Gas Turbines Blade Heat Transfer and Internal Swirl Cooling Flow Experimental Study Using Liquid Crystals and Three-Dimensional Stereo-Particle Imaging Velocimetry

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Daisy Galeana ◽  
Asfaw Beyene
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Swirl Flow ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Cooling Flow ◽  
Blade Cooling ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The challenging engineering intricacies related to improving efficiency of a gas turbine engine comes with the need to maximize the internal cooling of the turbine blade to withstand the high turbine inlet temperature. Understanding the fluid mechanics and heat transfer of internal blade cooling is therefore of paramount importance. This paper presents the impact of swirl cooling flow on the heat transfer of a gas turbine chamber to understand the mechanics of internal blade cooling. The focus is the continuous swirl flow that must be maintained via nonstop injection of tangential flow, whereby swirl flow is generated. The impact of swirl cooling flow variation considers the velocity fields measured using stereo particle image velocimetry, the wall temperature and the convective heat transfer coefficient measured by liquid crystals and system of infrared thermography. Flow behavior and heat transfer at three Reynolds numbers ranging from 7,000 to 21,000 and the average profiles of axial and radial, magnitudes of velocity, and Nusselt numbers are given to research the direct effects of the circular chamber shape. Heat transfer results are measured and collected continuously after the system is heat-soaked to the required temperature. As part of the results relatively low heat transfer rates were observed near the upstream end of the circular chamber, resulting from a low momentum swirl flow as well as crossflow effects. The Thermochromic Liquid Crystal heat transfer results exemplify how the Nu measured favorably at the midstream of the chamber and values decline downstream.

A Numerical Study on Conjugate Heat Transfer for Supercritical CO2 Turbine Blade With Cooling Channels

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akshay Khadse ◽  
Andres Curbelo ◽  
Ladislav Vesely ◽  
Jayanta S. Kapat
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
Conjugate Heat Transfer ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Cooling Channels ◽  
Blade Cooling ◽  
Turbine Inlet

Abstract The first stage of turbine in a Brayton cycle faces the maximum temperature in the cycle. This maximum temperature may exceed creep temperature limit or even melting temperature of the blade material. Therefore, it becomes an absolute necessity to implement blade cooling to prevent them from structural damage. Turbine inlet temperatures for oxy-combustion supercritical CO2 (sCO2) are promised to reach blade material limit in near future foreseeing need of turbine blade cooling. Properties of sCO2 and the cycle parameters can make Reynolds number external to blade and external heat transfer coefficient to be significantly higher than those typically experience in regular gas turbines. This necessitates evaluation and rethinking of the internal cooling techniques to be adopted. The purpose of this paper is to investigate conjugate heat transfer effects within a first stage vane cascade of a sCO2 turbine. This study can help understand cooling requirements which include mass flow rate of leakage coolant sCO2 and geometry of cooling channels. Estimations can also be made if the cooling channels alone are enough for blade cooling or there is need for more cooling techniques such as film cooling, impingement cooling and trailing edge cooling. The conjugate heat transfer and aerodynamic analysis of a turbine cascade is carried out using STAR CCM+. The turbine inlet temperature of 1350K and 1775 K is considered for the study considering future potential needs. Thermo-physical properties of this mixture are given as input to the code in form of tables using REFPROP database. The blade material considered is Inconel 718.

Time-Resolved Heat Transfer and Surface Pressure Measurements for a Fully Cooled Transonic Turbine Stage

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy B. Nickol ◽  
Randall M. Mathison ◽  
Malak F. Malak ◽  
Rajiv Rana ◽  
Jong S. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Flux ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Surface Pressure ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Pressure Measurements ◽  
Turbine Stage ◽  
Cooling Flow ◽  
Blade Cooling

