Numerical Transonic Flow Field Predictions for NASA Compressor Rotor 37

Flow field calculations of the NASA transonic axial compressor Rotor 37 are presented. These were obtained by the two commercially available 3D Navier Stokes-codes BTOB3D and TASCflow using different turbulence models, i.e. Baldwin-Lomax and k-ε. Some of the results were submitted to the CFD code assessment exercise organized in 1994 by the Turbomachinery Committee of the ASME, where a number of “blind” CFD predictions were compared against previously unknown experimental data taken at the NASA Lewis Research Center. The objective of these calculations was to use the codes in the same way as they are generally used by experienced engineers for standard industrial design tasks. Thus, the effort involved in grid generation, flow simulation runs and postprocessing was subject to the usual limitations in computer resources as well as a stringent observation of cost-effectiveness (manpower and time available). With both codes, two sets of calculations were carried out: BTOB3D with two different tip clearances and TASCflow with a uniform and a spanwise varying outlet static pressure. Generally, the results of both codes show good agreement with respect to the measured overall performance characteristics and averaged spanwise distributions. In particular, the TASCflow solutions display high prediction accuracy in some local details of the flow field while in the BTOB3D code, boundary effects seem to mix out the flow significantly. The solution strategies employed as well as the reasons for certain discrepancies between computations and measurements are discussed.