Towards high-fidelity erosion prediction: On time-accurate particle tracking in turbomachinery

Erosion and fouling caused by ingested particles causes performance degradation and safety issues in turbomachinery components. Simulating these processes is a complex multiphysics and multiscale problem which has not reached a satisfactory level of maturity yet. The current state of the art approach is based on RANS solutions, which provide an averaged carrier phase on which the particles are advanced in an a posteriori manner. Upon wall impact, the particle quantities are then fed to the erosion and rebound models. In this work, we present as an alternative to this approach an Eulerian/Lagrangian simulation framework of high-order accuracy in space and time for the time-resolved prediction of particle motion in complex flows. We apply it to the LES of a particle-laden flow over a T106C low pressure turbine linear cascade. We then contrast time-averaged and time-accurate flow fields as carrier phases for the particles and highlight how the associated modeling assumptions influence the solution. Based on the particle Stokes number, we identify characteristic regimes and their interaction with the flow phase. By a detailed comparison of the particle statistics, we highlight the effects of turbulent small scale behavior and define the modeling challenges associated with finding accurate particle closure models for time-averaged simulations. This framework constitutes a first step towards high-fidelity erosion prediction for turbomachinery applications.