Overview
A 3-month side engagement with E2 Power Systems, a TU Delft spin-off building a next-generation hydrogen combustion turbine for heavy-duty mobility. I sat with the internal R&D team during the validation phase, establishing a proof of concept for the novel axial-turbine combustion system through CFD simulation, blade-shape optimization, and CAD integration.
Method
The work centred on simulating the axial turbine in ANSYS Fluent to determine its power-generation potential under a hydrogen fuel cycle. Multiple turbine-blade configurations were modelled and tested, refining the curvature for maximum aerodynamic efficiency under the target operating range.
To guard against solver-specific artefacts, the same configurations were re-run in ANSYS CFX and the two solver outputs cross-validated — a small discipline that catches numerical-recipe bias before it becomes a design assumption.
Critical components were modelled in SolidWorks for structural analysis and integration into the broader propulsion system.
CFD analysis
The simulations targeted three KPIs that drive turbine efficiency:
- Velocity profiles and flow streamlines — ensuring uniform flow distribution and minimising turbulence-induced losses.
- Blade pressure distribution — locating high-stress zones and feeding back into curvature optimization.
- Downstream velocity distributions — extrapolating stream velocities past the rotor to characterise energy extraction across the stage.
Stack
ANSYS Fluent, ANSYS CFX, SolidWorks.