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Carlos Tavera Guerrero

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Doctoral student

Details

Address
BRINELLVÄGEN 68
Room

About me

In 2019 I was employed at the Turbomachinery and Propulsion group, within the Heat and Power Technology division. My main focus was the mechanical design of a transonic linear cascade (TLC) for future investigations within two projects. The first, a European funded project H2020 as well as a national Swedish project.

In order to achieve the 2050 net-zero goal, the aerospace sector is working on multiple paths to attain the objective. A key path is to research new technologies and my research aims to contribute in a low TRL level to this path. In this regard, since 2020 I have been working as a PhD candidate in a national Swedish project funded by the National Aeronautical Research Program (NFFP). The project is entitled  ADiSS (Aeroelastisk Dämpning iSepareradStrömning) where, numerically and experimentally, the effect of aerodynamic damping (flutter) in separated flows is investigated as well as the effect of surface over the steady-state and unsteady aeroelastic response. This project is in collaboration with GKN Aerospace Sweden AB as industrial partner. The reference geometry and operating point is taken from an open-source transonic axial compressor (VINK). The experimental campaing takes place at the Transonic Linear Cascade (TLC) with prismatic blades representative of VINK at near-stall operating point. I have performed the mechanical design of the rig as well as the mechanical design for its instrumentation.

Transonic Linear Cascade (TLC)

My research is a two-fold path, the first path focuses on the effect of separated flows in the aeromechanical response in a transonic linear cascade.  My research includes both experimental and numerical analysis. The experimental data is a reference for validation of state-of-the art numerical analysis.   The operating point of interest is near stall at part speed where a shock-induced separation phenomena takes place.

The second path of my research, focuses on the effect of surface degradation over the blades which is inherent to any engineering tool. Currently there is wide pallet of correlation factors between surface statistical moments and its effect over the flow field. This provides a very appealing and interesting line of research. In this regard, a partial goal from my research is to identify if the separated regions are affected by a rough surface and its effect over the aeroelastic response.

Research in a conceptual nutshell:

Read the following QR code. Why is the leaf oscillating while others are standing still? 

Flutter example in nature

The air that is passing around the leaf excites it and makes it vibrate. While vibrating, the air can either extract or add energy to the leaf. In this case the air feeds energy to the leaf, making it increase its oscillation amplitude every cycle. This is flutter!  If instead of a leaf would be a titanium blade, conceptually the same physical principle holds, meaning flutter can jeopardize the structural integrity of a component. This phenomena is assessed by means of the so-called aerodynamic damping. 

Background:

I have obtained my BSc degree in Aeronautics from Instituto Politecnico Nacional in Mexico. Afterwards I worked for three years as CAD Engineer at Ford Motor Company where I was team lead of the rear bumper system. Afterwards, my passion for turbomachinery took me to pursue a MSc in a joint Master program in Turbomachinery Aeromechanical University Training (THRUST).

At KTH:

Within this time, I have supervised a couple of thesis (BSc and MSc), that are relevant to the project.

Besides my research I am teacher assistant of the numerical heat transfer in energy technology course and aircraft propulsion general course.

I give lectures and hold Q&A sessions at the Aeromechanics Project Course in collaboration with TUD Darmstad, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM), Imperial College London (ICL).


Courses

AI applications in Sustainable Energy Engineering (MJ2507), assistant | Course web

Aircraft Propulsion, General Course (MJ2523), assistant | Course web

Numerical Heat Transfer in Energy Technology (MJ2515), teacher | Course web

Numerical Heat Transfer in Energy Technology (FMJ3411), teacher | Course web

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Publications

Publication list