Novel CFD High Performance Methods for Advanced Simulations in Turbines

Modern gas turbines rely on cooling techniques to operate at gas temperature well in excess of the melting temperature of the metal parts. Cooling is performed by ejecting cold air through small orifices on the blade surfaces. This gives rise to complex flow patterns that are difficult to predict with traditional methods.
Recent advances in computer architecture bring scale-resolving simulations of cooling flow closer to common practice. The computer features that are needed are very specialised and difficult to exploit whilst preserving the flexibility and accessibility of the software to general developers.
Therefore, there is work to be done on the high-performance computing (HPC) aspects of the simulations in order to analyse physical questions such as the interaction between the passage flow and the cooling flow.
Research question
How and how much by can we improve the speed of CFD codes for gas-turbine applications by exploiting all the features of modern hardware?
Can we design the code in a way that is completely opaque to the hardware, so that the same source can make the most of both x8086 and GPU based computers?
How much of the error comes from modelling turbulence and flow interactions?
Approach
Study the effect of memory mapping layouts on the execution speed of CFD calculations on x8086 and GPU based computers.
Study techniques to enable fine-grained and instruction level parallelism within an industrial software.
Devise novel layouts and code generation techniques based on sub-cell resolution.
Perform scale-resolving simulations of turbine blades with cooling devices.
Novelty/Physical sciences
HPC techniques and sub-cell resolution techniques for scale resolving simulations in gas turbines cooling systems
This will allow us to answer questions about the interaction between the cooling flow and the passage flow and improve the prediction of thermal paint tests.

1. Impact on the UK Aero-Propulsion and Power Generation Industry
The UK Propulsion and Power sector is undergoing disruptive change. Electrification is allowing a new generation of Urban Air Vehicles to be developed, with over 70 active programmes planning a first flight by 2024. In the middle of the aircraft market, companies like Airbus and Rolls-Royce, are developing boundary layer ingestion propulsion systems. At high speed, Reaction Engines Ltd are developing complex new air breathing engines. In the aero gas turbine sector Rolls-Royce is developing UltraFan, its first new architecture since the 1970s. In the turbocharger markets UK companies such as Cummins and Napier are developing advanced turbochargers for use in compounded engines with electrical drive trains. In the power generation sector, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Siemens are developing new gas turbines which have the capability for rapid start up to enable increased supply from renewables. In the domestic turbomachinery market, Dyson are developing a whole new range of miniature high speed compressors. All of these challenges require a new generation of engineers to be trained. These engineers will need a combination of the traditional Aero-thermal skills, and new Data Science and Systems Integration skills. The Centre has been specifically designed to meet this challenge.

Over the next 20 years, Rolls-Royce estimates that the global market opportunities in the gas turbine-related aftercare services will be worth over US$700 billion. Gas turbines will have 'Digital Twins' which are continually updated using engine health data. To ensure that the UK leads this field it is important that a new generation of engineer is trained in both the underpinning Aero-thermal knowledge and in new Data Science techniques. The Centre will provide this training by linking the University and Industry Partners with the Alan Turing Institute, and with industrial data labs such as R2 Data Labs at Rolls-Royce and the 'MindSphere' centres at Siemens.

2. Impact on UK Propulsion and Power Research Landscape
The three partner institutions (Cambridge, Oxford and Loughborough) are closely linked to the broader UK Propulsion and Power community. This is through collaborations with universities such as Imperial, Cranfield, Southampton, Bath, Surrey and Sussex. This will allow the research knowledge developed in the Centre to benefit the whole of the UK Propulsion and Power research community.

The Centre will also have impact on the Data Science research community through links with the CDT in Data Centric Engineering (DCE) at Imperial College and with the Alan Turning Institute. This will allow cross-fertilization of ideas related to data science and the use of advanced data analytics in the Propulsion and Power sectors.

3. Impact of training a new generation of engineering students
The cohort-based training programme of the current CDT in Gas Turbine Aerodynamics has proved highly successful. The Centre's independent Advisory Group has noted that the multi-institution, multi-disciplinary nature of the Centre is unique within the global gas turbine training community, and the feedback from cohorts of current students has been extremely positive (92% satisfaction rating in the 2015 PRES survey). The new CDT in Future Propulsion and Power will combine the core underlying Aero-thermal knowledge of the previous CDT with the Data Science and Systems Integration skills required to meet the challenges of the next generation. This will provide the UK with a unique cohort of at least 90 students trained both to understand the real aero-thermal problems and to have the Data Science and Systems Integration skills necessary to solve the challenges of the future.