Flow Analysis in Gas Turbine Pre-Swirl Cooling Air Systems: Variation of Geometric Parameters

Abstract

This paper reports experimental and numerical results of the flow in a high radius pre-swirl system. Numerical results have been compared with measurement data for the investigated test rig and are in good agreement with the experimental results. To get a better understanding of the flow structure and the influence of geometric parameters in pre-swirl systems, variations were performed by 3D-CFD simulations on a derived and simplified model. Variations of radius ratio of pre-swirler to receiver, the pre-swirl cavity height and the pre-swirl cavity width are shown. The influencing effects of the varied parameters are shown by looking at pre-swirl effectiveness and total pressure losses.