The subject of this PhD thesis is the development of an efficient system that can simultaneously pump and separate a gas-liquid mixture, in particular an oil-air mixture. Two-phase flows are encountered in many applications (petroleum extraction, flow in nuclear power plant pumps, pulp and paper processing, etc.) but this study is mainly focused on lubrication systems of aircraft gas turbine engines.<p><p>The pump and separator system (PASS) for two-phase flows developed in this PhD thesis aims to perform three functions simultaneously:<p>• Send back the oil to the tank (oil pumping)<p>• Separate the air from the oil (de-aeration)<p>• Separate the oil from the air (de-oiling) and release the sealing air into the atmosphere (venting). <p>Particular care is given to the liquid flow rate lost at the gas outlet of the system.<p>Consequently, it could replace the scavenge pumps and oil-air separators existing in present lubrication systems. This modification provides several advantages: simplification of the lubrication circuit, reduction of oil consumption and of the size of the lubrication system.<p><p>This research is divided into three axes: the theoretical study of the important physical mechanisms taking place inside the two-phase flow pump and separator system, the experimental development, tests and optimization of different PASS prototypes, and also the numerical simulations of the two-phase flow inside these prototypes. Although the experiments were the central pillar of this research, the three axes were closely imbricated.<p><p>The PASS design includes three main components:<p>• An inlet chamber with one or several tangential inlets giving a natural centrifugation to the flow,<p>• An impeller (forced centrifugation) with an axial and a radial part followed by a volute chamber,<p>• A metallic foam that lets pass micron and sub-micron droplets and which is followed by an axial vent port.<p><p>The centrifugation causes the liquid (oil) to move radially outwards in an annular body (a liquid ring) generating pressure. The thickness of this liquid ring inside the impeller is mainly determined by the pressure coefficient (related to the back-pressure and the rotational speed). When the back-pressure increases, the thickness of the liquid ring increases too. An advantage of the PASS is that it does not impose any relation between the liquid head and the liquid flow rate, contrary to common centrifugal pump. It self-regulates the radial position of the gas-liquid interface to sustain the operating conditions.<p><p>The de-aeration efficiency mainly depends on the pressure coefficient (for a constant liquid viscosity or temperature) or on the thickness of the liquid ring. The pressure gradient which appears in the liquid rotating in an annular body acts like a dam for the gas phase. Indeed, the gas movement is mainly determined by the pressure field (buoyancy) while the liquid distribution is dominated by centrifugal and Coriolis forces. Buoyancy tends to accumulate the gas phase near low pressure areas (PASS hub, suction side of the blades, clearances between closed impeller and casing).<p><p>The first oil-air PASS prototype produces high viscous losses due to the high peripheral velocity and liquid viscosity. Therefore, the pumping efficiency is poor compared to common impeller pumps. However, the pumping is not the key function of the PASS and a power consumption below 5 kW is acceptable for the application considered in this work. For applications that require lower power consumptions, a reduction of the rotational speed must be considered.<p><p>Thus, the rotational speed and the impeller diameter are two major constraints for the PASS design which determine the de-aeration and pumping efficiencies. The impeller diameter also influences the size of passage sections for the air flow. The air velocity must be kept as low as possible because the entrainment of droplets increases when the air velocity rises (drag forces on droplets). Indeed, this large influence of the air flow rate on the oil consumption (de-oiling efficiency) was demonstrated by a theoretical analysis, the experiments and the CFD simulations. The production of droplets in the inlet pipes when the two-phase flow is annular is a key phenomenon regarding the oil consumption.<p><p>In addition to the air flow rate, other variables also influence the oil consumption:<p>• Air-oil temperature: when the temperature rises, the oil consumption increases because the surface tension and the oil density are reduced. Moreover, as the air density also decreases, the air velocity rises.<p>• Oil flow rate: the oil consumption rises more or less linearly with the oil flow rate. However, the influence of the oil flow rate on the inlet droplet size is uncertain.<p>• Rotational speed: the rotational speed has obviously a strong impact on the oil consumption without metallic foam. However, experiments showed that the metallic foam efficiency is almost independent on the rotational speed. Therefore, the oil consumption with the Retimet foam does not depend on the PASS rotational speed.<p>• Altitude or air density: the oil consumption decreases when the air density is reduced because the drag forces on droplets also decrease.<p>The gas density (altitude) is also supposed to influence the de-aeration efficiency but this could not be tested or simulated in this work (the de-aeration efficiency gets probably better when decreasing the gas density because the buoyancy forces increase).<p><p>Theory, experiments and numerical simulations also allowed the prediction of performance of the first oil-air prototype for real in-flight operating conditions. Two problems have been identified: the de-aeration efficiency at MTO and cruise ratings and the oil leak throughout the vent in cold start and windmilling. To solve them, some modifications of the lubrication system have been suggested. With these modifications, the oil-air PASS should become very efficient and attractive for engine manufacturers. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

A system able to simultaneously separate and pump a gas-liquid mixture was developed.<p>It works efficiently and can be used in many applications (nuclear power plants,<p>pulp and paper processing, petroleum extraction, etc.). However, this pump and separator<p>system (PASS) was especially designed to handle air-oil mixture generated in<p>aero-engine lubrication systems. The PASS combines three important functions of the<p>scavenge part of the lubrication system: the deaeration and deoiling of the air-oil mixture<p>generated in the bearing and gearbox sumps and the pumping of the oil towards<p>the tank. These are critical functions for the engine. Indeed, a poor deoiling efficiency<p>leads to a high oil consumption. This reduces the flight endurance, increases the size<p>and weight of the oil tank and has a negative impact on the environment. Poor deaeration<p>and pumping characteristics lead to problems in the cooling and the lubrication of<p>the engine bearings.<p><p>Integrating a PASS into the lubrication system allows considerable improvements<p>(and simplification) to the lubrication system architecture. An important number of<p>components are suppressed: the vent lines, the deoiler, the cyclone deaerator and the<p>scavenge pumps. This reduces the size and the weight of the lubrication system and<p>increases its reliability. Furthermore, an important part of this PhD thesis focuses on<p>reducing the oil consumption in the PASS. This improves the flight endurance, reduces<p>engine maintenance and working costs and is profitable to the environment.<p><p>In addition to the development of an advanced PASS design system, the objective of<p>this thesis was to obtain a good understanding of the separation processes occurring in<p>the PASS and to develop theoretical models able to predict the separation performance<p>for every working condition encountered in a typical aircraft flight. To achieve this<p>goal, three main tasks were performed: the development of different two-phase measurement<p>systems, the experimental tests of four different PASS architectures and the<p>theoretical development (after an extensive literature review) of correlations predicting<p>the performance of the PASS in function of the working conditions. Five specific aspects<p>of the PASS were studied: the inlet flow, the deoiling efficiency, the deaeration efficiency,<p>the pumping efficiency and the pressure drop. Finally, the models that have been developed<p>with the help of the measurement systems and of the experiments have been<p>integrated in a complete model of the lubrication system (under the EcosimPro modelling<p>environment). This helps to predict real in flight PASS working conditions and<p>performance. Indeed, the PASS is very sensitive to the engine working conditions and<p>an optimisation of the prototype size and performance is only feasible with an accurate<p>knowledge of these working conditions and a complete lubrication system model.<p>Finally, with the results of this PhD thesis, a new PASS design, optimised for different<p>aero-engine lubrication systems, is presented. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished