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The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. The effect of compressor fouling on the performance of a gas turbine has been the subject of several papers; however, the goal of this paper is to address a more fundamental question of the effect of fouling, which is the onset of unstable operation of the compressor. Compressor fouling experiments have been carried out on a test rig refitted with TJ100 small jet engine with centrifugal compressor. Fouling on the compressor blade was simulated with texturized paint with average roughness value of 6 microns. Compressor characteristic was measured for both the clean (baseline) and fouled compressor blades at several rotational speeds by throttling the engine with variable exhaust nozzle. A Greitzer-type compression system model has been applied based on the geometric and performance parameters of the TJ100 small jet engine test rig. Frequency of plenum pressure fluctuation, the mean disturbance flow coefficient and pressure-rise coefficient at the onset of plenum flowfield disturbance predicted by the model was compared with the measurement for both the baseline and fouled engine. Model prediction of the flowfield parameters at inception of unstable operation in the compressor showed good agreement with the experimental data. The results proved that used simple Greitzer model is suitable for prediction of the engine compressor unstable behaviour and prediction of the mild surge inception point for both the clean and the fouled compressor.

Pressure Gain Combustion (PGC) is considered a possible solution to increase gas turbine cycle efficiency, due to the lower entropy generation in the combustion process. However, the highly unsteady flow produced by PGC makes it more difficult to extract work from its exhaust gas. Any outlet restriction downstream of PGC, such as turbine blades, affects its flow field and may cause additional thermodynamic losses. The unsteadiness in the form of pressure, temperature and velocity vector fluctuations has a negative impact on the operation of conventional turbines. Therefore, evaluating early turbine design parameters for such applications is of great interest. Additionally, experimental measurements and data acquisition present researchers with challenges that have to do mostly with the high temperature exhaust of PGC and the high frequency of its operation. Numerical simulations can provide important insights into PGC exhaust flow and its interaction with turbine blades. In this paper, a Rotating Detonation Combustor (RDC) and a row of nozzle guide vanes have been modeled based on the data from literature and an available experimental setup at TU Berlin. Five guide vane configurations with different geometrical parameters have been modeled. URANS simulations were done for all guide vane arrangements to investigate the effect of solidity and blade type representing different outlet restrictions on the RDC exhaust flow. Total pressure loss and velocity fluctuation were computed upstream and downstream of the vanes. The results analzed the connection between total pressure loss and the vanes solidity and thickness to chord ratio. It is observed that more than 57% of the upstream velocity angle fluctuation amplitude was damped by the vanes. Furthermore, the area reduction was found to be the significant driving factor for damping the velocity angle fluctuations, whether in the form of solidity or thickness on chord ratio increment. A further study of the flow field details revealed that the vane passages act as convergent divergent nozzles in the unsteady flow field and no compression wave exists upstream. This RDC exhaust flow investigation is an important primary step from a turbomachinery standpoint, which provided details of blade behavior in such an unsteady flow field.

Over the past years, nonlinear frequency-domain methods have become a state-of-the-art technique for the numerical simulation of unsteady flow fields within multistage turbomachinery as they are capable of fully exploiting the given spatial and temporal periodicities, as well as modelling flow nonlinearities in a computationally efficient manner. Despite this success, it still remains a significant challenge to capture nonlinear interaction effects within the context of configurations with multiple fundamental frequencies. If all frequencies are integer multiples of a common fundamental frequency, the interval spanned by the sampling points typically resolves the period of the common base frequency. For configurations in which the common frequency is very low in relation to the frequencies of primary interest, many sampling points are required to resolve the highest harmonic of the common fundamental frequency and the method becomes inefficient. In addition when a problem can no longer be described by harmonic perturbations that are integer multiples of one fundamental frequency, as it may occur in two-shaft configurations or when simulating the nonlinear interaction in the context of forced response or flutter, then the standard discrete Fourier transform is no longer suitable and the basic harmonic balance method requires extension. One possible approach is to use almost periodic Fourier transforms with equidistant or non-equidistant time sampling. However, the definition of suitable sampling points that lead to well-conditioned Fourier transform matrices and small aliasing errors is an intricate issue and far from straightforward. To overcome the issues regarding multi-frequency problems described above, a new harmonic balance approach based on multidimensional Fourier transforms in time is presented. The basic idea of the approach is that, instead of defining common sampling points in a common time period, separate time domains, one for each base frequency, are spanned and the sampling points are computed equidistantly within each base frequency’s period. Since the sampling domain is now extended to a multidimensional time-domain, all time instant combinations covering the whole multidimensional domain are computed as the Cartesian product of the sampling points on the axes. In a similar fashion the frequency-domain is extended to a multidimensional frequency-domain by the Cartesian product of the harmonics of each base frequency, so that every point defined by the Cartesian product is an integer linear combination of the occurring frequencies. In this way the proposed method is capable of fully integrating the nonlinear coupling effects between higher harmonics of different fundamental frequencies by using multidimensional discrete Fourier transforms within the harmonic balance solution procedure. The aim of this paper is to introduce the multidimensional harmonic balance method in detail and demonstrate the capability of the approach to simultaneously capture unsteady disturbances with arbitrary excitation frequencies. Therefore the well established aeroelasticity testcase standard configuration 10 in the presence of an artificial inflow disturbance, that mimics an upstream blade wake, is investigated. The crucial aspect of the proposed testcase is that a small ratio of the frequency of the inflow disturbance and the blades vibration frequency is chosen. To demonstrate the advantages of the newly proposed multidimensional harmonic balance approach, the results are compared to unsteady simulations in the time-domain and to state-of-the-art frequency-domain methods based on one-dimensional discrete Fourier transforms.

