Prediction of an axial turbomachine performance degradation due to sand ingestion

Abstract

Erosion of compressor blades due to operation in particulate environments is a serious problem for the manufacturers and users of industrial and aeronautical gas turbines, because of drastic degradations in performance, mostly through blunting of blade leading edges, reduction of chord and increase of tip clearance and surface roughness. This paper presents a numerical study to assess the effects of erosion by sand ingestion on blade geometry deterioration and the subsequent performance degradation. These computations were carried out for an axial turbomachine in steps; first, calculations of particle trajectories and erosion resulting from cumulative impacts by sand particles (MIL-E 5007E, 0–1000 μm) were carried out, then, the required data were used in the estimation of performance degradation based on a mean-line method that included Lieblein and Koch-Smith loss correlations, in addition to an erosion fault model derived from blade geometry deterioration. This global procedure was successfully validated upon an axial fan stage, and can be generalized easily to other axial compressor designs.