Automated multi-code URANS simulation of compressor-combustor components

Currently in an aircraft gas turbine engine, the turbomachinery and combustor components are designed in relative isolation and the effect of the upstream and downstream components on each other’s flow are not fully captured in the design process. The objective of this work is to carry out a multi-code integrated unsteady simulation of Compressor-Combustor components with each zone simulated using its own specialised CFD flow solver. The multi-code URANS technique is simple, based on files and involves the generation of new 2D boundary conditions for the required flow field at each time step. A driver based on a Python script automates the entire process. This paper shows the method first validated in a simple vortex shedding 2D case and then extended to a cold flow URANS simulation matching an isothermal compressor/combustor rig experiment. An external coupler code is invoked that produces unsteady, spatially varying, inlet conditions for the downstream components. The simulation results are encouraging as the mass, momentum and energy losses across the interface are less than 1%. The multicode unsteady simulation produces wake profiles closer to the experiment than the coupled steady RANS simulation. The present study shows a reasonable agreement with the experimental PIV and hot-wire data thus demonstrating the potential of the multi-code integrated simulation technique.