EBFOG: Deposition, erosion, and detachment on high-pressure turbine vanes

Fouling and erosion are two pressing problems that severely affect gas turbine performance and life. When aircraft fly through a volcanic ash cloud, the two phenomena occur simultaneously in the cold as well as in the hot section of the engine. In the high-pressure turbine (HPT), in particular, particles soften or melt due to the high gas temperatures and stick to the wet surfaces. The throat area, and hence the capacity, of the HPT is modified by these phenomena, affecting the engine stability and possibly forcing engine shutdown. This work presents a model for deposition and erosion in gas turbines and its implementation in a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes solver. Both deposition and erosion are taken into account, together with deposit detachment due to changed flow conditions. The model is based on a statistical description of the behavior of softened particles. The particles can stick to the surface or can bounce away, eroding the material. The sticking prediction relies on the authors' Energy Based FOulinG (EBFOG) model. The impinging particles which do not stick to the surface are responsible for the removal of material. The model is demonstrated on a HPT vane. The airfoil shape evolution over the exposure time as a consequence of the impinging particles has been carefully monitored. The variation of the flow field as a consequence of the geometrical changes is reported as an important piece of on-board information for the flight crew.