1

A comparative study of treatment of two-dimensional

two-phase flows of steam by a Runge-Kutta and by
Denton’s methods
F Bakhtar1∗ , M Y Zamri2 , and J M Rodriguez-Lelis3
1
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
Q1 2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
3
Departamento de Ingenieria Mechanica, Interior Internado Palmera, Cuernevaca, Mexico

The manuscript was received on 17 August 2006 and was accepted after revision for publication on 21 March 2007.
DOI: 10.1243/0954406JMES477

Abstract: This paper describes a comparative study of the treatment of two-dimensional

nucleating flows of steam using two different time-marching numerical schemes. A treatment
based on Denton’s scheme but a refined grid has been available from earlier work. To compare
with this a treatment based on the Runge-Kutta scheme has been developed, which is described.
Solutions using this scheme and a simple mesh are compared with experimental results and with
solutions using the earlier treatment. The agreement obtained between the two schemes and
with the experimental results is satisfactory. Oscillating flows in a convergent–divergent nozzle
are also examined and excellent agreement obtained with experimental measurements.

Keywords: steam turbines, two-phase flows, non-equilibrium flow, time marching, cascades of
blades, fluid dynamics, nucleation, wet steam

1 INTRODUCTION Many experimental investigations of wet steam

In the course of expansion of steam in turbines the
state path crosses the saturation line and some of
the stages have to operate on a two-phase mixture.
The design of the stages operating on superheated
steam has benefited considerably from work on air-
craft gas turbines and very high efficiencies can
be achieved. In contrast, the problems associated
with two-phase effects in the wet stages have been
comparatively neglected. Generally, there is loss of
performance experienced in these stages and the phe-
nomena underlying the additional losses are imper-
fectly understood. An appreciable proportion of the
power is generated in these stages and economic
rewards for improved designs resulting from better
understating are considerable.
∗ Corresponding author: Department of Mechanical and
Manufacturing Engineering, University of Birmingham,
PO Box 363, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. email:
f.bakhtar@bham.ac.uk
flows in steam turbines have been reported in the lit-
erature and these highlight the problems experienced
[1–20]. The state of progress in the studies of wetness
problems in steam has been reviewed in a two part
special issue of the journal of mechanical engineering
science recently [21, 22]. There has been reasonable
progress in the understanding of some of the under-
lying problems but much work still remains to be
done and the effort devoted to the study of these
problems is small in comparison with their practical
significance.
An important aspect of the subject is analysis of
these flows. To treat two-phase flows of steam in
turbine blading, the equations describing droplet
nucleation and growth are combined with the gas
dynamic field conservation equations and the set
treated numerically. A feature of flows in the low
pressure stages of steam turbines is that they are gen-
erally transonic with appreciable supersonic zones
and often contain shock waves. For this reason the
most suitable method of treating the equations is the
time marching technique. A number of treatments of
two-phase flows of steam using this technique have

JMES477 © IMechE 2007 Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science