Methodology for the Numerical Simulation of Compressor Solid Particle Erosion with Dynamic Meshes

Aircraft engines operate in atmospheric conditions that contain solid particles. The operation in particle laden conditions results in material removal of the engine components, which is refereed to as solid particle erosion. This process reduces the performance and life of engine components. Solid particle erosion is a source of reduced efficiency and increased fuel consumption. The erosion process is a time-dependent and non-linear process that is driven by the interaction between the fluid flow, the particle trajectories, and the resulting impacts on the compressor blades and vanes. Multi-phase simulations of solid particle erosion with dynamic meshes can provide an insight into the non-linear and time-dependent process of compressor blade erosion. In this work, a numerical method to couple the erosion simulation with mesh morphing is developed and a rebound model for high pressure compressor conditions is derived. The coupling between the erosion simulation and mesh morphing is achieved by transforming the material loss of the erosion simulation into a displacement field for each node of the mesh. Prior to the morphing, a novel smoothing approach is derived that achieves numerical stability and avoids grid crossovers. This is done by restoring the initial aspect ratio between adjacent cells. The particle rebound model is derived for particle velocities and materials of high pressure compressors. The model is based on measurements of particle rebound at high pressure compressor conditions. First, the mean values of the coefficients of restitution are determined and then a stochastic shift for the coefficients of restitution is computed.