Effects of Variational Particle Restitution Characteristics on Turbomachinery Erosion

This paper presents the results of an investigation to determine the effects of variational particle rebounding models on surface impacts and blade erosion patterns in gas turbines. The variance in the particle velocities after the surface impacts are modeled based on the experimental measurements using Laser-Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) under varying flow conditions. The probabilistic particle trajectory computations simulate the experimental variance in the particle restitution characteristics using cumulative distribution functions and random sampling techniques. The results are presented for the particle dynamics through a gas turbine flow field and are compared to those obtained with deterministic rebound models based on experimental mean values.