Large Eddy Simulation of a High Pressure Turbine Stage: Effects of Sub-Grid Scale Modeling and Mesh Resolution

Abstract

The use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools for integrated simulations of gas turbine components has emerged as a promising way to predict undesired component interactions thereby giving access to potentially better engine designs and higher efficiency. In this context, the ever-increasing computational power available worldwide makes it possible to envision integrated massively parallel combustion chamber-turbomachinery simulations based on Large-Eddy Simulations (LES). While LES have proven their superiority for combustor simulations, few studies have employed this approach in complete turbomachinery stages. The main reason for this is the known weaknesses of near wall flow modeling in CFD. Two approaches exist: the wall-modeled LES, where wall flow physics is modeled by a law-of-the-wall, and the wall-resolved LES where all the relevant near wall physics is to be captured by the grid leading to massive computational cost increases. This work investigates the sensitivity of wall-modeled LES of a high-pressure turbine stage. The code employed, called TurboAVBP, is an in-house LES code capable of handling turbomachinery configurations. This is possible through an LES-compatible approach with the rotor/stator interface treated based on an overset moving grids method. It is designed to avoid any interference with the numerical scheme, allow the proper representation of turbulent structures crossing it and run on massively parallel platforms. The simulations focus on the engine-representative MT1 transonic high-pressure turbine, tested by QinetiQ. To control the computational cost, the configuration employed is composed of 1 scaled stator section and 2 rotors. The main issues investigated are the effect of mesh resolution and the effect of sub-grid scale models in conjunction with wall modeling. The pressure profiles across the stator and rotor blades are in good agreement with the experimental data for all cases. Radial profiles at the rotor exit (in the near and far field) show improvement over RANS predictions. Unsteady flow features, inherently present in LES, are, however, found to be affected by the modeling parameters as evidenced by the obtained shock strengths and structures or turbulence content of the different simulations.