scholarly journals A Summary of the Cooled Turbine Blade Tip Heat Transfer and Film Effectiveness Investigations Performed by Dr. D. E. Metzger

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. W. Kim ◽  
W. Abdel-Messeh ◽  
J. P. Downs ◽  
F. O. Soechting ◽  
G. D. Steuber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Film Cooling ◽  
Convection Heat Transfer ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Test Surface ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Test Technique ◽  
Coolant Injection ◽  
Blade Tip

The clearance gap between the stationary outer air seal and blade tips of an axial turbine allows a clearance gap leakage flow to be driven through the gap by the pressure-to-suction side pressure difference. The presence of strong secondary flows on the pressure side of the airfoil tends to deliver air from the hottest regions of the mainstream to the clearance gap. The blade tip region, particularly near the trailing edge, is very difficult to cool adequately with blade internal coolant flow. In this case, film cooling injection directly onto the blade tip region can be used in an attempt to directly reduce the heat transfer rates from the hot gases in the clearance gap to the blade tip. The present paper is intended as a memorial tribute to the late Professor Darryl E. Metzger who has made significant contributions in this particular area over the past decade. A summary of this work is made to present the results of his more recent experimental work that has been performed to investigate the effects of film coolant injection on convection heat transfer to the turbine blade tip for a variety of tip shapes and coolant injection configurations. Experiments are conducted with blade tip models that are stationary relative to the simulated outer air seal based on the result of earlier works that found the leakage flow to be mainly a pressure-driven flow which is related strongly to the airfoil pressure loading distribution and only weakly, if at all, to the relative motion between blade tip and shroud. Both heat transfer and film effectiveness are measured locally over the test surface using a transient thermal liquid crystal test technique with a computer vision data acquisition and reduction system for various combinations of clearance heights, clearance flow Reynolds numbers, and film flow rates with different coolant injection configurations. The present results reveal a strong dependency of film cooling performance on the choice of the coolant supply hole shapes and injection locations for a given tip geometry.

Darryl E. Metzger Memorial Session Paper: A Summary of the Cooled Turbine Blade Tip Heat Transfer and Film Effectiveness Investigations Performed by Dr. D. E. Metzger

1995 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. W. Kim ◽  
J. P. Downs ◽  
F. O. Soechting ◽  
W. Abdel-Messeh ◽  
G. D. Steuber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Film Cooling ◽  
Convection Heat Transfer ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Test Surface ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Test Technique ◽  
Coolant Injection ◽  
Blade Tip

The clearance gap between the stationary outer air seal and blade tips of an axial turbine allows a clearance gap leakage flow to be driven through the gap by the pressure-to-suction side pressure difference. The presence of strong secondary flows on the pressure side of the airfoil tends to deliver air from the hottest regions of the mainstream to the clearance gap. The blade tip region, particularly near the trailing edge, is very difficult to cool adequately with blade internal coolant flow. In this case, film cooling injection directly onto the blade tip region can be used in an attempt to directly reduce the heat transfer rates from the hot gases in the clearance gap to the blade tip. The present paper is intended as a memorial tribute to the late Professor Darryl E. Metzger, who made significant contributions in this particular area over the past decade. A summary of this work is made to present the results of his more recent experimental work, which was performed to investigate the effects of film coolant injection on convection heat transfer to the turbine blade tip for a variety of tip shapes and coolant injection configurations. Experiments are conducted with blade tip models that are stationary relative to the simulated outer air seal based on the result of earlier works that found the leakage flow to be mainly a pressure-driven flow, which is related strongly to the airfoil pressure loading distribution, and only weakly, if at all, to the relative motion between blade tip and shroud. Both heat transfer and film effectiveness are measured locally over the test surface using a transient thermal liquid crystal test technique with a computer vision data acquisition and reduction system for various combinations of clearance heights, clearance flow Reynolds numbers, and film flow rates with different coolant injection configurations. The present results reveal a strong dependency of film cooling performance on the choice of the coolant supply hole shapes and injection locations for a given tip geometry.

