Design And Analysis of Vaneless Three-dimensional Volutes For Radial Inflow Turbines

In this paper, at first a computer code was developed to design a one-dimensional vaneless volute related to radial inflow turbine. Absolute mach number and direction of the rotor inlet flow are the bases of the design method. In this method , the one-dimensional compressible flow equations are solved considering dissipation of the fluid flow. Free vortex flow equations were used to model (simulate) rotational fluid flow inside vaneless volute, using experimental (correlation) relations of angular momentum dissipation, energy dissipation, and deviation of rotational flow. In the next step, the volute is generated using the computes code. Then, the volute geometry was modeled three-dimensionally and after mesh generation, the inside flow is analyzed numerically in three-dimensional, compressible and viscous flow. At the end, the numerical results were compared to the initial design values. The comparison showed the validation of the design method.
Keywords: Volute; Radial inflow turbine; Vaneless; one-dimensional design.