• DLR
• FH Aachen − SIJ
• RWTH Aachen − IRT
• RWTH Aachen − IDG
• KU Leuven − OPTEC

RWTH Institute of Steam and Gas Turbines

The institute of Steam and Gas Turbines (IDG) focuses on the design and optimisation of steam turbines and gas turbines for power plant applications as well as their integration in power plant cycles. Decentralised and hybrid technologies are also part of the research at the institute, with special emphasis on the optimisation of the interaction between the different components.

The institute has several large-scale test rigs, in which the (multi-phase) flows in steam and gas turbines, for example that in the secondary air system and in shroud cavities, can be investigated. The experimental investigation of combustion processes of synthetic gases and lean combustion has also been a long-standing research interest of the IDG.

Numerical research topics include flows in turbine, heat transfer, combustion and the modelling of power plants. For CFD applications the CHTflow code for calculating the combined flow and heat transfer has been developed. The other generic code of the institute, Aix-PAT, has been developed for and applied to the field of power plant design and for educational purposes.

Although in some cases exclusively numerical or experimental investigations are carried out, most research projects at the IDG are of a combined experimental/numerical nature and aim at combining the strengths of both approaches.

The IDG maintains close ties with leading national and international industrial partners, both manufacturers and utilities, in the framework research projects but also as partners in the construction of the "Laboratory for the Investigation of Combustion and Flow Phenomena" at the Melaten-Campus of RWTH Aachen University. Furthermore a close cooperation with national and international universities and research centres exists. A prime example of such a national collaboration is the DFG-funded collaborative research centre 561 "Thermally Highly Loaded, Cooled and Porous Multi-Layer Systems for Combined Cycle Power Plants", of which the IDG is the speaker institute. Internationally, especially close ties exist with the two leading Chinese universities in the field of turbine and power engineering, the Beihang University of Astronautics and Aeronautics and Tsinghua University.