Dominik Suchla, M.Sc.

• Multiphysics of Turbulent Flows

Research Projects

Development of an extension for the mixing planes in TRACE

Nowadays, the design of turbomachinery can be quickly and dynamically iterated without the need for constant experimental testing, thanks to highly efficient numerical methods. These CFD-simulations have to compromise between a short runtime and high precision. One such compromise is the usage of mixing planes, which are an integral part of the CFD-software TRACE of the DLR (German Aerospace Center). Here, all relevant flow fields undergo a circumferential averaging process between each row of blades. This allows for steady-state solutions, which can be calculated very quickly and efficiently. However, due to the averaging process, a lot of information on the detailed structure of the flow is lost and this has a negative impact on the turbulence modeling.

In this area, two new approaches are implemented in TRACE and extensively tested. Through a clever choice of assumptions and precise calibration, they promise to improve the precision of the steady-state solutions.