CFD Simulation of a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Radial-Inflow Turbine, Comparing the Results of Using Real Gas Equation of Estate and Real Gas Property File

The present study explores CFD analysis of a supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO 2 ) radial-inflow turbine generating 100kW from a concentrated solar resource of 560oC with a pressure ratio of 2.2. Two methods of real gas property estimations including real gas equation of estate and real gas property (RGP) file - generating a required table from NIST REFPROP - were used. Comparing the numerical results and time consumption of both methods, it was shown that equation of states could insert a significant error in thermodynamic property prediction. Implementing the RGP table method indicated a very good agreement with NIST REFPROP while it had slightly more computational cost compared to the RGP table method.