Presented is a numerical investigation of the characteristics of the internal flow field of a high-speed low-pressure ratio mixed flow turbine of 95.14 mm tip diameter. A commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code has been successfully employed. This has been carefully validated to experimental data taken from a turbine test facility at this institution. A comparison to gated (in phase with the turbine rotation) Laser Doppler Velocimetry measurements at the turbine trailing edge and total to static efficiencies at various operating conditions, was made showing good agreement. Details of the internal flow field from a numerical study using a 393,872 cell density model are presented. These details have been compared to a radial turbine of similar geometry and performance characteristics, also analyzed using the same cell density and analysis and boundary conditions. The flow field was found to be highly three-dimensional with the tip leakage vortex as the dominant secondary flow feature. The tip clearance flow was found to be significantly influenced by the relative motion of the shroud wall, which suppressed the development of a vortex within the mainstream passage particularly in the inducer region. Comparison to the radial turbine has shown noticeable differences concentrated in the inducer region where the greater Coriolis acceleration in the radial turbine is more influential in the development of secondary flows. Considerable loss is observed localized at the blade leading edge tip region along the full length of the blade pitch; this is associated with the increased streamline curvature in the meridional plane.
The turbine stage of an automotive pulse system turbocharger is subjected to an unsteady pulsating flow field due to the rapid opening and closing of the reciprocating engine exhaust valves. This leads to a complex and highly disturbed flow field within the delivery volute and turbine passages, which results in an unusual ‘hysteresis’ type performance characteristic. The aim of this paper is to investigate the flow field within the turbine stage under these representative conditions, using a computational method validated against experimental data. This paper is separated into two sections. The first deals with the validation of the numerical code and modeling approach. A mesh dependency study is undertaken with cell discretization ranging 200,000, 850,000 and 1,750,000 cells, where the accuracy is assessed through comparison with experimental performance and flow field measurements. The second part presents an investigation of the flow field under pulse conditions. Time accurate spectra of turbine performance and flow properties at various locations in the turbine stage are presented, as well as contour plots of velocity within a turbine passage at two critical positions during the pulse period.
The turbine stage of an automotive pulse system turbocharger is subjected to an unsteady pulsating flow field due to the rapid opening and closing of the reciprocating engine exhaust valves. This leads to a complex and highly disturbed flow field within the delivery volute and turbine passages, which results in an unusual “hysteresis” type performance characteristic. The aim of this paper is to investigate the flow field within the turbine stage under these representative conditions, using a computational method validated against experimental data. This paper is separated into two sections. The first deals with the validation of the numerical code and modeling approach. A mesh dependency study is undertaken with cell discretization ranging 200,000, 850,000, and 1,750,000 cells, where the accuracy is assessed through comparison with experimental performance and flow field measurements. The second part presents an investigation of the flow field under pulse conditions. Time accurate spectra of turbine performance and flow properties at various locations in the turbine stage are presented, as well as contour plots of velocity within a turbine passage at two critical positions during the pulse period.
Automotive turbocharger turbines experience a highly unsteady and pulsating flow field due to the abrupt operation of the exhaust valves in a reciprocating internal combustion engine. Previous work has demonstrated and validated against experiment a computational model of a turbine stage under such conditions. The same model is used in the present paper to examine in greater detail the complex flow characteristics observed. The pulsating inlet condition results in a highly disturbed flow field in the turbine stage, the main features of which have already been identified. The effect of the passing of the blades at the volute tongue is observed, and the fluctuating velocity field in the blade passages is seen to lead to poor flow direction control at the turbine inlet and exit. The turbine geometry, calculated for steady flow, is forced to operate away from design conditions for most of the pulse period. Through a detailed analysis of the intricate flow field features at varying instants during the pulse period, this paper highlights areas of the blade geometry and periods in the pulse profile that should be investigated further, such that the integrated performance across the entire pulse cycle can be improved.
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