Heat Transfer Implications of Acoustic Resonances in Turbine Internal Cooling Channels

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Selcan ◽  
B. Cukurel ◽  
J. Shashank

In an attempt to investigate the acoustic resonance effect of serpentine passages on internal convection heat transfer, the present work examines a typical high pressure turbine (HPT) blade internal cooling system, based on the geometry of the NASA E3 engine. In order to identify the associated dominant acoustic characteristics, a numerical finite-element method (FEM) simulation (two-step frequency domain analysis) is conducted to solve the Helmholtz equation with and without source terms. Mode shapes of the relevant identified eigenfrequencies (in the 0–20 kHz range) are studied with respect to induced standing sound wave patterns and the local node/antinode distributions. It is observed that despite the complexity of engine geometries, the predominant resonance behavior can be modeled by a same-ended straight duct. Therefore, capturing the physics observed in a generic geometry, the heat transfer ramifications are experimentally investigated in a scaled wind tunnel facility at a representative resonance condition. Focusing on the straight cooling channel's longitudinal eigenmode in the presence of an isolated rib element, the impact of standing sound waves on convective heat transfer and aerodynamic losses are demonstrated by liquid crystal thermometry, local static pressure and sound level measurements. The findings indicate a pronounced heat transfer influence in the rib wake separation region, without a higher pressure drop penalty. This highlights the potential of modulating the aerothermal performance of the system via acoustic resonance mode excitations.

Author(s):  
C. Selcan ◽  
B. Cukurel ◽  
J. Shashank

In an attempt to investigate the acoustic resonance effect of serpentine passages on internal convection heat transfer, the present work examines a typical high pressure turbine blade internal cooling system, based on the geometry of the NASA E3 engine. In order to identify the associated dominant acoustic characteristics, a numerical FEM simulation (two-step frequency domain analysis) is conducted to solve the Helmholtz equation with and without source terms. Mode shapes of the relevant identified eigenfrequencies (in the 0–20kHz range) are studied with respect to induced standing sound wave patterns and the local node/antinode distributions. It is observed that despite the complexity of engine geometries, as a first order approximation, the predominant resonance behavior can be modeled by a same-ended straight duct. Therefore, capturing the physics observed in a generic geometry, the heat transfer ramifications are experimentally investigated in a scaled wind tunnel facility at a representative resonance condition. Focusing on the straight cooling channel’s longitudinal eigenmode in the presence of an isolated rib element, the impact of standing sound waves on convective heat transfer and aerodynamic losses are demonstrated by liquid crystal thermometry, local static pressure and sound level measurements. The findings indicate a pronounced heat transfer influence in the rib wake separation region, without a higher pressure drop penalty. This highlights the potential of modulating the aero-thermal performance of the system via acoustic resonance mode excitations.


Author(s):  
D. Jackson ◽  
P. Ireland ◽  
B. Cheong

Progress in the computing power available for CFD predictions now means that full geometry, 3 dimensional predictions are now routinely used in internal cooling system design. This paper reports recent work at Rolls-Royce which has compared the flow and htc predictions in a modern HP turbine cooling system to experiments. The triple pass cooling system includes film cooling vents and inclined ribs. The high resolution heat transfer experiments show that different cooling performance features are predicted with different levels of fidelity by the CFD. The research also revealed the sensitivity of the prediction to accurate modelling of the film cooling hole discharge coefficients and a detailed comparison of the authors’ computer predictions to data available in the literature is reported. Mixed bulk temperature is frequently used in the determination of heat transfer coefficient from experimental data. The current CFD data is used to compare the mixed bulk temperature to the duct centreline temperature. The latter is measured experimentally and the effect of the difference between mixed bulk and centreline temperature is considered in detail.


Author(s):  
Christian Egger ◽  
Jens von Wolfersdorf ◽  
Martin Schnieder

In this paper a transient method for measuring heat transfer coefficients in internal cooling systems using infrared thermography is applied. The experiments are performed with a two-pass internal cooling channel connected by a 180° bend. The leading edge and the trailing edge consist of trapezoidal and nearly rectangular cross sections, respectively, to achieve an engine-similar configuration. Within the channels rib arrangements are considered for heat transfer enhancement. The test model is made of metallic material. During the experiment the cooling channels are heated by the internal flow. The surface temperature response of the cooling channel walls is measured on the outer surface by infrared thermography. Additionally, fluid temperatures as well as fluid and solid properties are determined for the data analysis. The method for determining the distribution of internal heat transfer coefficients is based on a lumped capacitance approach which considers lateral conduction in the cooling system walls as well as natural convection and radiation heat transfer on the outer surface. Because of time-dependent effects a sensitivity analysis is performed to identify optimal time periods for data analysis. Results are compared with available literature data.


