Multi-Airfoil Navier–Stokes Simulations of Turbine Rotor–Stator Interaction

Abstract

An accurate numerical analysis of the flows associated with rotor–stator configurations in turbomachinery can be extremely helpful in optimizing the performance of turbomachinery. In this study the unsteady, thin-layer, Navier–Stokes equations in two spatial dimensions are solved on a system of patched and overlaid grids for an axial-turbine rotor–stator configuration. The governing equations are solved using a finite-difference, upwind algorithm that is set in an iterative, implicit framework. Results are presented in the form of pressure contours, time-averaged pressures, unsteady pressures, amplitudes, and phase. The numerical results are compared with experimental data and the agreement is found to be good. The results are also compared with those of an earlier study, which used only one rotor and one stator airfoil. The current study uses multiple rotor and stator airfoils and a pitch ratio that is much closer to the experimental ratio. Consequently, the results of this study are found to be closer to the experimental data.