Numerical Simulation of Diffuser of a Gas Turbine using the Actuator Disc Model

An analysis of the exhaust diffuser section of a gas turbine is presented by incorporating the reduced order mathematical model “actuator disc concept” that represents the last stage of the turbine. The actuator disc model is one of the simplified numerical methods for analyzing the aerodynamic performance of axial turbine stage. In which, the rotor and the stator of the turbine stages are modeled as zero thickness discs with a specified blade speed and zero speed respectively. Finite volume based commercial CFD package ANSYS FLUENT was employed for the numerical investigation of the applicability of the proposed simplified model. The compressible Navier-Stoke equations along with k- turbulent model were solved in the computational domain by incorporating suitable boundary conditions. The implementation of actuator disc boundary conditions is described in detail. The numerical results obtained from the proposed model are in good agreement with the experimental data available in the literature. The effect of casing angle on the performance of diffuser is presented.