Turbomachinery

Reliable Blading Development with Aero-Mechanical Simulation

With ANSYS 16.0, engineers designing large gas turbines, as well manufacturers of other rotating machinery such as hydro turbines, steam turbines, pumps, etc., will benefit from key enhancements:

  • Single-stage transient rotor-stator simulations using the Fourier Transform method allow for simulations with large pitch changes to be more efficiently modeled than previously possible. This includes asymmetric flows like a jet engine fan subjected to cross-flow winds (e.g., at take-off), or a compressor impeller simulated together with a vaneless volute.
  • The ability to incorporate multiple flow disturbances in a simulation using the Fourier Transform method makes possible the very efficient simulation of blade flutter under the presence of an inlet disturbance, or transient disturbances at both inlet and outlet.
  • Expanded solution monitoring capabilities allow users to track derived statistical quantities from their solution monitors, making it much easier to determine when the periodic ‘quasi-steady’ solution is reached.

Engineers need advanced simulation tools to meet customer demands for more efficient and reliable high-performance machines. Besides the need to accurately predict aerodynamic performance across an increasingly wide range of speeds and operating conditions, engineers must guarantee a reliable design. For example, they need to ensure that blade vibration will be damped across the operating range and that cyclic unsteady loading will not impact the design life. Watch the video below to see how reliable turbomachinery blades can be developed with ANSYS solutions.

Watch the video and see how ANSYS CFD and Structural simulation solutions predict turbomachinery blade performance.

ANSYS provides a complete workflow aimed at helping engineers design reliable turbomachinery blading.

  • Automated, rapid and high quality 3D hexahedral blade row (rotor as well as stator) meshing
  • Accurate CFD simulations to determine key performance indicators like total pressure ratio and isentropic efficiency along the entire speedline
  • Efficient Transient Blade Row (TBR) models to simulate transient full 360 blade phenomena by only simulating a limited sector of the system
  • Turbomachinery-specific workflow to ensure that all blade natural frequencies and modes of vibration are aerodynamically damped. This is made possible by first determining these frequencies and modes in ANSYS Mechanical, then importing them as blade deformations into ANSYS CFX, performing a transient CFD simulation under these deformation conditions and assessing the stability of the blade (i.e., will the flow damp or excite the vibration?).
  • Turbomachinery-specific workflow to determine the stresses caused by the unsteady flow pressure fluctuations on the blade. This is made possible by first determining the unsteady flow pressure loads on the blade using TBR methods in ANSYS CFX. This information is then mapped to the blade geometry in ANSYS Mechanical and stresses are determined.
demo-simulation-blade-side-turbocharger-tmb7

Demonstration simulation of the turbine side of a turbocharger, using a geometry design provided by our partner PCA Engineering. The simulation demonstrates the capability of R16 solutions to use the Fourier Transform method to efficiently capture the interaction between stationary and rotating components (here the stationary inlet scroll and the rotating blades).

Rapid creation of high-quality hexahedral mesh with TurboGrid arrow Rapid creation of a high quality hexahedral mesh with TurboGrid.
Accurate CFD simulation delivers key information like the total pressure ratio for the entire speed line. arrow Accurate CFD simulation delivers key information like the total pressure radio
Forced response analysis performed with ANSYS Mechanical arrowForced response analysis performed with ANSYS Mechanical using CFD unsteady pressure loads as boundary conditions.