Analysis of Swirl number effects on effusion flow behaviour using time resolved PIV

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Tommaso Lenzi ◽  
Alessio Picchi ◽  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Bruno Facchini

Abstract The analysis of the interaction between the swirling and liner film-cooling flows is a fundamental task for the design of turbine combustion chambers since it influences different aspects such as emissions and cooling capability. Particularly, high turbulence values, flow instabilities, and tangential velocity components induced by the swirlers deeply affect the behavior of effusion cooling jets, demanding for dedicated time-resolved near-wall analysis. The experimental setup of this work consists of a non-reactive single-sector linear combustor test rig scaled up with respect to engine dimensions; the test section was equipped with an effusion plate with standard inclined cylindrical holes to simulate the liner cooling system. The rig was instrumented with a 2D Time-Resolved Particle Image Velocimetry system, focused on different field of views. The degree of swirl is usually characterized by the swirl number, Sn, defined as the ratio of the tangential momentum to axial momentum flux. To assess the impact of such parameter on the near-wall effusion behavior, a set of three axial swirlers with swirl number equal to Sn = 0.6 − 0.8 − 1.0 were designed and tested in the experimental apparatus. An analysis of the main flow by varying the Sn was first performed in terms of average velocity, RMS, and Tu values, providing kinetic energy spectra and turbulence length scale information. Following, the analysis was focused on the near-wall regions: the effects of Sn on the coolant jets was quantified in terms of vorticity analysis and jet oscillation.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Lenzi ◽  
A. Picchi ◽  
A. Andreini ◽  
B. Facchini

Abstract The analysis of the interaction between the swirling and cooling flows, promoted by the liner film cooling system, is a fundamental task for the design of turbine combustion chambers since it influences different aspects such as emissions and cooling capability. In particular high turbulence values, flow instabilities, and tangential velocity components induced by the swirling flow deeply affect the behavior of effusion cooling jets, demanding for dedicated time-resolved near-wall experimental analysis. The experimental set up of this work consists of a non-reactive single-sector linear combustor test rig scaled up with respect to engine dimensions; the test section was equipped with an effusion plate with standard inclined cylindrical holes to simulate the liner cooling system. The rig was instrumented with a 2D Time-Resolved Particle Image Velocimetry system, focused on different field of views. The degree of swirl for a swirling flow is usually characterized by the swirl number, Sn, defined as the ratio of the tangential momentum flux to axial momentum flux. To assess the impact of such parameter on the near-wall effusion behavior, a set of three different axial swirlers with swirl number equal to Sn = 0.6 - 0.8 - 1.0 were designed and tested in the experimental apparatus. An analysis of the main flow field by varying the Sn was first performed in terms of average velocity, RMS, and Tu values, providing kinetic energy spectra and turbulence length scale information. In a second step, the analysis was focused on the near-wall regions: the strong effects of Sn on the coolant jets was quantified in terms of vorticity analysis and jet oscillation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Lenzi ◽  
L. Palanti ◽  
A. Picchi ◽  
T. Bacci ◽  
L. Mazzei ◽  
...  

Abstract Film-cooling jets behavior in a combustor chamber is deeply affected by swirling flow interactions and unsteadiness; on the other hand, the jets behavior has a direct impact on different phenomena such as cooling capabilities and ignition. For these reasons, an in-depth characterization of the film-cooling flows in the presence of a swirling main flow and demands dedicated time-resolved analyses. The experimental setup consists of a nonreactive single-sector linear combustor simulator installed in an open-loop wind tunnel. It is equipped with a swirler and a multiperforated plate to simulate the effusion cooling system of the liner. The rig is scaled with respect to the engine configuration to increase spatial resolution and to reduce the characteristic frequencies of the unsteady phenomena. Time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TRPIV) was exploited for the investigation testing different values of liner pressure drop. In addition, numerical investigations were carried out to gain a deeper insight of the behavior highlighted by the experiments and to assess the capability of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in predicting the flow physics. In this work, the stress-blended eddy simulation (SBES) approach implemented in ansys fluent was adopted. Oscillations of the jets and intermittent interactions of the mainstream with the wall of the liner and hence with the film development have been investigated in detail. The results demonstrate how an unsteady analysis of the flow structures that characterize the jets, the turbulent mixing of coolant flows, and the interaction between mainstream and cooling jets is strictly necessary to have a complete knowledge of the behavior of the coolant, which in turn affects combustor operability and life time.


