Direct Numerical Simulations of Turbulent Flow over Low-Pressure Turbine Blades with Aeroelastic Vibrations and Inflow Wakes

Mahdi Erfanian Nakhchi (), Shine Win Naung and Mohammad Rahmati
Additional contact information
Mahdi Erfanian Nakhchi: Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Shine Win Naung: Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Mohammad Rahmati: Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 6, 1-21

Abstract: In the present work, direct numerical simulation is employed to investigate the unsteady flow characteristics and energy performance of low-pressure turbines (LPT) by considering the blades aeroelastic vibrations and inflow wakes. The effects of inflow disturbance (0 < φ < 0.91) and reduced blade vibration (0 < f < 250 Hz) on the turbulent flow behavior of LPTs are investigated for the first time. The transient governing equations on the vibrating blades are modelled by the high-order spectral/hp element method. The results revealed that by increasing the inflow disturbances, the separated bubbles tend to shrink, which has a noticeable influence on the pressure in the downstream region. The maximum wake loss value is reduced by 16.4% by increasing the φ from 0.31 to 0.91. The flow separation is majorly affected by inflow wakes and blade vibrations. The results revealed that the maximum pressure coefficient in the separated flow region of the vibrating blade has been increased by 108% by raising φ from 0 to 0.91. The blade vibration further intensifies the vortex generation process, adding more energy to the flow and the downstream vortex shedding. The vortex generation and shedding are intensified on the vibrating blade compared to the non-vibrating one that is subject to inflow wakes. The results and findings from this paper are also useful for the design and modeling of turbine blades that are prone to aeroelastic instabilities, such as large offshore wind turbine blades.

Keywords: direct numerical simulation; blade aeroelasticity; fluid-structure interaction; incoming wakes; turbulence modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/6/2803/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/6/2803/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:6:p:2803-:d:1100449

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().