COMPUTER AIDED DIMENSIONING AND VALIDATION OF A VERSATILE TEST FACILITY FOR COMBUSTION CHAMBERS AND TURBINES

摘要

The continuous flow test facility at Graz University of Technology was originally designed for cold sub- and transonic experimental research on different turbine stages (2001-GT-0489). The operation range of the facility was recently extended to hot flows for investigations on the behavior of high-temperature resistant sensors embedded in gas-turbines and analysis of cooling systems of turbine blades or multiple-burner combustors, where each air supply is driven separately. Therefore, a 5 MW thermal air heater has been connected to the institute's 3 MW compressor station. The dimensioning of the air system was done with IPSE-pro which is a commercial software package for simulation of basic thermodynamic processes. The standard modules of IPSE-pro were modified for calculating the mass flow distributions with respect to the prevailing pressure drops. As the air system is complex and relies on control valves to maintain specific mass flow rates, IPSEpro allows analysis of the behaviour of the test facility at several compressor station configurations. The main test facility dimensions and characteristics, as well as the most important equations describing the component models of IPSEpro are shown. Simulation results of several operation points are compared to measured data to validate the methodology. This work was done in the frame of the European research program New Aero Engine Core Concepts (NEWAC) at Graz University of Technology.