The flow field in axial gas turbines is driven by strong unsteady interactions between stationary and moving components. While time-averaged measurements can highlight many important flow features, developing a deeper understanding of the complicated flows present in high-speed turbomachinery requires time-accurate measurements that capture this unsteady behavior. Toward this end, time-accurate measurements are presented for a fully cooled transonic high-pressure turbine stage operating at design-corrected conditions. The turbine is run in a short-duration blowdown facility with uniform, radial, and hot streak vane-inlet temperature profiles as well as various amounts of cooling flow. High-frequency response surface pressure and heat-flux instrumentation installed in the rotating blade row, stator vane row, and stationary outer shroud provide detailed measurements of the flow behavior for this stage. Previous papers have reported the time-averaged results from this experiment, but this paper focuses on the strong unsteady phenomena that are observed. Heat-flux measurements from double-sided heat-flux gauges (HFGs) cover three spanwise locations on the blade pressure and suction surfaces. In addition, there are two instrumented blades with the cooling holes blocked to isolate the effect of just blade cooling. The stage can be run with the vane and blade cooling flow either on or off. High-frequency pressure measurements provide a picture of the unsteady aerodynamics on the vane and blade airfoil surfaces, as well as inside the serpentine coolant supply passages of the blade. A time-accurate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is also run to predict the blade surface pressure and heat-flux, and comparisons between prediction and measurement are given. It is found that unsteady variations in heat-flux and pressure are stronger at low to midspan and weaker at high span, likely due to the impact of secondary flows such as the tip leakage flow. Away from the tip, it is seen that the unsteady fluctuations in pressure and heat-flux are mostly in phase with each other on the suction side, but there is some deviation on the pressure side. The flow field is ultimately shown to be highly three-dimensional, as the movement of high heat transfer regions can be traced in both the chord and spanwise directions. These measurements provide a unique picture of the unsteady flow physics of a rotating turbine, and efforts to better understand and model these time-varying flows have the potential to change the way we think about even the time-averaged flow characteristics.

Topology Optimization of Serpentine Channels for Minimization of Pressure Loss and Maximization of Heat Transfer Performance As Applied for Additive Manufacturing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinjan Ghosh ◽  
Jayanta S. Kapat
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Topology Optimization ◽  
Additive Manufacturing ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Internal Cooling ◽  
Cooling Channels ◽  
Blade Cooling

Abstract Gas Turbine blade cooling is an important topic of research, as a high turbine inlet temperature (TIT) essentially means an increase in efficiency of gas turbine cycles. Internal cooling channels in gas turbine blades are key to the cooling and prevention of thermal failure of the material. Serpentine channels are a common feature in internal blade cooling. Optimization methods are often employed in the design of blade internal cooling channels to improve heat-transfer and reduce pressure drop. Topology optimization uses a variable porosity approach to manipulate flow geometries by adding or removing material. Such a method has been employed in the current work to modify the geometric configuration of a serpentine channel to improve total heat transferred and reduce the pressure drop. An in-house OpenFOAM solver has been used to create non-traditional geometries from two generic designs. Geometry-1 is a 2-D serpentine passage with an inlet and 4 bleeding holes as outlets for ejection into the trailing edge. Geometry-2 is a 3-D serpentine passage with an aspect ratio of 3:1 and consists of two 180-degree bends. The inlet velocity for both the geometries was used as 20 m/s. The governing equations employ a “Brinkman porosity parameter” to account for the porous cells in the flow domain. Results have shown a change in shape of the channel walls to enhance heat-transfer in the passage. Additive manufacturing can be employed to make such unconventional shapes.

Through Flow Calculations for Convective Cooling Turbines

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Haibo ◽  
Chunwei Gu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Calculation Method ◽  
Conjugate Heat Transfer ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Thermodynamic Efficiency ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Flow Calculation ◽  
Through Flow ◽  
The Impact

Conjugate heat transfer is a key feature of modern gas turbine, as cooling technology is widely applied to improve the turbine inlet temperature for high efficiency. Impact of conjugate heat transfer on heat loads and thermodynamic efficiency is a key issue in gas turbine design. This paper presented a through flow calculation method to predict the impact of heat transfer on the design process of a convective cooled turbine. A cooling model was applied in the through flow calculations to predict the coolant requirements, as well as a one-dimensional mixing model to evaluate some key parameters such as pressure losses, deviation angles and velocity triangles because of the injection cooling air. Numerical simulations were performed for verification of the method and investigation on conjugate heat transfer within the blades. By comparing these two calculations, it is shown that the through flow calculation method is a useful tool for the blade design of convective cooled turbines because of its simplicity and flexibility.

Off-Design Performance Investigation of a Low Calorific Value Gas Fired Generic-Type Single-Shaft Gas Turbine

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raik C. Orbay ◽  
Magnus Genrup ◽  
Pontus Eriksson ◽  
Jens Klingmann
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Calorific Value ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Flammability Limits ◽  
Generic Type ◽  
Wobbe Index ◽  
The Impact

When low calorific value gases are fired, the performance and stability of gas turbines may deteriorate due to a large amount of inertballast and changes in working fluid properties. Since it is rather rare to have custom-built gas turbines for low lower heating value (LHV) operation, the engine will be forced to operate outside its design envelope. This, in turn, poses limitations to usable fuel choices. Typical restraints are decrease in Wobbe index and surge and flutter margins for turbomachinery. In this study, an advanced performance deck has been used to quantify the impact of firing low-LHV gases in a generic-type recuperated as well as unrecuperated gas turbine. A single-shaft gas turbine characterized by a compressor and an expander map is considered. Emphasis has been put on predicting the off-design behavior. The combustor is discussed and related to previous experiments that include investigation of flammability limits, Wobbe index, flame position, etc. The computations show that at constant turbine inlet temperature, the shaft power and the pressure ratio will increase; however, the surge margin will decrease. Possible design changes in the component level are also discussed. Aerodynamic issues (and necessary modifications) that can pose severe limitations on the gas turbine compressor and turbine sections are discussed. Typical methods for axial turbine capacity adjustment are presented and discussed.

