Analysis of Solid Particle Ingestion and Dynamics in a Turbomachine Using Large-Eddy Simulation

Abstract

Erosion of compressor and turbine blades operating in extreme environment fouled with sand particles, ash or soot is a serious problem for gas turbine manufacturers and users. Indeed, operation of a gas turbine engine in such hostile conditions leads to drastic degradation of the aerodynamic performance of the components, mostly through surface roughness modification, tip clearance height increase or blunting of blade leading edges. To evaluate associated risks, the computation of particle trajectories and impacts through multiple turbomachinery stages by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) seems a decent path but remains a challenge. The numerical prediction of complex turbulent flows in compressors and turbines is however necessary in such a context and validations are still required. Recently, Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) has shown promising results for compressor and turbine configurations for a wide range of operating conditions at an acceptable cost. With this in mind, this article presents the assessment of a LES solver able to treat turbomachine configurations to predict solid particle motion. To do so, the governing equations of particle dynamics are introduced using the Lagrangian formalism and are solved to compute locations and conditions of impact, namely particle velocity, angle and radius. The fully unsteady and coupled strategy is applied to blade geometries for studying the main areas and conditions of impacts obtained with LES. For comparison, a one-way coupling computation based on a mean steady flow field where only the Lagrangian particles are advanced in time is performed to evaluate the gain and drawbacks of both methods.

Variations of cooling performance on turbine vanes due to incipient particle deposition

“…The particles were assumed to be spherical and non-deformable 11,18,27–29 and the drag coefficient, C D , in equation (3) can be thereby defined as 30 …”

Hydrophilic properties of soot particles exposed to OH radicals: A possible new mechanism involved in the contrail formation

“…5b. To estimate the evolution of the burnt gases in the HP turbine, a series of fluid particle trajectories is extracted from a previously computed Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of a representative configuration with the code AVBP of CERFACS [37]. The LES is performed for a compressible non reacting air flow, and allows obtaining the unsteady 3D velocity, pressure and temperature solution fields.…”