An Incompressible Axisymmetric Through-Flow Calculation Procedure for Design and Off-Design Analysis of Turbomachinery

A computational procedure has been developed which solves the steady- state incompressible Navier-Stokes (or Reynolds) equations for axisymmetric flows through turbomachinery. The solution of the Navier-Stokes equations allows for the prediction of recirculating flow regions that my be due to either through-flow geometry or off-design operating conditions. The effects of the blade rows are represented in an approximate manner by replacing the forces they impart to the fluid in the axial, radial, and tangential directions with body forces. In order to provide an algorithm which can be applied to arbitrary turbomachinery geometries, the grid covering the flow domain is mapped into a computational plane in which the nodal spacing becomes unity. The Navier-Stokes equations are transformed so that they become a spatial function of the generalized curvilinear coordinates that describe the computational plane. Local flux conservation is ensured by expressing the system of equations in conservative form and discretizing them using a control volume approach. The Pressure Weighted Interpolation Method (PWIM), coupled with the SIMPLEC algorithm, is used to iteratively solve the discretized equations on a nonstaggered grid. Turbomachinery, Incompressible, Axisymmetric, Navier-Stokes, Blade-row effects