Effect of nonconformances on the aerodynamic performance of low-pressure turbine outlet guide vanes

Geometry nonconformances are diverse variations in the actual component geometry with respect to the intended ideal design. These differences in the geometry can occur either at component manufacturing or later during the exploitation as a result of component wear and reparations. Typical geometry nonconformances are nonideal shapes and positions due to tolerances, manufacturing traces such as shrinkage, warps, welds, repairs of various type, e.g., patches, and other shape deviations such as surface roughness. There are also so-called nominal nonconformances which include, e.g., steps, gaps, fillets, bumps, and installation holes. Improvement of the aerodynamic component performance requires understanding of the impact of these technological features on the fundamental flow field. In the current study, experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are performed on two different types of nonconformances on the outlet guide vanes in order to study the effect of the nonconformances on the aerodynamic performance and to validate the computation design tool.