Understanding the Twin Scroll Turbine: Flow Similarity

Abstract

The current study investigates the flow conditions of a twin scroll asymmetric turbine. This is motivated by the operating conditions of the turbine at a heavy-duty reciprocating internal combustion engine with exhaust gas recirculation. The flow conditions of the turbine at the engine can be described best with the turbine scroll interaction map. Standard hot gas measurements of a turbocharger turbine are presented and discussed. Due to the strong interaction of the turbine scrolls, further hot gas measurements are performed at partial admission conditions. The turbine inlet conditions are analyzed experimentally, in order to characterize the turbine performance. The turbine scroll pressure ratio is varied, leading to unequal twin turbine admission conditions. The flow behavior is analyzed regarding its ability for further extrapolation. Beyond scroll pressure ratio variations, unequal temperature admission conditions were studied. A way of characterizing the representative turbine inlet temperature, regarding the reduced turbine speed, is presented. The different scroll parameter ratios are evaluated regarding their capability of describing flow similarity under different unequal turbine admission conditions. In this content, turbine scroll Mach number ratio, velocity ratio and mass flow ratio are assessed. Furthermore, a generic representation of the turbine flow conditions at the engine is presented, based on standard turbine performance maps.