Radial Turbine Design Software – AxSTREAM® Platform Overview

Radial Turbine Preliminary Design Software

The radial turbine Preliminary Design procedure is used to create thousands of machine flow path designs from scratch within seconds from a set of boundary conditions (which can be imported from AxCYCLE where the thermodynamic calculations of the cycle were performed), geometrical parameters and constraints.

AxSTREAM® can design radial turbines, with or without inlet volutes / nozzles (vanes) while selecting to specify inlet rotor metal angle or incidence angle for the conceptual design.

The Design Space Explorer allows the user to explore a set of radial turbine design solution points generated with the Solution Generator. This gives users the possibility to select appropriate solutions by specifying different types of machine constraints and limitations.

The Post-design module provides the user with capabilities to adjust geometric parameters as well as heat drop distributions directly on the Mollier diagram or the machine endwalls contour using splines, all while retaining the desired boundary conditions. An S1/S2 flow path adjustment option enables users to optimize separate components for efficiency based on variation of profile chord, aspect ratio and number of blades. The amount of reaction can also be optimized to ensure structural integrity of the machine under operation with very dense fluids.

Radial Turbine Meanline & Streamline Solver Software

The Streamline solver module allows performing meanline (1D) or axisymmetric (2D) calculation of turbomachines to determine streamwise and spanwise distribution of kinematics, thermodynamics and loss parameters as well as leakages and secondary air flows for a given set of boundary conditions.

Fluid properties are calculated at each streamwise and spanwise location within the flow path for radial and mixed-flow (radial-axial) turbines. Additional elements (ducts, diffusers etc.) can be specified and calculated.

Radial Turbine DOE and Optimization Software

AxSTREAM® is fully capable of radial flow turbine optimization calculations including through the use of a DOE approach (Design Of Experiment) in the AxPLAN module.

This module uses the meanline and streamline solvers previously mentioned to optimize a given geometry by performing various tasks. This experiment planning option can be run for any combination of input and output parameters within hundreds available.

Radial Turbine Performance Maps Software

This AxSTREAM® module called AxMAP also uses the meanline and streamline solvers presented but in the present case they are used to automatically generate performance maps for any number of variables; this includes for example the dependency of efficiency on rotation speed and pressure ratio, the influence of throat degradation over time on machine performance, etc.

In addition to the map and AxSTREAM® project results experimental results can be stored for comparison purposes.

Radial Turbine Profiler and Blade Design Software

The AxSTREAM®’s Radial Turbine Profiler and Blade Design software module is used to create and edit 3D airfoils for full or partial channel length. A wide range of geometric tools and interactive charts allows users to configure the radial turbine’s blades (main blades and dependent/independent splitter blades) easily and in a short time of time.

Beta, theta and thickness distributions can be independently controlled at different sections of the radial blade with curvature monitoring. Forward and backward sweep can even be created. Leading and trailing edges can be cut-off, circular or elliptical as desired for 3D blades, ruled-surface blades and prismatic blades. Splitter blade length and angular location can be edited.

Finalized geometries can be exported in 3D to numerous CAD, CAE formats.

Radial Turbine Finite Element Analysis Software (FEA)

Once the aerodynamic shape of turbomachinery blades has been completed the AxSTRESS module inside AxSTREAM® can be used to perform express 3D structural, modal and harmonic analysis as well as Campbell and interference (SAFE) diagrams of the blades and their attachments (wheels and shrouds) using a finite element analysis (FEA) method.  Hot-to-cold and cold-to-hot calculations can also be performed, where applicable.

Radial turbine boundary conditions are automatically taken from the corresponding AxSTREAM® project to optimize the aero-mechanical iteration process. Blade attachments can be added to the 3D blade providing the opportunity to analyze the complete 3D model without leaving AxSTREAM®. An automated mesh generator is included inside the module which allows refinement of cells in each part of the geometry.

Post-processing capabilities are pretty extensive and allow reviewing the stress and displacement values in different directions for any calculated mode.

Upon successful analysis the blade and its attachments can be exported for additional post-processing and manufacturing drawings creation.

Radial Turbine Computational Fluid Dynamics Software (CFD)

AxSTREAM®’s Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, AxCFD, can be used for 3D flow analysis in blade-to-blade channels of radial turbines, with or without splitters, for any given fluid, for subsonic, transonic and supersonic flows, using full 3D CFD formulation (Navier-Stokes, viscous with various turbulence models (standard k-e, k-e RNG, k-w, k-w SST models)). All of the data from the current AxSTREAM® project is transferred and used automatically by the AxCFD to save significant time in the pre-processing phase while preventing human errors.

The mesh quality can be controlled at multiple locations to ensure the automated, embedded mesh generator produces a high quality segmentation of the blade channels for an individual row, stage or for the entire radial turbine.

Computations can be run for a given spanwise section or an axisymmetric slice throughout the domain or even for the full 3D geometry.

Radial Turbine Volute Design

Internal and external volutes can be designed and edited in the AxSTREAM® platform whether sizing was automatically performed at the Preliminary Design stage or inputted manually.

For radial turbines the following types of volutes can be created, edited and analyzed:

• Trapezoidal cross-sections;
• Circular cross-sections;
• Twin-scroll volutes with independent mass flow rates.

Different display options allow keeping an eye on the geometry during the interactive editing and the final geometry can be exported to CAD formats and/or analyzed in AxSTREAM®.

Radial Turbine Rotor Design Software

To enhance the turbomachinery design process all the way through rotor dynamics the Rotor Design module can be used.

It allows opening an AxSTREAM® project to automatically import the flow path it contains. Blade attachments can then be imported from the AxSTRESS FEA tool where they were designed so that the rotor (shaft) geometry can be generated for given materials while accounting for structural constraints.

The resulting shaft geometry and its respective materials can then be automatically recognized in the AxSTREAM® RotorDynamics tool along with the blades and their attachments which are imported as mass-inertia elements.

Radial Turbine Bearing Analysis Software

AxSTREAM®’s Bearing software allows users to analyze detailed models of bearings of different configurations.

Steady-state, transient, and map analysis can be performed to accurately calculate the bearings different hydrodynamic and mechanical characteristics. The software features a flexible geometry configurator to model features such as pockets, lobes, oil supply channels, etc.

The static equilibrium and the bearing hydrodynamic characteristics including everything required to perform rotor dynamic calculations can be calculated for one or several rotation speeds and operation stability can be concluded.

Export of calculated projects allows automatic recognition of damping and stiffness coefficients in AxSTREAM® RotorDynamics.

Radial Turbine RotorDynamics Software

The AxSTREAM® RotorDynamics software performs vibrational analysis (both lateral and torsional) of axial and radial turbine rotors as well as axial and radial compressor rotors, turbocharger trains, generators, electric motors, etc.

This versatile software can perform several types of analysis including Static Rotor Deflection, Lateral Critical Speeds calculation, Critical Speed Maps, Damped Unbalance Response, Train Torsional Modal and Transient, and Stability calculations.

Radial Turbine Cooling Flows & Secondary Systems Software

Radial turbine secondary flows can be analyzed easily using AxSTREAM® NET. Users can benefit from a flexible modeling and representation of any fluid path and solid structure as a set of 1D elements which can be connected to form a thermal-fluid network whether the final blade geometry is known or unknown.

AxSTREAM® NET can even be used to model the entire thermal-fluid network of a complete gas turbine with compressor, extractions, injections, etc. for compressible and incompressible pure fluids and mixtures.