Author(s):  
Ashwini Karmarkar ◽  
Mark Frederick ◽  
Sean Clees ◽  
Danielle Mason ◽  
Jacqueline O’Connor

Abstract Precessing vortex cores (PVC), arising from a global instability in swirling flows, can dramatically alter the dynamics of swirl-stabilized flames. Previous study of these instabilities has identified their frequencies and potential for interaction with the shear layer instabilities also present in swirling flows. In this work, we investigate the dynamics of precessing vortex cores at a range of swirl numbers and the impact that turbulence, which tends to increase with swirl number due to the increase in mean shear, has on the dynamics of this instability. This is particularly interesting as stability predictions have previously incorporated turbulence effects using an eddy viscosity model, which only captures the impact of turbulence on the base flow, not on the instantaneous dynamics of the PVC itself. Time-resolved experimental measurements of the three-component velocity field at ten swirl numbers show that at lower swirl numbers, the PVC is affected by turbulence through the presence of vortex jitter. With increasing swirl number, the PVC jitter decreases as the PVC strength increases. There is a critical swirl number below which jitter of the PVC vortex monotonically increases with increasing swirl number, and beyond which the jitter decreases, indicating that the strength of the PVC dominates over turbulent fluctuations at higher swirl numbers, despite the fact that the turbulence intensities continue to rise with increasing swirl number. Further, we use a nonlinear van der Pol oscillator model to explain the competition between the random turbulent fluctuations and coherent oscillations of the PVC. The results of this work indicate that while both the strength of the PVC and magnitude of turbulence intensity increase with increasing swirl number, there are defined regimes where each of them hold a stronger influence on the large-scale, coherent dynamics of the flow field.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 4993
Author(s):  
Tommaso Lenzi ◽  
Alessio Picchi ◽  
Tommaso Bacci ◽  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Bruno Facchini

The presence of injectors with strongly swirled flows, used to promote flame stability in the combustion chambers of gas turbines, influences the behaviour of the effusion cooling jets and consequently of the liner’s cooling capabilities. For this reason, unsteady behaviour of the jets in the presence of swirling flow requires a characterization by means of experimental flow field analyses. The experimental setup of this work consists of a non-reactive single-sector linear combustor test rig, scaled up with respect to the real engine geometry to increase spatial resolution and to reduce the frequencies of the unsteadiness. It is equipped with a radial swirler and multi-perforated effusion plates to simulate the liner cooling system. Two effusion plates were tested and compared: with cylindrical and with laid-back fan-shaped 7-7-7 holes in staggered arrangement. Time resolved Particle Image Velocimetry has been carried out: the unsteady characteristics of the jets, promoted by the intermittent interactions with the turbulent mainstream, have been investigated as their vortex structures and turbulent decay. The results demonstrate how an unsteady analysis is necessary to provide a complete characterization of the coolant behaviour and of its turbulent mixing with mainflow, which affect, in turn, the film cooling capability and liner’s lifetime.


2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
Alessio Picchi ◽  
Lorenzo Tarchi ◽  
Fabio Turrini

