Numerical Simulation of Gas-Solid Two Phase Flow in Fouled Axial Flow Compressor

Abstract

Particles contained in air can deposit on the blade surface to cause fouling when lubricating oil and water steam are existed. Fouling changes blade geometry and blade surface roughness is increased, thus aerodynamic performance is affected. Many researchers simulated axial flow compressor fouling by adding constant surface roughness and modifying blade thickness which can’t reflect the real status of fouled compressor. In this paper, reverse technology is introduced to reconstruct the solid model of fouled compressor which is imported into fluid flow simulation software. The flow of gas phase and gas-solid coupling phase are implemented to reveal the nature of flow in fouled axial flow compressor. Based on Euler-Lagrange model, this paper made numerical simulation of gas-solid two phase flow in the axial flow compressor rotor cascade. Simulation result shows that fouling causes the decrease of effective flow area, thus thermodynamic performance is degraded. Gas-solid phase flow shows that particles are not uniformly deposited on the blade surface. When particle is smaller and rotor blade is rough, it is more easily deposited on the surface. And particle mass concentration is affected by ambient conditions such as inlet temperature, rotational speed, particle diameter, particle mass flow rate.