Leading-Edge Erosion and Floating Particles: Stagnation Point Simulation in Particle-Laden Turbulent Flow via Lagrangian Particle Tracking

Abstract

Since the stagnation point is subject to straining motion, this 3D experiment is an effort to simulate the stagnation plane, which applies to studying the particle erosion in rotary machine blades, such as wind turbines, gas turbines, and compressors. Wind turbine blade erosion, caused by particles such as sand, ice, insects, raindrops, and snowflakes, can significantly impact turbine efficiency, as with other rotary machines. Previous research has indicated that flow geometry and gravity can influence particle dynamics statistics. The current study’s laboratory experiment simulates the airfoil’s stagnation plane to investigate how floating particles cause erosion. The experiment involves seeding tracers and inertial particles in a strained turbulent flow with specific turbulent intensity, strain rate, and the presence of gravity. It is conducted on initially homogeneous turbulence undergoing a sudden axisymmetric expansion. The flow was generated in 100<Reλ<160. The Lagrangian particle tracking technique based on the 4-frame best estimate method was employed to measure the velocity field. The obtained results are with two different mean strain rates and Reynolds–Taylor microscales in the presence of gravity, which has not been considered in most numerical studies in a particle-laden turbulent flow. It provides a transparent window to investigate how particles of different sizes with distinct strain rates flow and their relationship to the turbulence intensity affects the erosion. Two most important issues are observed in the presence of gravity: Increasing the turbulence intensity from Reλ=100 to 160 led to a 10–23% increase in the erosion ratio, depending on the particle type and the flow strain rate. Likewise, a doubled mean strain rate of the flow (caused by deformation/shear flow) resulted in a 3–10% increase in erosion, depending on the particle type and Reynolds number. Moreover, the influence of gravity could potentially play a significant role in this observation.