State-of-the-art liner cooling technology for modern combustors is represented by effusion cooling (or full-coverage film cooling). Effusion is a very efficient cooling strategy based on the use of multiperforated liners, where the metal temperature is lowered by the combined protective effect of the coolant film and heat removal through forced convection inside each hole. The aim of this experimental campaign is the evaluation of the thermal performance of multiperforated liners with geometrical and fluid-dynamic parameters ranging among typical combustor engine values. Results were obtained as the adiabatic film effectiveness following the mass transfer analogy by the use of pressure sensitive paint, while the local values of the overall effectiveness were obtained by eight thermocouples housed in as many dead holes about 2 mm below the investigated surface. Concerning the tested geometries, different porosity levels were considered: such values were obtained by both increasing the hole diameter and pattern spacing. Then the effect of the hole inclination and aspect ratio pattern shape were tested to assess the impact of typical cooling system features. Seven multiperforated planar plates, reproducing the effusion arrays of real combustor liners, were tested, imposing six blowing ratios in the range 0.5–5. Additional experiments were performed in order to explore the effect of the density ratio (DR=1;1.5) on the film effectiveness. Test samples were made of stainless steel (AISI304) in order to achieve the Biot number similitude for the overall effectiveness tests. To extend the validity of the survey a correlative analysis was performed to point out, in an indirect way, the augmentation of the hot side heat transfer coefficient due to effusion jets. Finallyv,in order to address the thermal behavior of the different geometries in the presence of gas side radiation, additional simulations were performed considering different levels of radiative heat flux.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Collins ◽  
Kamaljit Chana ◽  
Thomas Povey

In this paper, we describe the design, modeling, and experimental testing of a film cooling scheme employed on an unshrouded high-pressure (HP) rotor casing. The casing region has high thermal loads at both low and high frequency, with the flow being dominated by the potential field of the rotor and over-tip leakage flows. Increasingly high turbine entry temperatures necessitate internal and film cooling of the casing to ensure satisfactory service life and performance. There are, however, very few published studies presenting computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental data for cooled rotor casings. Experimental testing was performed on a film-cooled rotor casing in the Oxford Turbine Research Facility (OTRF)—a rotating transonic facility of engine scale. Unsteady CFD of an HP rotor blade row with a film-cooled casing was undertaken, uniquely with a domain utilizing a sliding interface in the tip gap. A high density array of thin film heat flux gauges (TFHFGs) was used to obtain time-resolved and time-mean results of adiabatic wall temperature and film cooling effectiveness on the film-cooled rotor casing between −30% and +125% rotor tip axial chord. Results are compared to CFD predictions, and mechanisms for interaction of the coolant with the rotor tip are proposed and discussed. Acoustic effects within casing coolant holes due to the passing of the rotor are demonstrated on a 3D CFD geometry, supporting conclusions drawn in earlier work by the authors on the importance of this effect in a casing film cooling system.


Author(s):  
Vivek Savarianandam ◽  
Steven J. Thorpe ◽  
Jon F. Carrotte ◽  
Marco Zedda

Pin-fin cooling geometries are used extensively in gas turbine engine components, typically in combination with film-cooling and thermal barrier coatings. The cooling performance of this cold-side arrangement is an important factor in maintaining hot-section components below prescribed life-limiting temperatures. At a time when engine manufacturers are pursuing combustor designs that require a reduced coolant flow, robust aerodynamic and heat transfer correlations, as well as the physical insight provided by a deeper understanding of the flow processes, are essential to efficient design. In this paper both experimental and computational findings are reported for the performance of a combustor pin-fin cooling system that employs a single row of impingement feed-holes. The geometry is representative of that employed in a double-skin combustor cooling system. The data includes spatially resolved end-wall heat transfer measurements, and hot-wire traverse data for the coolant velocity and turbulence parameters. Heat transfer measurements have been obtained for the cold-side of the hot-skin, and include the impact of a gap between the cold-skin and tips of the pin-fins. The flow conditions within the pin-fin geometry can be divided between an impingement zone immediately adjacent to the feed-holes, and a fully-developed zone further downstream. In general, the impingement zone is characterised by strongly varying flow and heat transfer behaviour up to approximately six pin-fin rows from the feed-hole centre-line, and then sensibly repeating conditions within the pin-fin array thereafter downstream. The impact of the cold-skin gap is to redistribute the coolant away from the hot-skin, leading to a reduction in the hot-skin heat transfer coefficient in the developed zone. Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of the flow within the experimental geometry have been conducted and compared to the experimental results. Various standard turbulence models have been considered. Based on this comparison recommendations are made regarding the most appropriate computational modeling approach.


