IMPROVING THE FILM COOLING PERFORMANCE OF A TURBINE ENDWALL WITH MULTI-FIDELITY MODELING CONSIDERING CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Hongyan Bu ◽  
Yufeng Yang ◽  
Liming Song ◽  
Jun Li

Abstract The gas turbine endwall is bearing extreme thermal loads with the rapid increase of turbine inlet temperature. Therefore, the effective cooling of turbine endwalls is of vital importance for the safe operation of turbines. In the design of endwall cooling layouts, numerical simulations based on conjugate heat transfer (CHT) are drawing more attention as the component temperature can be predicted directly. However, the computation cost of high-fidelity CHT analysis can be high and even prohibitive especially when there are many cases to evaluate such as in the design optimization of cooling layout. In this study, we established a multi-fidelity framework in which the data of low-fidelity CHT analysis was incorporated to help the building of a model that predicts the result of high-fidelity simulation. Based upon this framework, multi-fidelity design optimization of a validated numerical turbine endwall model was carried out. The high and low fidelity data were obtained from the computation of fine mesh and coarse mesh respectively. In the optimization, the positions of the film cooling holes were parameterized and controlled by a shape function. With the help of multi-fidelity modeling and sequentially evaluated designs, the cooling performance of the model endwall was improved efficiently.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyan Bu ◽  
Yufeng Yang ◽  
Liming Song ◽  
Jun Li

Abstract The gas turbine endwall is bearing extreme thermal loads with the rapid increase of turbine inlet temperature. Therefore, the effective cooling of turbine endwalls is of vital importance for the safe operation of turbines. In the design of endwall cooling layouts, numerical simulations based on conjugate heat transfer (CHT) are drawing more attention as the component temperature can be predicted directly. However, the computation cost of high-fidelity CHT analysis can be high and even prohibitive especially when there are many cases to evaluate such as in the design optimization of cooling layout. In this study, we established a multi-fidelity framework in which the data of low-fidelity CHT analysis was incorporated to help the building of a model that predicts the result of high-fidelity simulation. Based upon this framework, multi-fidelity design optimization of a validated numerical turbine endwall model was carried out. The high and low fidelity data were obtained from the computation of fine mesh and coarse mesh respectively. In the optimization, the positions of the film cooling holes were parameterized and controlled by a shape function. With the help of multi-fidelity modeling and sequentially evaluated designs, the cooling performance of the model endwall was improved efficiently.


Author(s):  
Weiguo Ai ◽  
Thomas H. Fletcher

Numerical computations were conducted to simulate flyash deposition experiments on gas turbine disk samples with internal impingement and film cooling using a CFD code (FLUENT). The standard k-ω turbulence model and RANS were employed to compute the flow field and heat transfer. The boundary conditions were specified to be in agreement with the conditions measured in experiments performed in the BYU Turbine Accelerated Deposition Facility (TADF). A Lagrangian particle method was utilized to predict the ash particulate deposition. User-defined subroutines were linked with FLUENT to build the deposition model. The model includes particle sticking/rebounding and particle detachment, which are applied to the interaction of particles with the impinged wall surface to describe the particle behavior. Conjugate heat transfer calculations were performed to determine the temperature distribution and heat transfer coefficient in the region close to the film-cooling hole and in the regions further downstream of a row of film-cooling holes. Computational and experimental results were compared to understand the effect of film hole spacing, hole size and TBC on surface heat transfer. Calculated capture efficiencies compare well with experimental results.


Author(s):  
M. Gritsch ◽  
A. Schulz ◽  
S. Wittig

Detailed measurements of heat transfer coefficients in the nearfield of three different film-cooling holes are presented. The hole geometries investigated include a cylindrical hole and two holes with a diffuser shaped exit portion (i.e. a fan-shaped and a laidback fanshaped hole). They were tested over a range of blowing ratios M = 0.25…1.75 at an external crossflow Mach number of 0.6 and a coolant-to-mainflow density ratio of 1.85. Additionally, the effect of the internal coolant supply Mach number is addressed. Temperatures of the diabatic surface downstream of the injection location are measured by means of an infrared camera system. They are used as boundary conditions for a finite element analysis to determine surface heat fluxes and heat transfer coefficients. The superposition method is applied to evaluate the overall film-cooling performance of the hole geometries investigated. As compared to the cylindrical hole, both expanded holes show significantly lower heat transfer coefficients downstream of the injection location, particularly at high blowing ratios. The laidback fanshaped hole provides a better lateral spreading of the injected coolant than the fanshaped hole which leads to lower laterally averaged heat transfer coefficients. Coolant passage crossflow Mach number affects the flowfield of the jet being ejected from the hole and, therefore, has an important impact on film-cooling performance.