This paper aims to assess the gas turbine operability and overall hybrid electric propulsion system performance for a parallel configuration applied to a 150 passenger single-aisle aircraft. Two arrangements are considered: one where the low pressure shaft is boosted and one where the high pressure shaft is boosted. For identifying limits in the hybridization strategy steady state and transient operation are considered and the hybridization effect on compressor operability is determined. Having established the electric power on-take limits with respect to gas turbine operation the systems performance at aircraft level is quantified for the relevant cases. Different power management strategies are applied for the two arrangements and for different power degrees of hybridization. The results indicate that despite the fact that pollutant emission and fuel consumption may improved for hybrid propulsion, this comes at the cost of reduced payload and operability margins. Boosting the low pressure shaft may give the highest engine performance benefits but with a significant weight penalty, while the low pressure compressor system operability is negatively affected. On the other hand boosting the high pressure shaft provides lower engine performance benefits but with smaller weight penalty and with less operability concerns.

The present paper introduces a novel transient experimental method employed to determine the discharge coefficient of constant section nozzles of small diameters of 1–3 mm and with a length/diameter ratio of around one. Flow is considered to be real and compressible; the discharge process was analyzed at relatively high pressures, the fluid used was N2. Based on the experimental data, a generalized expression characterizing the discharge coefficient for nozzles of different diameters, lengths, and fluid conditions was developed. In order to check the precision of the analytical equation presented, experimental upstream reservoir pressure decay was compared with the temporal pressure decay obtained using the new analytical equation. Good correlation was achieved for pressure differentials up to 7.6 MPa. Despite the fact that the procedure established can be extended to other gases and nozzle configurations, so far the equation presented to estimate the discharge coefficient, can only be applied to orifices with length to diameter ratios of around one.

A numerical investigation is conducted in this work to shed light on the reasons leading to different flame configurations in gas turbine combustion chambers of aeronautical interest. Large eddy simulations (LES) with a flamelet-based combustion closure are employed for this purpose to simulate the DLR-AT Big Optical Single Sector (BOSS) rig fitted with a Rolls-Royce developmental lean burn injector. The reacting flow field downstream this injector is sensitive to the intricate turbulent-combustion interaction and exhibits two different configurations: (i) a penetrating central jet leading to an M-shape lifted flame; or (ii) a diverging jet leading to a V-shaped flame. First, the LES results are validated using available BOSS rig measurements, and comparisons show that the numerical approach used is consistent and works well. The turbulent-combustion interaction model terms and parameters are then varied systematically to assess the flame behavior. The influences observed are discussed in the paper from physical and modelling perspectives to develop physical understanding on the flame behavior in practical combustors for both scientific and design purposes.

