Large-eddy simulations (LES) of wall bounded, low Mach number turbulent flows are conducted using an unstructured finite-volume solver of the compressible flow equations. The numerical method employs linear reconstructions of the primitive variables based on the least-squares approach of Barth. The standard Smagorinsky model is adopted as the subgrid term. The artificial viscosity inherent to the spatial discretization is maintained as low as possible reducing the dissipative contribution embedded in the approximate Riemann solver to the minimum necessary. Comparisons are also discussed with the results obtained using the implicit LES (ILES) procedure. Two canonical test-cases are described: a fully developed pipe flow at a bulk Reynolds number Reb = 44 × 103 based on the pipe diameter, and a confined rotor–stator flow at the rotational Reynolds number ReΩ = 4 × 105 based on the outer radius. In both cases, the mean flow and the turbulent statistics agree well with existing direct numerical simulations (DNS) or experimental data.

No abstract

SUMMARYThis paper describes the development of a mesh deformation method used for aero-thermo-mechanical coupling of turbo-engine components. The method is based on the nonlinear solution of an elastic medium analogy, solved using finite element discretization, and modified to let the boundary nodes be free to slide over the deflected surfaces. This sliding technique relies on a B-Spline reconstruction of the moving boundary, and increases the robustness of the method in situations where the boundary deflection field presents significant gradients, or large relative motion between two distinct boundaries. The performance of the method is illustrated with the application to an interstage cavity of a turbine assembly, subjected to the deformations computed by a coupled thermo-mechanical analysis of the engine component.

As the complexity of multi-physics simulations increases, there is a need for efficient flow of information between components. Discrete 'coupler' codes can abstract away this process, improving solver interoperability. One such multi-physics problem is modelling the high pressure compressor of turbofan engines, where instances of rotor/stator CFD simulations are coupled. Configuring couplers and allocating resources correctly can be challenging for such problems due to the sliding interfaces between codes. In this research, we present CPX, a mini-coupler designed to model the performance behaviour of a production coupler framework at Rolls-Royce plc., used for coupling rotor/stator simulations. CPX, the first mini-coupler framework of its kind, is combined with a CFD mini-app to predict the run-time and scaling behaviour of large scale coupled CFD simulations. We demonstrate high qualitative and quantitative predictive accuracy with a less than 17% mean error. A performance model is developed to predict the 'optimum' configuration of resources, and is tested to show the high accuracy of these predictions. The model is also used to project the 'optimum' configuration for a 6 Billion cell test case, a problem size representative of current leading-edge production workloads, on a 100,000 core cluster and a 400 GPU cluster. Further testing reveals that the 'optimum' configuration is unstable if not set up correctly, and therefore a trade-off needs to be made with a marginally lessthan-optimal setup to ensure stability. The work illustrates the significant utility of CPX to carry out such rapid design space and run-time setup exploration studies to obtain the best performance from production CFD coupled simulations.

Flow and heat transfer in an aero-engine compressor disc cavity with radial inflow has been studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), large eddy simulation (LES) and coupled fluid/solid modelling.Standalone CFD investigations were conducted using a set of popular turbulence models along with 0.2° 1 Corresponding author.Contributed by the International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. ASME J Gas Turb Pwr GTP-15-1298 SUN 2 /56 axisymmetric and a 22.5° discrete sector CFD models. The overall agreement between the CFD predictions is good, and solutions are comparable to an established integral method solution in the major part of the cavity. The LES simulation demonstrates that flow unsteadiness in the cavity due to the unstable thermal stratification is largely suppressed by the radial inflow. Steady flow CFD modelling using the axisymmetric sector model and the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model was coupled with a finite element (FE) thermal model of the rotating cavity. Good agreement was obtained between the coupled solution and rig test data in terms of metal temperature. Analysis confirms that use of a small radial bleed flow in compressor cavities is effective in reducing thermal response times for the compressor discs and that this could be applied in management of compressor blade clearance.