Thesis Defense – Mustafa Kürşat Uzuner (MSME)

Mustafa Kürşat Uzuner – M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering

Asst. Prof. Dr. Altuğ Melik Başol – Advisor

Date: 25/05/2023

Time: 14:30

Location: AB1 413

“Performance Analysis of Radial Compressors with the Open-Source         

Computational Fluid Dynamics Suite SU2”

Asst. Prof. Dr. Altuğ Melik Başol, Özyeğin University

Asst. Prof. Dr. Özgür Ertunç, Özyeğin University

Asst. Prof. Dr. Güllü Kızıltaş Şendur, Sabancı University

Abstract:

It is common to see the usage of commercial and open-source tools in computational fluid dynamics. SU2 is one of these open-source tools. Unlike other open-source alternatives, SU2 is equipped with boundary condition types, solvers, and methods that are specially developed for the analysis and design of turbomachinery devices. The aim of this work is to explore and investigate the capabilities of SU2 in the prediction of performance parameters of radial compressors. Two different single-stage shrouded compressor geometries, one with a vaneless diffuser and the other with a vaned diffuser have been investigated with steady-state CFD. Computational results with SU2 showed satisfactory agreement with both the experimental data and reference CFD solutions obtained with the commercial software Fidelity Flow. After performance parameters were successfully calculated with SU2, the optimization tools that come with SU2 were also investigated. A 2D adjoint optimization on the vane of the vaned diffuser is conducted. The operating point with the worst efficiency was used for the optimization condition. With very few changes in the geometry, a performance increase is achieved by only optimizing the portion of the vane where flow separation is seen. However, this change in blade shape also resulted in performance loss at another design operating point. With the results of adjoint optimization, it is concluded that SU2, with its downsides, is a promising open-source tool for the analysis and design of turbomachines.

Bio:

Mustafa Kürşat Uzuner is a M.Sc. Student working with the supervision of Assist. Prof. Dr. Altuğ Melik Başol and is concurrently working as an Aerodynamics Engineer at Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc., Ankara. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 2019 and has previously worked as a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Özyeğin University. His research interests include computational fluid dynamics of compressible flows.