2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Imran Qureshi ◽  
Andy D. Smith ◽  
Thomas Povey

Modern lean burn combustors now employ aggressive swirlers to enhance fuel-air mixing and improve flame stability. The flow at combustor exit can therefore have high residual swirl. A good deal of research concerning the flow within the combustor is available in open literature. The impact of swirl on the aerodynamic and heat transfer characteristics of an HP turbine stage is not well understood, however. A combustor swirl simulator has been designed and commissioned in the Oxford Turbine Research Facility (OTRF), previously located at QinetiQ, Farnborough UK. The swirl simulator is capable of generating an engine-representative combustor exit swirl pattern. At the turbine inlet plane, yaw and pitch angles of over ±40 deg have been simulated. The turbine research facility used for the study is an engine scale, short duration, rotating transonic turbine, in which the nondimensional parameters for aerodynamics and heat transfer are matched to engine conditions. The research turbine was the unshrouded MT1 design. By design, the center of the vortex from the swirl simulator can be clocked to any circumferential position with respect to HP vane, and the vortex-to-vane count ratio is 1:2. For the current investigation, the clocking position was such that the vortex center was aligned with the vane leading edge (every second vane). Both the aligned vane and the adjacent vane were characterized. This paper presents measurements of HP vane surface and end wall heat transfer for the two vane positions. The results are compared with measurements conducted without swirl. The vane surface pressure distributions are also presented. The experimental measurements are compared with full-stage three-dimensional unsteady numerical predictions obtained using the Rolls Royce in-house code Hydra. The aerodynamic and heat transfer characterization presented in this paper is the first of its kind, and it is hoped to give some insight into the significant changes in the vane flow and heat transfer that occur in the current generation of low NOx combustors. The findings not only have implications for the vane aerodynamic design, but also for the cooling system design.


Author(s):  
Nojin Park ◽  
Changmin Son ◽  
Jangsik Yang ◽  
Changyong Lee ◽  
Kidon Lee

A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the detailed heat transfer characteristics of a large scaled model of a turbine blade internal cooling system. The cooling system has one passage in the leading edge and a triple passage for the remained region with two U-bends. A large scaled model (2 times) is designed to acquire high resolution measurement. The similarity of the test model was conducted with Reynolds number at the inlet of the internal cooling system. The model is designed to simulate the flow at engine condition including film extractions to match the changes in flowrates through the internal cooling system. Also, 45 deg ribs were installed for heat transfer enhancement. The experiments were performed varying Reynolds number in the range of 20,000 to 100,000 with and without ribs under stationary condition. This study employs transient heat transfer technique using thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) to obtain full surface heat transfer distributions. The results show the detailed heat transfer distributions and pressure loss. The characteristics of pressure loss is largely dependent on the changes in cross-sectional area along the passages, the presence of U-bends and the extraction of coolant flow through film holes. The local and area averaged Nusselt number were compared to available correlations. Finally, the thermal performance counting the heat transfer enhancement as well as pressure penalty is presented.


Author(s):  
D. Bohn ◽  
R. Krewinkel ◽  
A. Wolff

The flow field and heat transfer in the internal cooling system of gas turbines can be modelled using rotating-disc systems with axial throughflow. Because of the complexity of these flows, in which buoyancy-induced phenomena are of the utmost importance, numerical studies are notoriously difficult to perform and need extensive experimental validation. J.M. Owen proposed using the Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) Principle as a possible means of simplifying numerical computations for these complex flows. This theory is based on the heat flux out of the cavity. In this numerical study, the Nusselt numbers on the disc walls inside an open rotating cavity with a Rayleigh number of approximately 4.97×108 are evaluated with regard to the computed Nusselt numbers on the disc walls. These can be considered to be representative of the flow inside the cavity. It is shown that, as predicted by Owen, the flow is stable when the heat transfer out of the cavity is maximised, or, conversely, the system is unstable when the heat transfer is minimised. Furthermore, it is proven that the level of the Nusselt number plays an important role for the change between the number of vortex pairs in the flow as well.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 1178-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Fazli ◽  
Mehrdad Raisee

PurposeThis paper aims to predict turbulent flow and heat transfer through different channels with periodic dimple/protrusion walls. More specifically, the performance of various low-Rek-ε turbulence models in prediction of local heat transfer coefficient is evaluated.Design/methodology/approachThree low-Re numberk-εturbulence models (the zonalk-ε, the lineark-εand the nonlineark-ε) are used. Computations are performed for three geometries, namely, a channel with a single dimpled wall, a channel with double dimpled walls and a channel with a single dimple/protrusion wall. The predictions are obtained using an in house finite volume code.FindingsThe numerical predictions indicate that the nonlineark-εmodel predicts a larger recirculation bubble inside the dimple with stronger impingement and upwash flow than the zonal and lineark-εmodels. The heat transfer results show that the zonalk-εmodel returns weak thermal predictions in all test cases in comparison to other turbulence models. Use of the lineark-εmodel leads to improvement in heat transfer predictions inside the dimples and their back rim. However, the most accurate thermal predictions are obtained via the nonlineark-εmodel. As expected, the replacement of the algebraic length-scale correction term with the differential version improves the heat transfer predictions of both linear and nonlineark-εmodels.Originality/valueThe most reliable turbulence model of the current study (i.e. nonlineark-εmodel) may be used for design and optimization of various thermal systems using dimples for heat transfer enhancement (e.g. heat exchangers and internal cooling system of gas turbine blades).