Impact of Blade Cooling on Gas Turbine Performance Under Different Operation Conditions and Design Aspects

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Besharati-Givi ◽  
Xianchang Li
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Power Output ◽  
Combustion Process ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Blade Cooling ◽  
Operation Conditions ◽  
Turbine Performance ◽  
Cooling Air ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The increase of power need raises the awareness of producing energy more efficiently. Gas turbine has been one of the important workhorses for power generation. The effects of parameters in design and operation on the power output and efficiency have been extensively studied. It is well-known that the gas turbine inlet temperature (TIT) needs to be high for high efficiency as well as power production. However, there are some material restrictions with high-temperature gas especially for the first row of blades. As a result blade cooling is needed to help balance between the high TIT and the material limitations. The increase of TIT is also limited by restriction of emissions. While the blade cooling can allow a higher TIT and better turbine performance, there is also a penalty since the compressed air used for cooling is removed from the combustion process. Therefore, an optimal cooling flow may exist for the overall efficiency and net power output. In this paper the relationship between the TIT and amount of cooling air is studied. The TIT increase due to blade cooling is considered as a function of cooling air flow as well as cooling effectiveness. In another word, the increase of the TIT is limited while the cooling air can be increased continuously. Based on the relationship proposed the impact of blade cooling on the gas turbine performance is investigated. Compared to the simple cycle case without cooling, the blade cooling can increase the efficiency from 28.8 to 34.0% and the net power from 105 to 208 MW. Cases with different operation conditions such as pressure ratios as well as design aspects with regeneration are considered. Aspen plus software is used to simulate the cycles.

The Impact of Atmospheric Conditions on Gas Turbine Performance

1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 590-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. El Hadik
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Ambient Temperature ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Design Factor ◽  
Turbine Performance ◽  
The Impact

In a hot summer climate, as in Kuwait and other Arabian Gulf countries, the performance of a gas turbine deteriorates drastically during the high-temperature hours (up to 60°C in Kuwait). Power demand is the highest at these times. This necessitates an increase in installed gas turbine capacities to balance this deterioration. Gas turbines users are becoming aware of this problem as they depend more on gas turbines to satisfy their power needs and process heat for desalination due to the recent technical and economical development of gas turbines. This paper is devoted to studying the impact of atmospheric conditions, such as ambient temperature, pressure, and relative humidity on gas turbine performance. The reason for considering air pressures different from standard atmospheric pressure at the compressor inlet is the variation of this pressure with altitude. The results of this study can be generalized to include the cases of flights at high altitudes. A fully interactive computer program based on the derived governing equations is developed. The effects of typical variations of atmospheric conditions on power output and efficiency are considered. These include ambient temperature (range from −20 to 60°C), altitude (range from zero to 2000 m above sea level), and relative humidity (range from zero to 100 percent). The thermal efficiency and specific net work of a gas turbine were calculated at different values of maximum turbine inlet temperature (TIT) and variable environmental conditions. The value of TIT is a design factor that depends on the material specifications and the fuel/air ratio. Typical operating values of TIT in modern gas turbines were chosen for this study: 1000, 1200, 1400, and 1600 K. Both partial and full loads were considered in the analysis. Finally the calculated results were compared with actual gas turbine data supplied by manufacturers.

scholarly journals Impact of Cooling with Thermal Barrier Coatings on Flow Passage in a Gas Turbine

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Yuanzhe Zhang ◽  
Pei Liu ◽  
Zheng Li
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Thermal Barrier Coatings ◽  
Thermal Efficiency ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Thermal Barrier ◽  
Power Sources ◽  
Barrier Coatings ◽  
Flow Passage ◽  
Blade Cooling ◽  
The Impact