Numerical Study of Heat Transfer and Cooling Effectiveness on a Flat-Tip Turbine Blade

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qihe Huang ◽  
Jiao Wang ◽  
Lei He ◽  
Qiang Xu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Film Cooling ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Cooling Effectiveness ◽  
Blowing Ratio ◽  
Flow And Heat Transfer ◽  
Blade Tip

A numerical study is performed to simulate the tip leakage flow and heat transfer on the first stage rotor blade tip of GE-E3 turbine, which represents a modern gas turbine blade geometry. Calculations consist of the flat blade tip without and with film cooling. For the flat tip without film cooling case, in order to investigate the effect of tip gap clearance on the leakage flow and heat transfer on the blade tip, three different tip gap clearances of 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.5% of the blade span are considered. And to assess the performance of the turbulence models in correctly predicting the blade tip heat transfer, the simulations have been performed by using four different models (the standard k-ε, the RNG k-ε, the standard k-ω and the SST models), and the comparison shows that the standard k-ω model provides the best results. All the calculations of the flat tip without film cooling have been compared and validated with the experimental data of Azad[1] and the predictions of Yang[2]. For the flat tip with film cooling case, three different blowing ratio (M = 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5) have been studied to the influence on the leakage flow in tip gap and the cooling effectiveness on the blade tip. Tip film cooling can largely reduce the overall heat transfer on the tip. And the blowing ratio M = 1.0, the cooling effect for the blade tip is the best.

Characteristics of Tip Leakage Flow of the Turbine Blade With Cutback Squealer and Coolant Injection

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhua Wang ◽  
Yalin Liu ◽  
Xiaochun Wang ◽  
Zhineng Du ◽  
Shijie Yang
Keyword(s):  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Film Cooling ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Coolant Injection ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Film Cooling Holes ◽  
Numerical Program

Experimental and numerical investigations of the tip leakage flow characteristics between turbine blade tip and stator wall (shroud) were conducted by a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system and the commercially available software CFX 11.0. A three-time scaled profile of the GE-E3 blade was used as specimen. Two rows of cylindrical film-cooling holes with 1.5mm diameter were arranged in the blade tip. One row with 5 holes was placed in pressure side just below the groove floor, and the other with 11 holes was equidistantly arranged on the tip along the mid camber line. To exhibit the generation and movement of leakage vortex, and to compare the coolant injection effects from different rows, several typical velocity profiles were captured by the PIV system. The experimental results were used as a data source to validate the turbulence model and numerical program. To better understand the mixing characteristics of the coolant injected from different rows with the leakage flow, the fluid fields of the leakage vortex and coolant flow were simulated, and the leakage mass rates from the blade tip in different coolant injection cases and different gaps were quantitatively estimated by the validated numerical program.

scholarly journals Heat Transfer and Effectiveness on Film Cooled Turbine Blade Tip Models

1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. W. Kim ◽  
D. E. Metzger
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Convection Heat Transfer ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Pressure Side ◽  
Convection Heat ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Blade Tips

In unshrouded axial turbine stages, a small but generally unavoidable clearance between the blade tips and the stationary outer seal allows a clearance gap leakage flow to be driven across the blade tip by the pressure-to-suction side pressure difference. In modern high temperature machines, the turbine blade tips are often a region prone to early failure because of the presence of hot gases in the gap and the resultant added convection heating that must be counteracted by active blade cooling. The blade tip region, particularly near the trailing edge, is often very difficult to cool adequately with blade internal coolant flow, and film cooling injection directly onto the blade tip region can be used in an attempt to directly reduce the heat transfer rates from the hot clearance flow to the blade tip. An experimental program has been designed and conducted to model and measure the effects of film coolant injection on convection heat transfer to turbine blade tips. The modeling approach follows earlier work that found the leakage flow to be mainly a pressure-driven flow related strongly to the the airfoil pressure loading distribution and only weakly, if at all, to the relative motion between blade tip and shroud. In the present work the clearance gap and blade tip region is thus modeled in stationary form with primary flow supplied to a narrow channel simulating the clearance gap above a plane blade tip. Secondary film flow is supplied to the tip surface through a line array of discrete normal injection holes near the upstream or pressure side. Both heat transfer and effectiveness are determined locally over the test surface downstream of injection through the use of thin liquid crystal coatings and a computer vision system over an extensive test matrix of clearance heights, clearance flow Reynolds numbers and film flowrates. The results of the study indicate that film injection near the pressure-side corner on plane turbine blade tips can provide significant protection from convection heat transfer to the tip from the hot clearance gap leakage flow.