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandana S. Saravani ◽  
Nicholas J. DiPasquale ◽  
Saman Beyhaghi ◽  
Ryoichi S. Amano

The present work investigates the effects of buoyancy and wall heating condition on the thermal performance of a rotating two-pass square channel with smooth walls. The U-bend channel has a square cross section with a hydraulic diameter of 5.08 cm (2 in.). The lengths of the first and second passes are 514 mm and 460 mm, respectively. The turbulent flow entered the channel with Reynolds numbers of up to 34,000. The rotational speed varied from 0 to 600 rpm with rotational numbers up to 0.75. For this study, two approaches were considered for tracking the buoyancy effect on heat transfer. In the first case, the density ratio was set constant, and the rotational speed was varied. In the second case, the density ratio was changed in the stationary case, and the effect of density ratio was discussed. The range of buoyancy number along the channel is 0–6. The objective was to investigate the impact of buoyancy forces on a broader range of rotation number (0–0.75) and buoyancy number scales (0–6), and their combined effects on heat transfer coefficient for a channel with an aspect ratio of 1 : 1. Results showed that increasing the density ratio increased the heat transfer ratio in both stationary and rotational cases. Furthermore, in rotational cases, buoyancy force effects were very significant. Increasing the rotation number induced more buoyancy forces, which led to an enhancement in heat transfer. The buoyancy effect was more visible in the turning region than any other region.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Da Soghe ◽  
Cosimo Bianchini ◽  
Jacopo D’Errico ◽  
Lorenzo Tarchi

Impinging jet arrays are typically used to cool several gas turbine parts. Some examples of such applications can be found in the internal cooling of high-pressure turbine airfoils or in the turbine blade tip clearances control of aero-engines. The effect of the wall-to-jets temperature ratio (TR) on heat transfer is generally neglected by the correlations available in the open literature. In the present contribution, the impact of the temperature ratio on the heat transfer for a real engine active clearance control system is analyzed by means of validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computations. At different jets Reynolds number and considering several impingement array arrangements, a wide range of target wall-to-jets temperature ratio is accounted for. Computational results prove that both local and averaged Nusselt numbers reduce with increasing. An in-depth analysis of the numerical data shows that the last mentioned evidence is motivated by both the heat transfer incurring between the spent coolant flow and the fresh jets and the variation of gas properties with temperature through the boundary layer. A scaling procedure, based on the TR power law, was proposed to estimate the Nusselt number at different wall temperature levels necessary to correct available open-literature correlations, typically developed with small temperature differences, for real engine applications.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Coletti ◽  
Tom Verstraete ◽  
Jérémy Bulle ◽  
Timothée Van der Wielen ◽  
Nicolas Van den Berge ◽  
...  

This two-part paper addresses the design of a U-bend for serpentine internal cooling channels optimized for minimal pressure loss. The total pressure loss for the flow in a U-bend is a critical design parameter, as it augments the pressure required at the inlet of the cooling system, resulting in a lower global efficiency. In the first part of the paper, the design methodology of the cooling channel was presented. In this second part, the optimized design is validated. The results obtained with the numerical methodology described in Part I are checked against pressure measurements and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The experimental campaign is carried out on a magnified model of a two-legged cooling channel that reproduces the geometrical and aerodynamical features of its numerical counterpart. Both the original profile and the optimized profile are tested. The latter proves to outperform the original geometry by about 36%, in good agreement with the numerical predictions. Two-dimensional PIV measurements performed in planes parallel to the plane of the bend highlight merits and limits of the computational model. Despite the well-known limits of the employed eddy viscosity model, the overall trends are captured. To assess the impact of the aerodynamic optimization on the heat transfer performance, detailed heat transfer measurements are carried out by means of liquid crystals thermography. The optimized geometry presents overall Nusselt number levels only 6% lower with respect to the standard U-bend. The study demonstrates that the proposed optimization method based on an evolutionary algorithm, a Navier–Stokes solver, and a metamodel of it is a valid design tool to minimize the pressure loss across a U-bend in internal cooling channels without leading to a substantial loss in heat transfer performance.


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