Performance Comparison of Finite-Volume and Spectral/hp Methods for LES of Representative Gas Turbine Combustor Aerodynamics

The animation compares the results from a low- and high-order Large-Eddy Simulation of the combustor port flows geometry studied experimentally by Spencer and McGuirk [1]. The contours depict the x-component of the flow velocity in a symmetry plane. Due to strong impingement of the jets, high levels of turbulence and a wide range of flow scales is generated. Despite the fact that the two simulations incur a similar computational cost, the spectral/hp fourth polynomial order simulation (right) performed using Nektar++ resolves a broader turbulence spectrum in comparison to the second-order finite-volume pimpleFoam solver (left).

[1] A. Spencer and J. J. Mcguirk, “LDA Measurements of Feed Annulus Effects on Combustor Liner Port Flows,” J. Fluids Eng., vol. 123, no. June 2001, pp. 219–227, 2001.