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MDO and Robust Optimisation of High Pressure Turbine Components

Project funder: EU

Project lead and collaborators: Harvey Thompson (University of Leeds), Dr Gary Clayton (Rolls Royce, Derby, UK), Prof Tom Verstraete (Von Karman Institute, Brussels, Belgium)

Research theme: Microflows and Heat Transfer 

Summary of project

The requirement for ever more efficient gas turbine engines is leading to increased gas path temperatures, creating increasingly hostile environmental conditions for the adjacent turbomachinery and support structures. Cooling air systems are designed to protect vulnerable components from the hot gas that would otherwise be entrained into the cavities communicating with the gas path through the inevitable gaps between rotating and static parts. These cooling flows are bled from the compressor stages and, as they can represent around 20% of the total main gas path flow, leading to significant reductions in engine efficiency.

This project developed an automated design optimisation methodology for turbine stator wells in aero-engines, which can minimise these cooling flows using an innovative deflector plate technique. The geometry was parametrised in such a way that flexibility of the design is ensured: different shapes and positions of the deflector plate inside the cavity were generated automatically. The optimisation was very successful and enabled the cooling air mass flow rate to be reduced by approximately 65% compared to the baseline geometry, while still providing adequate cooling. The project also showed that thermo-mechanical movements in the stator wells can also be very influential and must be accounted for.

Relevant links

  • AMEDEO (Aerospace Multidisciplinarity-Enabling DEsign Optimisation) Innovative Training Network: http://www.amedeo-itn.eu/
  • MAGPI. ‘Main Annulus Gas Path Interaction – Specific Targeted Research Project’. EU contract no. 30874, 2006.
  • Pohl, J.; Fico, V.; Dixon, J. (2015) "Turbine Stator Well Cooling - Improved Geometry Benefits" Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2015: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition, June 15-19th 2015, GT2015-42658, Montreal, Canada.
  • Pohl, H.M. Thompson, R.C. Schlaps, S. Shahpar, V. Fico, G.A. Clayton, ‘Innovative turbine stator well design using a kriging assisted optimization method’ to appear in Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 2017.
  • J. Pohl, H. Thompson, A. Guijarro Valencia, G. Lopez Juste, V. Fico, G. A. Clayton, ‘Structural Deflection’s Impact in Turbine Stator Well Heat Transfer', Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 139, 041901-1, 2017.
Figure 1: baseline FE model (left) and deflector FE model (right)

Figure 1: baseline FE model (left) and deflector FE model (right)

Figure 2: CFD model of the two-stage MAGPI test rig

Figure 2: CFD model of the two-stage MAGPI test rig

Figure 3: Turbine Stator well flow structure for standard geometry (left), with inserted deflector (right)

Figure 3: Turbine Stator well flow structure for standard geometry (left), with inserted deflector (right)

Figure 4: (a) parametrisation of the deflector plate and (b) its position inside the cavity

Figure 4: (a) parametrisation of the deflector plate and (b) its position inside the cavity

Figure 5: Temperature distribution in the baseline (left) and optimised deflector plate geometry (right)

Figure 5: Temperature distribution in the baseline (left) and optimised deflector plate geometry (right)