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Analysis of Flow Structure in Microturbine Operating at Low Reynolds Number

Mohamed Omri1,*, Yusuf Al-Turki2, Ahmed A. Alghamdi1, Amrid Amnache3, Luc G. Fréchette3

1 King Abdulaziz University, Deanship of Scientific Research, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2 King Abdulaziz University, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
3 Université de Sherbrooke, Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation (3IT), Sherbrooke, Canada

* Corresponding Author: Mohamed Omri. Email: email

(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Role of Computer in Modelling & Solving Real-World Problems)

Computers, Materials & Continua 2022, 71(1), 961-977. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2022.021406

Abstract

In this paper, three-dimensional flows in laminar subsonic cascades at relatively low Reynolds numbers (Re < 2500) are presented, based on numerical calculations. The stator and rotor blade designs are those for a MEMS-based Rankine microturbine power-plant-on-a-chip with 109-micron chord blades. Blade passage calculations in 3D were done for different Reynolds numbers, tip clearances (from 0 to 20%) and incidences (0° to 15°) to determine the impact of aerodynamic conditions on the flow patterns. These conditions are applied to a blade passage for a stationary outer casing. The 3D blade passage without tip clearance indicates the presence of two large symmetric vortices due to the interaction between hub/casing boundary layers and the blade. Opening the tip clearance introduces the tip vortex, which tends to become dominant above a tip clearance of 10%. In addition to providing a description and understanding of the 3D flow in a MEMS microturbine, these results suggest the importance of considering 3D flows in the design of microturbomachinery, even though the geometry is dominantly 2D.

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Cite This Article

M. Omri, Y. Al-Turki, A. A. Alghamdi, A. Amnache and L. G. Fréchette, "Analysis of flow structure in microturbine operating at low reynolds number," Computers, Materials & Continua, vol. 71, no.1, pp. 961–977, 2022.



cc This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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