Numerical simulations of ice droplet trajectories and collection efficiency on aero- engine rotating machinery

This paper presents a methodology for threedimensional numerical simulations of supercooled water droplet trajectories through aeroengine rotating machinery. Both flow and droplets’ governing equations are formulated and solved in the reference frame of rotating blades. A Eulerian-Lagrangian approach is used for the continuous and discrete phases with one-way interaction model to simulate the aerodynamic effects on the three-dimensional particle trajectories. A flux-based collection efficiency model is proposed for internal flows to enable the calculation of the amount of water that impinges the rotating and stationary blade surfaces. The methodology is applied to a transonic fan rotor and the computational results for the 3D flow field is compared with available experimental data. The computed droplet trajectories, rotor blade impingement locations, and the corresponding water collection efficiency are presented and compared for different droplet sizes.