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Grid for a turbine stage CFD Codes for Turbomachinery, Dr. Rodrick V. Chima, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA Pressure contours on a turbine stage
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TCGRID v. 300

Overview
TCGRID (Turbomachinery C-GRID) is a 3-D grid generation code for turbomachinery blades. It can generate single or multiblock grids that are compatible with various analysis codes including Swift and ADPAC. Single-block grids can be either C-type or H-type, and can be for linear cascades or annular blade rows. Multi-block grids use C-type grids around the blade, and can add an H-grid in the inlet region and O-grids in the hub or tip clearance regions.

Applications

  • Linear cascades
  • Axial compressors and turbines
  • Isolated blade rows or multistage machines
  • Centrifugal impellers and mixed flow machines (no splitters)
  • Radial diffusers
  • Pumps
Grid Types
  • C- or H-grids around blades
  • C-grid with upstream H-grids
  • O-grids in hub and tip clearance regions
  • Multistage machines are modeled by merging C-grids for individual blades
Formulation
  • Blade-to-blade grids are generated with a fast elliptic solver like GRAPE.
  • Spanwise reclustering is done using cubic splines.
  • H-grids in inlet regions and O-grids in clearance gaps are generated algebraically.
Input and output
  • Namelist input
  • Hub and casing geometries input in (z,r) coordinates
  • Blade geometries input in general (z,r,th) coordinates, or MERIDL formats (z,r,th1,th2) or (z,r,th1-th2)
Printed Output
  • Input parameters
  • Convergence information for blade-to-blade grids
  • Spanwise output of inlet, leading edge, trailing edge, and exit coordinates
  • Index file with grid size information for Swift
Grid & Debug Output
  • Grid files are written as binary data in standard PLOT3D format
  • Intermediate grid files can be output for debug or other purposes. These files include reclustered blade coordinates, the 2-D throughflow grid, and 2-D blade-to-blade grids.

Computer and graphics requirements
Tcgrid requires a Fortran 90 compiler and CFD visualization software for use. Click the button below for more information.

Examples
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Compressors

Image of an H-grid around fan blades

H-grid, NASA rotor 67

Side view of a grid for a compressor stage

Meridional grid, NASA stage 35

Image of a multiblock grid around fan blades in a wind tunnel

Multiblock grid, NASA
transonic flutter cascade
Turbines
Image of a C-grid on turbine vanes

C-grid, Goldman annular
turbine vane

 Image of a multi-block grid for a 1 stage turbine

Multiblock grid, SSME fuel
turbine 1st stage

 Image of a C-grid on a turbine rotor

C-grid, transonic turbine
rotor cascade
Centrifugal Impellers, Radial Turbines, and Pumps
Image of a C-grid on a centrifugal impeller

C-grid, NASA large low speed
centrifugal impeller

 3-D view of an H-grid on a centrifugal pump

H-grid, pump impeller

3-D view of a C-grid for a radial inflow turbine

C-grid, radial turbine
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Curator: Rod Chima
NASA Official: Mary Jo Long-Davis
Last Updated: 02/28/2008