SHAPE Pilot Thesan srl: Design improvement of a rotary turbine supply chamber through CFD analysis

This work conducted in the field of the PRACE’ SHAPE pilots deals with the optimization of a volumetric machine. The machine is under active development, and a prototype is already working and fully monitored in an experimental mock-loop setup. This prototype operates under controlled conditions on a workbench, giving as an output the efficiency of the machine itself. The main goal is to obtain an increased efficiency through the design and realization of the moving chambers in which fluid flows. In order to obtain such a task, an extensive CFD modelling and simulation is required to perform virtual tests on different design solutions to measure the physical quantities assessing the performance of a given geometry. The final goal is to design a better geometry of the different components, mainly the supply and exhaust chambers, cutting down time and resources needed to realize a physical prototype and to limit the physical realization only on a single geometry of choice. The CFD modelling should allow then, through scientific visualization paradigms and quantifications, to perform a detailed characterization of the fluid dynamics patterns present within the prototype and to identify the main geometrical parameters able to drive the optimal configuration. High Performance Computing facilities and Open-Source tools, such as OpenFOAM, are therefore of capital interest to handle the complex physical model under consideration and to perform a sufficient amount of design configuration analysis.