Inlet temperature is vital to the thermal efficiency of gas turbines, which is becoming increasingly important in the context of structural changes in power supplies with more intermittent renewable power sources. Blade cooling is a key method for gas turbines to maintain high inlet temperatures whilst also meeting material temperature limits. However, the implementation of blade cooling within a gas turbine—for instance, thermal barrier coatings (TBCs)—might also change its heat transfer characteristics and lead to challenges in calculating its internal temperature and thermal efficiency. Existing studies have mainly focused on the materials and mechanisms of TBCs and the impact of TBCs on turbine blades. However, these analyses are insufficient for measuring the overall impact of TBCs on turbines. In this study, the impact of TBC thickness on the performance of gas turbines is analyzed. An improved mathematical model for turbine flow passage is proposed, considering the impact of cooling with TBCs. This model has the function of analyzing the impact of TBCs on turbine geometry. By changing the TBCs’ thickness from 0.0005 m to 0.0013 m, its effects on turbine flow passage are quantitatively analyzed using the proposed model. The variation rules of the cooling air ratio, turbine inlet mass flow rate, and turbine flow passage structure within the range of 0.0005 m to 0.0013 m of TBC thicknesses are given.

Time-Resolved Heat Transfer and Surface Pressure Measurements for a Fully-Cooled Transonic Turbine Stage

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy B. Nickol ◽  
Randall M. Mathison ◽  
Malak F. Malak ◽  
Rajiv Rana ◽  
Jong S. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Flux ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Surface Pressure ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Pressure Measurements ◽  
Turbine Stage ◽  
Cooling Flow ◽  
Blade Cooling

The flow field in axial gas turbines is driven by strong unsteady interactions between stationary and moving components. While time-averaged measurements can highlight many important flow features, developing a deeper understanding of the complicated flows present in high-speed turbomachinery requires time-accurate measurements that capture this unsteady behavior. Towards this end, time-accurate measurements are presented for a fully cooled transonic high-pressure turbine stage operating at design-corrected conditions. The turbine is run in a short-duration blowdown facility with uniform, radial, and hot streak vane-inlet temperature profiles as well as various amounts of cooling flow. High frequency response surface-pressure and heat-flux instrumentation installed in the rotating blade row, stator vane row, and stationary outer shroud provide detailed measurements of the flow behavior for this stage. Previous papers by Haldeman et al. [1, 2] have reported the time-averaged results from this experiment, but this paper focuses on the strong unsteady phenomena that are observed. Heat-flux measurements from double-sided heat-flux gauges cover three span-wise locations on the blade pressure and suction surfaces. In addition, there are two instrumented blades with the cooling holes blocked to isolate the effect of just blade cooling. The stage can be run with the vane and blade cooling flow either on or off. High-frequency pressure measurements provide a picture of the unsteady aerodynamics on the vane and blade airfoil surfaces, as well as inside the serpentine coolant supply passages of the blade. A time-accurate CFD simulation is also run to predict the blade surface pressure and heat-flux, and comparisons between prediction and measurement are given. It is found that unsteady variations in heat-flux and pressure are stronger at low to mid-span and weaker at high span, likely due to the impact of secondary flows such as the tip leakage flow. Away from the tip, it is seen that the unsteady fluctuations in pressure and heat-flux are mostly in-phase with each other on the suction side, but there is some deviation on the pressure side. The flow field is ultimately shown to be highly three-dimensional, as the movement of high heat transfer regions can be traced in both the chord and span-wise directions. These measurements provide a unique picture of the unsteady flow physics of a rotating turbine, and efforts to better understand and model these time-varying flows have the potential to change the way we think about even the time-averaged flow characteristics.

scholarly journals Optimum Power Boosting of Gas Turbine Cycles With Refrigerated Inlet Air and Compressor Intercooling

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohand A. Ait-Ali
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Turbine Blade Cooling ◽  
High Pressure Ratio ◽  
Blade Cooling ◽  
Air Inlet ◽  
Turbine Inlet ◽  
Compressor Work

With or without turbine blade cooling, gas turbine cycles have consistently higher turbine inlet temperatures than steam turbine cycles. But this advantage is more than offset by the excessive compressor work induced by warm inlet temperatures, particularly during operation on hot summer days. Instead of seeking still higher turbine inlet temperatures by means of sophisticated blade cooling technology and high temperature-resistant blade materials, it is proposed to greatly increase the cycle net work and also improve thermal efficiency by decreasing the compressor work. This is obtained by using refrigerated inlet air and compressor intercooling to an extent which optimizes the refrigerated air inlet temperature and consequently the gas turbine compression ratio with respect to maximum specific net power. The cost effectiveness of this conceptual cycle, which also includes regeneration, has not been examined in this paper as it requires unusually high pressure ratio gas turbines and compressors, as well as high volumetric air flow rate and low temperature refrigeration equipment for which reliable cost data is not easily available.

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