Turbulence modeling with application to turbomachinery

The prediction of turbulent flows is a nontrivial problem in internal and external aerodynamics and in many other branches of engineering. The problem appears in perhaps its greatest generality in gas turbines, where predictions of turbine blade temperature are crucial to engine efficiency or life, and predictions of the composition of combustion products is essential in meeting environmental regulations. Therefore it is logical, and hopefully useful, to make turbomachinery problems the theme of a discussion of the current state of turbulence modeling. The present article contains enough background on the physics of turbulence to illuminate the problems of modeling, but it is not a review of turbulence research in general. Topics of current concern which are dealt with in detail include the validity of the ‘law of the wall’, the universal near-wall scaling which is the foundation of prediction methods for attached flows and the effect of compressibility on turbulence.