Direct multi-fidelity integration of 3D CFD models in a gas turbine with numerical zooming method

Abstract

Multi-fidelity simulation improves the simulation accuracy and captures more detailed information about aero engines under limited computing resources, which is implemented by coupling different levels of models using numerical zooming methods. However, there is an obvious problem in traditional zooming methods such as the iterative coupled zooming method or mini-map method: both the convergence and accuracy depend highly on the component general characteristic maps. Based on the investigation of a micro gas turbine, a direct zooming method (Cycle with CFD in it, CWCFD) is developed. It directly embeds the 3D CFD compressor and turbine model into a 0D component-level model without component general characteristic maps. Then, the CWCFD zooming method is compared with the traditional 0D component-level model in terms of the throttle characteristics of the micro gas turbine, and the experimental data of the ground test is performed to verify the effectiveness of the CWCFD zooming methods. The results indicate that the CWCFD zooming method matches well with the test data better than the traditional 0D component-level model.