Prestige
Massively parallel high-performance computer-based simulation to predict the multidisciplinary transient behavior of engine systems on industrial time scales

Flow conditions at the combustor turbine interface (CTI) are characterised by large flow angles, strong temperature distortions, and high levels of turbulence. A proper representation of these conditions is critical to the prediction accuracy of CFD simulations in the development of robust high-pressure turbine designs. The widely used decoupled approach, in which the combustor and turbine are simulated separately and 2D mean-field data are passed over at the interface, can predict time-averaged flow angles and temperature distribution at the turbine inlet but does not account for unsteadiness. Previous studies have highlighted the effect of combustor unsteadiness on the turbine design and have pointed out the importance of properly representing the turbulence in the turbine inlet boundary condition.

A novel way for unsteady 1-way coupling of combustor and turbine has been developed. The method uses Proper Orthogonal Decomposition and Fourier series (PODFS) to compress the interface data. This method allows the use of full unsteady outlet conditions of a combustor simulation as the inlet boundary condition of an independent turbine simulation. By using scale-resolving simulation methods, the effects of combustion-induced turbulence and unsteady flow features on the aero-thermal behaviour of high-pressure turbines can be investigated.

Methodology

Scale-Resolving CFD: Using the commercial solver ANSYS CFX and the Rolls-Royce in-house CFD solver HYDRA, compressible scale-resolving simulation with unsteady inlet boundary conditions

Key Scientific Takeaways

  • Development of a method to collect transient snapshot data and to use it in the PODFS method for data compression.
  • Implementation of a PODFS-reader in HYDRA and ANSYS CFX.
  • Investigation of the effect of unsteady inlet boundary conditions on the high-pressure turbine.
  • The modelling of combustor unsteadiness is strongly affecting the thermal loading of the turbine.
  • The effectiveness of film-cooling is altered by the modelling of combustor unsteadiness.

Related Projects

PERseuS (opens in new tab) (2023 – 2026)

Funding and cooperation

Prestige is a joint research program in the frame of LuFo V Call 3. It is financially supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) under grant number 20T1716A, and Rolls-Royce Deutschland. Calculations for this research were conducted on the Lichtenberg high performance computer of the TU Darmstadt.

Publications

  • Gründler, Jonathan; Lehmann, Knut; Schiffer, Heinz-Peter: The Effect of Unsteady Inlet Boundary Conditions on the Aero-Thermal Behavior of High-Pressure Turbine Vanes: A Numerical Study Using Scale-Resolving Simulations. In: Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2023: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition 2023, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, doi:10.1115/GT2023-100884, [Conference]
  • Gründler, Jonathan; Schiffer, Heinz-Peter; Lehmann, Knut: An Efficient Unsteady 1-Way Coupling Method of Combustor and Turbine. In: Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2022: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition 2022, Rotterdam, Netherlands, doi:10.1115/GT2022-78056, [Conference]