Prediction of Reynolds Number Effects on Low-Pressure Turbines Using a High-Order ILES Method

A comprehensive comparison between implicit large eddy simulations (ILES) and experimental results of a modern high-lift low-pressure turbine airfoil has been carried out for an array of Reynolds numbers (Re). Experimental data were obtained in a low-speed linear cascade at the Polytechnic University of Madrid using hot-wire anemometry and laser-Doppler velocimetry (LDV). The numerical code is fourth-order accurate, both in time and space. The spatial discretization of the compressible Navier–Stokes equations is based on a high-order flux reconstruction approach while a fourth-order Runge–Kutta method is used to march in time the simulations. The losses, pressure coefficient distributions, and boundary layer and wake velocity profiles have been compared for an array of realistic Reynolds numbers. Moreover, boundary layer and wake velocity fluctuations are compared for the first time with experimental results. It is concluded that the accuracy of the numerical results is comparable to that of the experiments, especially for integral quantities such as the losses or exit angle. Turbulent fluctuations in the suction side boundary layer and the wakes are well predicted too. The elapsed time of the simulations is about 140 h on 40 graphics processor units. The numerical tool is integrated within an industrial design system and reuses pre- and post-processing tools previously developed for another kind of applications. The trend of the losses with the Reynolds number has a sub-critical regime, where the losses scale with Re⁻¹, and a supercritical regime, where the losses scale with Re^−1/2. This trend can be seen both in the simulations and in the experiments.