Numerical Study of Combustor-Turbine Interaction by Using Hybrid RANS-LES Approach

Abstract The complex flow field of gas turbine lean combustors is meant to reduce NOx emissions and maintain a stable flame by controlling the local temperature and promoting high turbulent mixing. Still, this may produce large flow and temperature unsteady distortions capable of disrupting the aerodynamics and heat transfer of the first high-pressure-turbine cooled nozzle. Therefore, the interaction between the combustion chamber and the turbine nozzle is analyzed first with the help of scale-resolving simulations that notably also include a realistic turbine nozzle cooling system. To determine the nature and severity of the interaction, and the risks associated to performing decoupled simulation, the results of the coupled computer simulation are analyzed and compared with those of decoupled simulations. In this case, the combustor is computed by replacing the turbine nozzle with a discharge convergent with the same throat area, and the conditions at the interface plane are used as inlet boundary conditions for a conventional RANS of the nozzle. The analyses of the coupled and decoupled simulation reveal that the combustion chamber is weakly affected by the presence of the nozzle, whereas the two thermal fields of the nozzle surface differ considerably, as well as the disruption of the film cooling by the incoming flow distortions.