It is common to assume that the performance of low-speed turbines depend only on the flow coefficient and Reynolds number. As such the required operating point is achieved by controlling the values of these two non-dimensional quantities by, for example, appropriate choices for the mass flow rate and applied brake torque. However, when the turbine has an atmospheric inlet and uses unconditioned air, variations in ambient pressure, temperature and humidity are introduced. Whilst it is still possible to maintain the required values for the flow coefficient and Reynolds number, the ambient variations affect additional non-dimensional quantities which are related to the blade speed and gas properties. Generally, the values of these additional non-dimensional quantities cannot be controlled and, consequently, they affect the turbine performance. In addition, thermal effects, which are exacerbated by the use of plastic blades, can cause changes in the blade row seal clearance and these also affect the performance. Therefore to obtain measurements with greater accuracy and repeatability, the changes in the uncontrolled non-dimensional quantities must be accounted. This paper contains four parts. Firstly, it is described how suitable data acquisition parameters can be determined to eliminate short time scale facility unsteadiness within the measurements. Secondly, by the analysis of models, the most appropriate forms for the additional non-dimensional quantities that influence turbine performance are obtained. Since the variations in the uncontrolled non-dimensional quantities affect repeatability the size of the effect on the turbine performance is quantified. Thirdly, a best-fit accounting methodology is described which reduces the effects of the uncontrolled non-dimensional quantities on turbine performance provided sufficient directly related measurements are available. Finally, the observations are generalised to high-speed turbomachines.

Falling particle receivers are being evaluated as an alternative to conventional fluid-based solar receivers to enable higher temperatures and higher efficiency power cycles with direct storage for concentrating solar power (CSP) applications. This paper presents studies of the particle mass flow rate, velocity, particle-curtain opacity and density, and other characteristics of free-falling ceramic particles as a function of different discharge slot apertures. The methods to characterize the particle flow are described, and results are compared to theoretical and numerical models for unheated conditions. Results showed that the particle velocities within the first 2 m of release closely match predictions of free-falling particles without drag due to the significant amount of air entrained within the particle curtain, which reduced drag. The measured particle-curtain thickness (∼2 cm) was greater than numerical simulations, likely due to additional convective air currents or particle–particle interactions neglected in the model. The measured and predicted particle volume fraction in the curtain decreased rapidly from a theoretical value of 60% at the release point to less than 10% within 0.5 m of drop distance. Measured particle-curtain opacities (0.5–1) using a new photographic method that can capture the entire particle curtain were shown to match well with discrete measurements from a conventional lux meter.

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. 321132, project TRAMAN21. Summarization: The occurrence of perturbations in traffic flow may lead to the formation of stop-and-go waves traveling upstream, or to traffic jams. Therefore, traffic flow stability analysis is considered to be one of the fundamental problems in traffic flow theory, and a lot of effort has been spent to analyze the formation and evolution of such traffic flow instabilities. Recent advances in the field of Vehicle Automation and Communication Systems (VACS), including the most widespread Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) systems, may consist a possible solution in reducing the magnitude or even eradicating the development of such traffic flow instabilities. This paper aims to perform a nonlinear stability analysis of a second-order macroscopic traffic flow model, which was recently developed by the authors for the simulation of the traffic flow of ACC-equipped vehicles, and identify the ways that ACC systems affect the stability of the flow, in relation with large traffic disturbances around the equilibrium state. Numerical simulations are additionally conducted, to validate the derived stability conditions. Παρουσιάστηκε στο: ASME 2016 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition

This paper addresses the model, solution, and analysis of fluid flow behavior in fractal reservoirs considering wellbore storage and skin effects (WS–SE). In the light of the fractional calculus (FC), the general form of fluid flow model considering the history of flow in all stages of production is presented. On the basis of Bessel functions theory, analytical solutions in the Laplace transform domain under three outer-boundary conditions, assuming the well is producing at a constant rate, are obtained. Based on the analytical solutions, various examples, discussing the pressure-transient behavior of a well in a fractal reservoir, are presented.

Engineers are faced with two major challenges when carrying out the thermal-fluid design of a complex system consisting of many interacting components such as the PBMR power plant. The first challenge is to predict the performance of all the individual thermal-fluid components. The second challenge is to predict the performance of the integrated plant consisting of all its sub-systems. The complexity associated with the thermal-fluid design of complex systems requires the use of a variety of analysis techniques and simulation tools. These range from simple one-dimensional models that do not capture all the significant physical phenomena, to large-scale three-dimensional CFD codes that, for practical reasons, can not simulate the entire plant as a single integrated model. In the systems CFD approach a network code serves as the framework to link the models of the various components together and to control the solution. The models of the components can be of varying degrees of complexity. These can range from simple lumped models to complex fully three-dimensional CFD models. This paper gives a brief overview of the systems CFD (SCFD) approach and an overview of the SCFD model of the pebble bed nuclear reactor that was developed.Copyright © 2010 by ASME