1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Abhari

The goal of this study is to quantify the impact of rotor–stator interaction on surface heat transfer of film cooled turbine blades. In Section I, a steady-state injection model of the film cooling is incorporated into a two-dimensional, thin shear layer, multiblade row CFD code. This injection model accounts for the penetration and spreading of the coolant jet, as well as the entrainment of the boundary layer fluid by the coolant. The code is validated, in the steady state, by comparing its predictions to data from a blade tested in linear cascade. In Section II, time-resolved film cooled turbine rotor heat transfer measurements are compared with numerical predictions. Data were taken on a fully film cooled blade in a transonic, high pressure ratio, single-stage turbine in a short duration turbine test facility, which simulates full-engine nondimensional conditions. Film cooled heat flux on the pressure surface is predicted to be as much as a factor of two higher in the time average of the unsteady calculations compared to the steady-state case. Time-resolved film cooled heat transfer comparison of data to prediction at two spanwise positions is used to validate the numerical code. The unsteady stator–rotor interaction results in the pulsation of the coolant injection flow out of the film holes with large-scale fluctuations. The combination of pulsating coolant flow and the interaction of the coolant with this unsteady external flow is shown to lower the local pressure side adiabatic film effectiveness by as much as 64 percent when compared to the steady-state case.


Author(s):  
Matthew Collins ◽  
Kamaljit Chana ◽  
Thomas Povey

In this paper we describe the design, modelling and experimental testing of a film cooling scheme employed on an unshrouded HP rotor casing. The casing region has high thermal loads at both low and high frequency, with the flow being dominated by the potential field of the rotor and over-tip leakage flows. Increasingly high turbine entry temperatures necessitate internal and film cooling of the casing to ensure satisfactory service life and performance. There are, however, very few published studies presenting CFD and experimental data for cooled rotor casings. Experimental testing was performed on a film cooled rotor casing in the Oxford Turbine Research Facility (OTRF) — a rotating transonic facility of engine scale. Unsteady CFD of a HP rotor blade row with a film cooled casing was performed with a domain utilizing a sliding interface in the tip gap. Specific advances in validation data and understanding include: 1. A discussion of the challenges faced in the design of a casing film cooling scheme. We show that the seemingly hostile film cooling environment can be managed with the use of holes shaped to utilize acoustic pressure wave reflections. 2. Time resolved and time averaged predictions of adiabatic film effectiveness on the rotor casing are presented. Mechanisms for interaction of the coolant with the rotor tip are proposed and discussed. 3. Acoustic effects due to the passing of the rotor are demonstrated on a 3D CFD geometry, supporting conclusions drawn by Collins and Povey [1] on the importance of this effect in a casing film cooling system. 4. Time-resolved and time-mean measurements of TAW and η’ taken using a high density array of thin film heat flux gauges are presented and compared to CFD predictions for the casing region (−30 % to +125 % CAX).


2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Cubeda ◽  
L. Mazzei ◽  
T. Bacci ◽  
A. Andreini

Turbine inlet conditions in lean-burn aeroengine combustors are highly swirled and present nonuniform temperature distributions. Uncertainty and lack of confidence associated with combustor-turbine interaction affect significantly engine performance and efficiency. It is well known that only Large-eddy and scale-adaptive simulations (SAS) can overcome the limitations of Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) in predicting the combustor outlet conditions. However, it is worth investigating the impact of such improvements on the predicted aerothermal performance of the nozzle guide vanes (NGVs), usually studied with RANS-generated boundary conditions. Three numerical modelling strategies were used to investigate a combustor-turbine module designed within the EU Project FACTOR: (i) RANS model of the NGVs with RANS-generated inlet conditions; (ii) RANS model of the NGVs with scale-adaptive simulation (SAS)-generated inlet conditions; (iii) SAS model inclusive of both combustor and NGVs. It was shown that estimating the aerodynamics through the NGVs does not demand particularly complex approaches, in contrast to situations where turbulent mixing is key. High-fidelity predictions of the turbine entrance conditions proved very beneficial to reduce the discrepancies in the estimation of adiabatic temperature distributions. However, a further leap forward can be achieved with an integrated simulation, capable of reproducing the transport of unsteady fluctuations generated from the combustor through the turbine, which play a key role in presence of film cooling. This work, therefore, shows how separate analysis of combustor and NGVs can lead to a poor estimation of the thermal loads and ultimately to a wrong thermal design of the cooling system.


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