Turbomachinery

One prominent example could be a gas turbine firing an expensive or scarce fuel; efficiency is the key to operational economics.

All aspects of turbomachinery are studied using an array of in-house and commercially available software, ranging from one-dimensional to high-fidelity instationary modeling. Designing a turbomachine requires experience because many aspects are almost heuristic or even aesthetic to varying extents. This calls for industry experience, not for ending up with unrealistic vehicles for the research. Our research is applied, and we normally collaborate with industry – or rely on our staff background from the industry designing real gas- and steam turbines. One typical feature of our research is to provide realistic component performance for detailed cycle modeling of, e.g., advanced thermal cycles for power generation or aircraft engines firing hydrogen. The department has access to a real turbofan engine and an industrial small gas turbine, which provides several options for applied turbomachinery research.