud cavity geometry has been modeled, overcoming most of the limitations of simple shroud leakage model in calculating fluid flow over complex geometries. Numerical investigations are mainly focused on assessing the ability of the solver to be used as multistage design tool for modeling leakage-mainstream flow interaction. Several calculations are compared. The first computes the main blade flow path with no modeling of the shroud cavities. The second includes the modeling of the shroud cavities for a zero leakage mass flow rate. Finally a multiblock calculation which models all the leakage flow paths and shroud cavities has been carried out for two different levels of shroud seal clearance. It is found that neglecting shroud leakage significantly alters the computed velocity profiles and loss distributions, for both the computed blade geometries. A numerically predicted shroud leakage offset loss is presented for the two considered blade geometries, focusing on the relative importance of the leakage flow, re-entry mixing losses, and inlet and exit shroud cavity effect. Results demonstrates that full calculation of leakage flow paths and cavities is required to obtain reliable results, indicating the different effects of the leakage-to-mainstream flow interaction on the blade geometries computed. Despite a slight increase in the computational time, multiblock approach in handling leakage flow problem can now-days be used as a practical tool in the blade design process and routine shroud leakage calculations.


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