Heat Transfer Computations for High Pressure Turbines
The life of a high pressure turbine blade is strongly dependent on the operating temperature of the blade material. The gas entering the turbine is at a very high temperature and the blades must be cooled. Accurate predictions of the heat transfer to an uncooled aerofoil are an important step in predicting the blade metal temperature and designing an efficient cooling system. 3D Navier-Stokes calculations of heat transfer are presented for the vanes of two modern high pressure, shroudless turbines. The results are compared with measurements taken in a short duration test facility at engine representative conditions. The experimental dataset includes repeat measurements made using different instrumentation. These data are shown to agree within the confidence limits of the experiment. In this experiment laminar-turbulent transition is known to be a major influence on the measured heat transfer levels. However, careful modelling of this parameter, through physical reasoning and published correlations, gives predictions in reasonable agreement with the measurements.