The development of future propulsion systems, targeting superior efficiencies with ultra compact designs, may rely on the extraction of power from high supersonic flows. In conventional supersonic turbines operating under such extreme flow conditions, the presence of airfoils induces important flow perturbations that originate severe aerodynamic losses while restricting the operating range due to starting issues. These limitations represent design opportunities for bladeless turbines.
The present paper documents for the first time in the open literature an axial bladeless turbine concept, able to extract mechanical power from high supersonic flows through an annular channel. The tangential drag force exerted by the viscous supersonic flow on the rotating inner and outer endwalls produce power, with enhanced simplicity, coolability, manufacturability, and maintainability. Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations allowed the detailed evaluation of the aerodynamic performance of the bladeless configuration. The present unconventional axial turbine concept becomes an exceptional design choice when one seeks to extract certain amount of power from supersonic flows with minimum pressure losses.
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