Experimental investigation of the flow fields within novel compact compressor stages

The aim of the internship is to conduct airflow velocity and turbulence measurements within a novel, compact aircraft engine compressor stage, using a non-intrusive technique, and then compare the results with those obtained from numerical (computational fluid dynamics, CFD) models, thereby developing an understanding as to how the different models deal with turbulence and with the strong curvature of the flow present in such compressor stages. The main result of the research is expected to be recommendations to the industrial partner as to how to improve their CFD modelling approaches in order to achieve more accurate simulations and, hence, optimized and efficient “green” designs.

Faculty Supervisor:

Drs. Eric Savory & Chao Zhang

Student:

William Lin

Partner:

Pratt & Whitney Canada

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Aerospace and defense

University:

Western University