Author(s):  
Cuong Q. Nguyen ◽  
Perry L. Johnson ◽  
Bryan C. Bernier ◽  
Son H. Ho ◽  
Jayanta S. Kapat

Data from conical-shaped film cooling holes is extremely sparse in open literature, especially the cooling uniformity characteristic, an important criterion for evaluating any film cooling design. The authors will compare the performance of conical-shaped holes to cylindrical-shaped holes. Cylindrical-shaped holes are often considered a baseline in terms of film cooling effectiveness and cooling uniformity coefficient. The authors will study two coupons with conical-shaped holes, which have 3° and 6° diffusion angles, named CON3 and CON6 respectively. A conjugate heat transfer computational fluid dynamics model and an experimental wind tunnel will be used to study these coupons. The three configurations: cylindrical baseline, CON3, and CON6, have a single row of holes with an inlet metering diameter of 3mm, length-to-nominal diameter of 4.3, and an injection angle of 30°. In this study, the authors will also take into account the heat transfer into the coolant flow from the coolant channel. In other words, coolant temperature at the exit of the coolant hole will be different than that measured at the inlet, and the conjugate heat transfer model will be used to correct for this difference. For the numerical model, the realizable k-ε turbulent model will be applied with a second order of discretization and enhanced wall treatment to provide the highest accuracy available. Grid independent studies for both cylindrical-shaped film cooling holes and conical-shaped holes will be performed and the results will be compared to data in open literature as well as in-house experimental data. Results show that conical-shaped holes considerably outperform cylindrical-shaped holes in film cooling effectiveness at all blowing ratios. In terms of cooling uniformity, conical-shaped holes perform better than cylindrical-shaped holes for low and mid-range blowing ratios, but not at higher levels.


Author(s):  
Jason E. Albert ◽  
David G. Bogard

Film cooling performance is typically quantified by separating the external convective heat transfer from the other components of the conjugate heat transfer that occurs in turbine airfoils. However, it is also valuable to assess the conjugate heat transfer in terms of the overall cooling effectiveness, which is a parameter of importance to airfoil designers. In the current study, adiabatic film effectiveness and overall cooling effectiveness values were measured for the pressure side of a simplified turbine vane model with three rows of showerhead cooling at the leading edge and one row of body film cooling holes on the pressure side. This was done by utilizing two geometrically identical models made from different materials. Adiabatic film effectiveness was measured using a very low thermal conductivity material, and the overall cooling effectiveness was measured using a material with a higher thermal conductivity selected such that the Biot number of the model matched that of a turbine vane at engine conditions. The theoretical basis for this matched-Biot number modeling technique is discussed in some detail. Additionally, two designs of pressure side body film cooling holes were considered in this study: a standard design of straight, cylindrical holes and an advanced design of “trenched” cooling holes in which the hole exits were situated in a recessed, transverse trench. This study was performed using engine representative flow conditions, including a coolant-to-mainstream density ratio of DR = 1.4 and a mainstream turbulence intensity of Tu = 20%. The results of this study show that adiabatic film and overall cooling effectiveness increase with blowing ratio for the showerhead and pressure side trenched holes. Performance decreases with blowing ratio for the standard holes due to coolant jet separation from the surface. Both body film designs have similar performance at a lower blowing ratio when the standard hole coolant jets remain attached. Far downstream of the cooling holes both designs perform similarly because film effectiveness decays more rapidly for the trenched holes.


Author(s):  
H. I. Oguntade ◽  
G. E. Andrews ◽  
A. D. Burns ◽  
D. B. Ingham ◽  
M. Pourkashanian

Conjugate heat transfer CFD was undertaken on the influence of hole size on effusion cooling. The coupled thermal mixing between the hot-gas and coolant jets and the heat transfer within the effusion walls were modelled using the ANSYS FLUENT software. The heat and mass transfer analogy was employed to predict the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness separately from the overall cooling effectiveness by adding a tracer gas to the coolant air and predicting its concentration at the inner wall surface. The geometries predicted were those investigated experimentally by Andrews and his co-workers using a 152mm length of effusion cooling with 10 rows of square array holes in a flat metal wall. Effusion of X/D of 4.6 and 1.85 were investigated at constant X, the large hole diameter at the lower X/D drastically reduces the hole blowing rate and this improves the film cooling and deteriorates the internal wall cooling. The CFD predictions enable these qualitative effects to be investigated in more detail. The agreement of predictions and experiment was very good at low coolant mass flow rates, but under-predicted the measurements at higher flow rates by about 5–12%. The experimental results showed that the smaller X/D gave a better overall cooling performance and the predictions also showed this, but demonstrated that it was not just to due improved effusion film cooling as there was not the expected large reduction in internal wall cooling.


