Turbomachinery Thermal Analysis Using Coupled Two- and Three Dimensional Models and Reduced Order Fluid Models

A methodology to couple two- and three dimensional thermal models is described. The method uses reduced order fluid models as a mechanism to transfer heat fluxes and average temperatures at the interface. In particular the concept of a duct-void is introduced to ease the coupling of different types of models. A new edge-based thermal solver, which is used in this process, is briefly described. A realistic case, corresponding to a two-stage turbine, is used to illustrate the usefulness of the method. It is concluded that the temperature difference between a fully coupled a approach and a simpler unidirectional method (in which a two-dimensional global model is first computed and, then, the temperatures at the interface are transferred to three-dimensional sub-components) may be large enough to affect engineering decisions.