Pulsed flow turbine design recommendations

Authors

Florian Hermet - DAEP ISAE-SUPAERO, Université de Toulouse
N. Binder - DAEP ISAE-SUPAERO, Université de Toulouse
J. Gressier - DAEP ISAE-SUPAERO, Université de Toulouse

Abstract

When a turbine is located downstream of an isochoric combustion chamber, it is subjected to a pulsed flow. Pulsed flows in turbine have many industrial applications, whether in the automotive field for turbochargers or in the aeronautics industry with the future development of pulsed detonation engine. However, the pulsed flow influence on the turbine performance is still very poorly understood. For example, the design of the turbine of a turbocharger is still based on steady indicators. The validity of these indicators is seriously questioned for a pulsed flow. The unsteady design of an axial turbine, subjected to a pulsed flow, is carried out in this paper thanks to numerical simulations that scrupulously follow an experimental design. The detail of the factors (geometrical, dynamic, ...) of the experimental design is first given. An in-depth discussion on the performance indicators, adapted to pulsed flows, is made in order to have a relevant response of the experimental design. Then, a screening plan is carried out to determine the importance of each factor on the response. Finally, the most influential factors are selected in order to determine the response surface.