Applications

TRACE is used in aerodynamic, aeroacoustic and aeroelastic investigations of radial and axial turbomachinery configurations ranging from simple cascades up to multi-stage applications with 30 blade rows. Investigated are profiles from wind tunnel tests, research engines, and components of aircraft engines, parts of heavy duty gas turbines and steam turbines in various operating conditions ranging from the design point to the edge of the operating range.

The application of TRACE to novel configurations or the validation of new models and algorithms is performed within the Numerical Methods department. Elsewhere at the Institute of Propulsion Technology the verified and validated code is used for research in the Fan and Compressor department, the Turbine department and the department Engine Acoustics in their respective fields of application in national and international projects. Furthermore, many well-known university institutes throughout Germany use TRACE in their research activities in order to compliment experiment work and obtain insight to the flow physics in situations where measurements can be difficult or impossible to conduct at reasonable cost.

 
At MTU Aero Engines TRACE is used as the three-dimensional aerodynamic and aeroelasticity design tool for multistage compressors and turbines. Successful examples of the application of TRACE in engine design include parts for the GP7000 engine used on the Airbus A380, the TP400 used on the military transport A400M and the new Geared Turbo Fan (GTF) engine for the A320-NEO.

In the stationary turbo machinery industry Siemens Energy could be won as another partner. Here the components of large gas turbines for power generation are optimized using the TRACE simulation system and the optimization package AutoOpti.

Aerodynamics Aerodymics forms the basis of all turbomachine research fields such as aeroacoustics, aeroelasticity, heat transfer (fluid – solid walls) as well as combustion. The main goal of aerodynamic analysis is to establish the steady-state (time-mean) or unsteady 3D flow field inside all turbomachine components (compressor, turbine, combustion chamber, ducts, cavities, seals). More

Aeroelastik Die aeroelastische Bewertung von Turbomaschinenkonfigurationen stellt einen großen Anwendungsschwerpunkt von TRACE dar. Flatter- und Forced-Response-Analysen sind unverzichtbar, wenn innovative Designs auf Basis von CFD bewertet werden sollen. Da häufig aerodynamische Auslegungsziele (z.B. geringe Strömungsverluste) mit aeroelastischen Nebenbedingungen (z.B. Flatterstabilität) konkurrieren, besteht ein großer Bedarf an schnellen Vorhersagemethoden für Flattern und Forced-Response. More

Aeroacoustics The calculation of noise generation and propagation of the basic equations in a realistic three-dimensional configuration is a computationally intensive endeavor. As in all computational aeroacoustic applications (CAA), one must pay particular attention to ensure adequate spatial and temporal resolution of the low-amplitude acoustic waves. Actual wave propagation characteristics as well as mesh and time step size requirements of the TRACE code have been established in earlier studies. More

Heat Transfer Combustor and turbine of a turbomachine are exposed to particularly high gas temperatures. The Heat Transfer design is concerned with determining metal temperatures. High accuracy knowledge of metal temperatures is crucial for the cooling design as well as the choice of an appropriate material. More

Hybrid Structured-Unstructured U-RANS Solver At present, most components in regular shape can be meshed with high-quality structured grids. However, the generation of structured grids is very difficult for some parts or areas, such as casing treatments or coolant channels, even if multi-block topologies are applied. This problem can be alleviated remarkably if a CFD solver allows using any type of grid topology. The grid may consist of structured or unstructured blocks entirely or even a so-called hybrid structured-unstructured grid topology. The word hybrid implies here a combination of structured and unstructured grids, both of which are used to respectively discretize a portion of the flow domain where appropriate. More

Optimization In order to find optimized turbomachinery components, the flow solver TRACE is used as a aerodynamic evaluation tool, inside the optimization toolkit AutoOpti. More