The Turbomachinery and Heat Transfer Branch at NASA Glenn

Research Center

The Turbomachinery and Heat Transfer Branch was formed in the fall of 2005 by the
merger of the Compressor and Turbine branches. The branch conducts fundamental and
applied research to advance the state of the art in turbomachinery for gas turbine
engines, pumps for rocket engines, and heat transfer for aerospace applications.

The research is applicable to civil and military aircraft, industrial engines, and space
vehicles. The research has also been applied to such diverse applications as automotive
fans, vacuum cleaner impellers, and jet ski impellers.

The branch maintains and operates several large test facilities. These facilities are used
to:

← Produce highly detailed test data for validation of computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) codes.
← Measure the performance of advanced compressor and turbine designs.
← Investigate new concepts for improving the performance or stability of
compressors.
← Measure surface heat transfer on turbine blades.
← Study the effects of roughness, transition, and turbulence on turbine heat
transfer.

The branch also develops, maintains, supports, and applies several computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) codes. The codes are applicable to many types of turbomachinery,
including fans, compressors, turbines, pumps, and diffusers. The codes are used to:

← Design advanced turbomachinery.

← Predict turbomachinery performance.
← Understand steady and unsteady flow phenomena in turbomachinery.
← Investigate new concepts for improving the performance or stability of
turbomachinery.
← Predict the effects of advanced turbine cooling configurations.

Curator: Barb Lucci