The secondary air flow sealing the helicopter turbine engine (gas turbine) forms an oil mist as it passes through the bearings lubricated. The separation of these oil inclusions is a key issue for the mastery of oil consumption. Two teams of LEGI: EDT and MoST and the LMFA collaborate with Safran-Helicopter-Engines (Turbomeca) to build a methodology for modeling and simulation of multiphase flows in the oil separator. This approach includes RANS and URANS computations of 3D turbulent flows for the continuous phase (air) and Lagrangian tracking of the oil using Discrete Particle Method. The great complexity of the geometry of the very high rotating speed (a few tens of thousands rpm) does not permit predictive calculations. A collaboration with the laboratory of AeroThermoMechanics ULB (Brussels) allows comparison of the simulation results with measurements obtained on a test bench also designed in collaboration between partners.
