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2025-2026 / MECA0532-1

Turbomachines

Duration

26h Th, 26h Pr

Number of credits

 Master Msc. in Energy Engineering, professional focus in Energy Conversion5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Electromechanical Engineering, professional focus in energetics (Réinscription uniquement, pas de nouvelle inscription)6 crédits 
 Msc. in Mechanical Engineering, professional focus in materials and manufacturing5 crédits 
 Master Msc. in Mechanical engineering, professional focus in mechatronics5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Mechanical Engineering, professional focus in sustainable automotive engineering5 crédits 

Lecturer

Koen Hillewaert

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Classification of turbomachines;

Fluid dynamics applied to energy conversion

  • Recap Fluid Dynamics: conservation equations; similarity; lift and drag;
  • Mechanical and thermal energy, entropy;
  • Turbomachines: frames of reference, Euler equation, rothalpy; velocity triangles; total conditions in the absolute and relative frame;
Blade passages and stages

  • Axial passages: force balances, power exchanges and losses; similarity, stage coefficients;
  • Radial passages with or without blades
Hydraulics

  • Recapitulation: hydraulic forms of energy, head, head losses and hydraulic diagrams
  • cavitation
Pumps and fans : description of the machines

  • similarity: classification, scaling rules and extrapolation
  • radial and axial pumps
  • energy balance
  • estimation of the conditions throughout the machine
  • operating characteristics
  • cavitation and NPSH
Pumps and fans : operation in an installation 

  • operating point in a circuit: head, flow rate and NPSH
  • control strategy: throttling, speed regulation, bypass
  • multistage pumps, trimming and suppliers catalogues
Recapitulation of gas dynamics

  • state  equations; Mollier h-s diagram; polytropes;
  • Mach number and sonic effects; total conditions; shocks
  • duct flows with heat, friction and area change
  • iterative estimation of flow conditions 
Gas turbomachinery

  • Eulers equation, rothalpy, total conditions in the absolute and relative frame, stage Mollier h-s diagram
  • iterative estimation of the thermodynamic conditions in the turbomachine
  • similarity scaling, corrected and reduced conditions
Compressors

  • axial and radial compressors
  • definition of efficiencies
  • speed characteristics and operating limits
  • flow in typical compressor passages
  • instabilities and remediation
Turbines

  • axial and radial turbines and link to applications
  • definition of efficiencies of machine, stage and passage 
  • operating maps;
  • Steam turbines: choice of stage types through the machine; regulation.
  • Gas turbine blades: cooling
Applications 

  • component matching
  • gas turbines, civil and military jet engines 
  • Turbochargers

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

  • Understand the operation, the choice and the design consideration of the machine / stages in function of the application, its duty and the operating conditions;
  • Estimate the operating point of a machine in an installation;
  • Reconstruct the thermodynamic and fluid dynamic conditions in key locations of the machine and based on that provide an estimate of the performance;
  • Provide a rough predesign of a stage or a simple machine;

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Ideally, the student should have followed, or have obtained a similar knowledge as described in, the courses

  • MECA0011 (Elements de mécanique des fluides)
  • MECA0025 (Mécanique des fluides)
  • MECA0002 (Thermodynamique appliquée et introduction aux machines thermiques)
Nevertheless, during the course the necessary elements of these courses will be recalled and reformulated in the framework of turbomachinery

 

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

  • Weekly course sessions, on average 3 hours of theory and 1/2 hour of exercises
  • 1 lab for measuring the performance of a turbomachine per group of 2 students
  • 1 individual project on the design/performance analysis of a machine

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus


Further information:

Course notes and exercise compendium on e-campus;

Tables and articles e-campus.

Recommended generalizing books (available in applied sciences library,* electronic format)

  • Fundamentals of Turbomachines, E. Dick 
  • Turbomachinery Flow Physics and Dynamic Performance, M. Schobeiri
  • The Dynamics and Thermodynamics of Compressible Fluid Flow, E. Shapiro
  • Aero-Thermodynamics and flow in Turbomachines, M.H. Vavra
Specialized literature

  • Hydrodynamics of Pumps, C.E. Brennen*
  • Design and analysis of radial compressors, R. Van den Braembussche*
  • Axial flow turbines, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, J.H. Horlock
  • Axial flow compressors, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, J.H. Horlock
  • Compressor aerodynamics, N. Cumpsty
  • Jet propulsion : a simple guide to the aerodynamic and thermodynamic design and performance of jet engines, N. Cumpsty




 

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

written exam ( open-ended questions ) AND oral exam

Written work / report


Further information:

The total grade is composed of the marks on

  • the report of the lab session
  • the oral exam on theory
  • the written exam on exercises
The student needs to successfully pass each of the components 

Work placement(s)

N/A

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

It is to first pose questions on theory, exercises and projects, either directly during the course sessions, or on the dedicated forum on e-campus, in order to share the information with as many as possible and to have a rather immediate answer. If still needed, personal or group appointments can be made via mail

Association of one or more MOOCs

There is no MOOC associated with this course.