Investigating the Cause of Computational Fluid Dynamics Deficiencies in Accurately Predicting the Efficiency and Performance of High Pressure Turbines: A Combined Experimental and Numerical Study

Abstract

Despite the tremendous progress over the past three decades in the area of turbomachinery computational fluid dynamics, there are still substantial differences between the experimental and the numerical results pertaining to the individual flow quantities. These differences are integrally noticeable in terms of major discrepancies in aerodynamic losses, efficiency, and performance of the turbomachines. As a consequence, engine manufacturers are compelled to frequently calibrate their simulation package by performing a series of experiments before issuing efficiency and performance guaranty. This paper aims at identifying the quantities, whose simulation inaccuracies are preeminently responsible for the aforementioned differences. This task requires (a) a meticulous experimental investigation of all individual thermofluid quantities and their interactions, resulting in an integral behavior of the turbomachine in terms of efficiency and performance; (b) a detailed numerical investigation using appropriate grid densities based on simulation sensitivity; and (c) steady and transient simulations to ensure their impact on the final numerical results. To perform the above experimental and numerical tasks, a two-stage, high-pressure axial turbine rotor has been designed and inserted into the TPFL turbine research facility for generating benchmark data to compare with the numerical results. Detailed interstage radial and circumferential traversing presents a complete flow picture of the second stage. Performance measurements were carried out for design and off-design rotational speed. For comparison with numerical simulations, the turbine was numerically modeled using a commercial code. An extensive mesh sensitivity study was performed to achieve a grid-independent accuracy for both steady and transient analysis.