Simulation of Erosive Effects of Sand Particle Impacts in Axial Turbomachinery

The erosion resulting from sand ingestion into an axial turbomachinery is predicted using a Lagrangian particle tracking model. This simulation takes into account the effects of turbulence and endwalls vorticities on particles, random size distribution and rebound of particles. The governing equations of particle motion through stationary and rotating parts are solved in a stepwise manner separately from the flow field. Particles tracking and impacts are predicted in different cells of the computational domain based on the finite element method. A semi‐empirical erosion correlation is used to predict erosion areas based on impacts condition. The simulations results obtained for different positions of the rotor blade revealed that the main impacted areas are found over the blade leading edge corner and an area of the pressure side extending towards and over the tip, in addition to a strip along the leading edge of the suction side.