CFD Assessment of the Magnus Effect and Collision Induced Rotation of Solid Particulate on Compressors

Erosion due to particle impacts on surfaces is a widely studied topic in engineering. Erosion occurs commonly in pneumatic conveying systems where the transport of particles is the goal of the system. Erosion is also important in gas turbine engines. This work is a first step in reducing damage due to erosion in gas turbine engines by understanding the motion of particles within the engine. One important, but often neglected aspect of particle trajectory is accurate prediction of particle rotation. Previous studies indicate that the particle rotation rate plays a significant role on their trajectories even in simple geometries such as curved pipes. This work uses computational fluid dynamics to investigate the impact of particle trajectory modeling on prediction of damage in a gas turbine engine. Particles of various diameters relevant for sand ingestion, ranging from 2 μm to 100 μm are introduced into a High Pressure 3 stage compressor section of a gas turbine engine to analyze and quantify the importance of particle rotation on their trajectories. A quantitative analysis on the impact kinetic energies occurring based on particle size and the implementation of the rotation model is demonstrated in this study.