The Calculation of Erosion in a Gas Turbine Compressor Rotor

Erosion of the turbomachinery and other components in helicopter gas turbines operating in a sandy environment is a significant problem. In order to better understand the mechanics of such erosion, and to enable the design of components better able to withstand it, a means of modelling erosion is needed.

Such a method has been developed at Turboméca. It consists of a method of predicting the trajectories of the particles within the component, on the basis of a prescribed aerodynamic field and taking into account rebounds from the walls, together with correlations for the erosion caused by impacts of the particles with the walls.

The various aspects of the method have been validated by comparison with available experimental data and these comparisons are presented. Predictions of particle trajectories in two types of particle separator and in two gas turbine compressors (axial and centrifugal) are also presented, together with some comparisons with experiment.