Assessment of Various Turbulence Models in a High Pressure Ratio Centrifugal Compressor With an Object Oriented CFD Code

Abstract

The flow field in a high pressure ratio centrifugal compressor with a vaneless diffuser has been investigated numerically. The main goal is to assess the influence of various turbulence models suitable for internal flows with an adverse pressure gradient. The numerical analysis is performed with a 3D RANS in-house modified solver based on an object-oriented open-source library. According to previous studies from varying authors, the turbulence model is believed to be the key parameter for the discrepancy between experimental and numerical results, especially at high pressure ratios and high mass-flow. Particular care has been taken at the wall, where a detailed integration of the boundary layer has been applied. The results present different comparisons between the models and experimental data, showing the influence of using advanced turbulence models. This is done in order to capture the boundary layer behavior, especially in large adverse pressure gradient single stage machinery.