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CFD study of the internal leakages of a four-intersecting-vane expander in static conditions.

Number: 1191

Author(s) : MURTHY A. A., SUBIANTORO A.

Summary

Leakage has a strong negative impact on the performance of a positive displacement machine. In this work, the internal leakages of a four-intersecting-vane expander is investigated using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. The mechanism is similar to typical rotary vane machines, but the vanes are made up of intersecting bars and the inner wall of the stator is not circular. A 3D steady state CFD simulation model was developed in ANSYS FLUENT. The geometry was based on a prototype that was previously experimented on by the authors. The model was used to simulate the leakage flows along the main internal leakage paths using compressed air as the working fluid. These include the gaps between: 1) the rotor outer wall and the stator inner wall at its nearest section, called the radial clearance, 2) the vane tips and the stator inner wall, called the vane tip gaps, and 3) the end faces of the stator and those of the rotor and the vanes. The other leakage gaps were ignored because previous experiments had shown that they were less important. The suction pressure was varied from 0.5 bar(g) to 5 bar(g), while the discharge pressure was constant at 0 bar(g). The study investigates in detail the leakage flow rates, pressure distributions and Mach numbers, which are difficult to analyze in an experiment. Validation of the model shows that the simulation results showed similar trends with previously published experimental data. However, discrepancies were observed with the values because of the constant gaps assumption in the simulation. In conclusion, the study shows that CFD can study the internal leakages of a four-intersecting-vane expander but more realistic settings are needed to generate more accurate predictions.

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  • Original title: CFD study of the internal leakages of a four-intersecting-vane expander in static conditions.
  • Record ID : 30030277
  • Languages: French
  • Subject: Technology
  • Source: 2022 Purdue Conferences. 26th International Compressor Engineering Conference at Purdue.
  • Publication date: 2022/07/15

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