Comparison of LES, RANS and experiments in an aeronautical gas turbine combustion chamber

Although Large Eddy Simulations (LES) have demonstrated their potential in simple academic combustion chambers, their application to real gas turbine chambers requires specific developments and validations. In this study, three specific aspects of such chambers are discussed: multiple inlets, multi-perforated plates and film cooling. LES are used in an industry-like chamber and results are compared with predictions provided by Reynolds Averaged Navier - Stokes (RANS) simulations and experimental measurements. Multi-perforation is handled using a simplified effusive wall law while film cooling makes use of low resolution influx conditions ('coarse LES'). Experimental results are well reproduced and qualitatively improved when compared to RANS predictions. LES results underline the potential of the approach for industrial use. (c) 2006 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.