SIMULATION OF ENERGY PROMOTERS IN THE INTERMEDIATE PASSAGE OF GAS TURBINE

The main objective of this project is to perform simulations on the effect of energy
promoters in an aggressive intermediate gas turbine duct (diffuser). Many approaches
and ideas have been used to improve diffuser's size, but flow separation will occur
and significantly reduces the diffuser's performance. Therefore energy promoter is
introduced to reduce the boundary layer. This can be done by increasing the fluid's
momentum and redirect them to oppose the boundary layer, thus reducing its size
and adverse effect onto the diffuser. A typical S-shaped diffuser is designed and
simulated to become the benchmark for this simulation testing. Then, the diffuser is
shortened to create an aggressive diffuser design. Then the energy promoter is
introduced, and simulated with various configurations to obtain the best height, and
position. The objective is to obtain the best exit static pressure, which ultimately
affect the diffuser's efficiency. The result shows the energy promoters works as
intended, but still far from reaching the benchmark efficiency of a normal/ideal
diffuser. Further testing will be required in three dimensional as well as experimental
to realize this technology into the real world.