Author(s):  
Cuong Q. Nguyen ◽  
Perry L. Johnson ◽  
Bryan C. Bernier ◽  
Son H. Ho ◽  
Jayanta S. Kapat

Data from conical-shaped film cooling holes are extremely sparse in open literature, especially the cooling uniformity characteristic, an important criterion for evaluating any film cooling design. The authors will compare the performance of conical-shaped holes to cylindrical-shaped holes. Cylindrical-shaped holes are often considered a baseline in terms of film cooling effectiveness and cooling uniformity coefficient. The authors will study two coupons with conical-shaped holes, which have 3° and 6° diffusion angles, named CON3 and CON6, respectively. A conjugate heat transfer computational fluid dynamics model and an experimental wind tunnel will be used to study these coupons. The three configurations: cylindrical baseline, CON3, and CON6, have a single row of holes with an inlet metering diameter of 3 mm, length-to-nominal diameter of 4.3, and an injection angle of 30°. In this study, the authors will also take into account the heat transfer into the coolant flow from the coolant channel. In other words, the coolant temperature at the exit of the coolant hole will be different than that measured at the inlet, and the conjugate heat transfer model will be used to correct for this difference. For the numerical model, the realizable k-ɛ turbulent model will be applied with a second order of discretization and an enhanced wall treatment to provide the highest accuracy available. Grid independent studies for both cylindrical-shaped film cooling holes and conical-shaped holes will be performed, and the results will be compared to data in open literature as well as in-house experimental data. Results show that conical-shaped holes considerably outperform cylindrical-shaped holes in film cooling effectiveness at all blowing ratios. In terms of cooling uniformity, conical-shaped holes perform better than cylindrical-shaped holes for low- and midrange blowing ratios, but not at higher levels.


Author(s):  
Yukiko Agata ◽  
Toshihiko Takahashi ◽  
Eiji Sakai ◽  
Koichi Nishino

To augment the thermal efficiency of combined power generation plants, the turbine inlet temperature of an industrial gas turbine has been increased. Cooling technology plays a vital role in the durability of gas turbine blades in situations in which the turbine inlet temperature exceeds the allowable temperature of the blade material. Cooling air is also directly associated with the reduction in thermal efficiency because bleed air from the compressor is used for turbine cooling. Thus, improvement in cooling performance has a marked impact on the further augmentation of thermal efficiency by increasing turbine inlet temperature. To evaluate film cooling performance on the basis of heat flux reduction, it is necessary to accurately estimate both heat transfer coefficient and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. Most studies of film cooling, however, have focused on improving adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. In contrast, there are few studies focusing on heat transfer coefficient. One of the reasons for this is that adiabatic film cooling effectiveness is a performance parameter unique to film cooling. To preliminarily estimate the heat flux through a blade, heat transfer coefficient without film cooling can still be used as substitute. Moreover, the accurate CFD prediction of heat transfer coefficient with film cooling is difficult, compared with the evaluation of adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. Therefore, in this study, we addressed the CFD prediction of heat transfer coefficient with film cooling on a flat plate, and discussed its feasibility. Recent gas turbine blades operated at a turbine inlet temperature of over 1300 degree Celsius employ internal convection cooling with ribbed passages and external film cooling. These cooling technologies have been studied extensively, particularly regarding their individual effects. On the other hand, there are few investigations on the interaction between internal convection cooling and the film cooling. Although most of such film-cooling studies employed stagnant plenums to bleed cooling air, some researchers including the present authors have shown the marked impact of the conditions for supplying coolant air on film cooling performance. In this study, we focus particularly on the influence of internal rib orientation on external film cooling performance along the blade outer surface. CFD analysis is used to resolve the flow fields of the flat plate film cooling and to clarify the influence of rib orientation on heat-transfer.


Author(s):  
Alok Dhungel ◽  
Yiping Lu ◽  
Wynn Phillips ◽  
Srinath V. Ekkad ◽  
James Heidmann

The primary focus of this paper is to study the film cooling performance for a row of cylindrical holes each supplemented with two symmetrical anti vortex holes which branch out from the main holes. The anti-vortex design was originally developed at NASA-Glenn Research Center by Dr. James Heidmann, co-author of this paper. This “anti-vortex” design is unique in that it requires only easily machinable round holes, unlike shaped film cooling holes and other advanced concepts. The hole design is intended to counteract the detrimental vorticity associated with standard circular cross-section film cooling holes. The geometry and orientation of the anti vortex holes greatly affect the cooling performance downstream, which is thoroughly investigated. By performing experiments at a single mainstream Reynolds number of 9683 based on the free stream velocity and film hole diameter at four different coolant-to-mainstream blowing ratio of 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 and using the transient IR thermography technique, detailed film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficients are obtained simultaneously from a single test. When the anti vortex holes are nearer to the primary film cooling holes and are developing from the base of the primary holes, better film cooling is accomplished as compared to other anti vortex hole orientations. When the anti vortex holes are laid back in the upstream region, film cooling diminishes considerably. Although an enhancement in heat transfer coefficient is seen in cases with high film cooling effectiveness, the overall heat flux ratio as compared to standard cylindrical holes is much lower. Thus cases with anti vortex holes placed near the main holes certainly show promising results.


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