Heat Transfer and Effectiveness on Film Cooled Turbine Blade Tip Models

1995 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. W. Kim ◽  
D. E. Metzger
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Film Flow ◽  
Convection Heat Transfer ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Pressure Side ◽  
Convection Heat ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Blade Tips

In unshrouded axial turbine stages, a small but generally unavoidable clearance between the blade tips and the stationary outer seal allows a clearance gap leakage flow to be driven across the blade tip by the pressure-to-suction side pressure difference. In modern high-temperature machines, the turbine blade tips are often a region prone to early failure because of the presence of hot gases in the gap and the resultant added convection heating that must be counteracted by active blade cooling. The blade tip region, particularly near the trailing edge, is often very difficult to cool adequately with blade internal coolant flow, and film cooling injection directly onto the blade tip region can be used in an attempt to reduce the heat transfer rates directly from the hot clearance flow to the blade tip. An experimental program has been designed and conducted to model and measure the effects of film coolant injection on convection heat transfer to turbine blade tips. The modeling approach follows earlier work that found the leakage flow to be mainly a pressure-driven flow related strongly to the airfoil pressure loading distribution and only weakly, if at all, to the relative motion between blade tip and shroud. In the present work the clearance gap and blade tip region is thus modeled in stationary form with primary flow supplied to a narrow channel simulating the clearance gap above a plane blade tip. Secondary film flow is supplied to the tip surface through a line array of discrete normal injection holes near the upstream or pressure side. Both heat transfer and effectiveness are determined locally over the test surface downstream of injection through the use of thin liquid crystal coatings and a computer vision system over an extensive test matrix of clearance heights, clearance flow Reynolds numbers, and film flow rates. The results of the study indicate that film injection near the pressure-side corner on plane turbine blade tips can provide significant protection from convection heat transfer to the tip from the hot clearance gap leakage flow.

Effect of Turbine Blade Tip Cooling Configuration on Tip Leakage Flow and Heat Transfer

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergen Sakaoglu ◽  
Harika S. Kahveci
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Thermal Response ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Blade Tip

Abstract The pressure difference between suction and pressure sides of a turbine blade leads to tip leakage flow, which adversely affects the first-stage high-pressure (HP) turbine blade tip aerodynamics. In modern gas turbines, HP turbine blade tips are exposed to extreme thermal conditions requiring cooling. If the coolant jet directed into the blade tip gap cannot counter the leakage flow, it will simply add up to the pressure losses due to leakage. Therefore, the compromise between the aerodynamic loss and the gain in tip-cooling effectiveness must be optimized. In this paper, the effect of tip-cooling configuration on the turbine blade tip is investigated numerically from both aerodynamics and thermal aspects to determine the optimum configuration. Computations are performed using the tip cross section of GE-E3 HP turbine first-stage blade for squealer and flat tips, where the number, location, and diameter of holes are varied. The study presents a discussion on the overall loss coefficient, total pressure loss across the tip clearance, and variation in heat transfer on the blade tip. Increasing the coolant mass flow rate using more holes or by increasing the hole diameter results in a decrease in the area-averaged Nusselt number on the tip floor. Both aerodynamic and thermal response of squealer tips to the implementation of cooling holes is superior to their flat counterparts. Among the studied configurations, the squealer tip with a larger number of cooling holes located toward the pressure side is highlighted to have the best cooling performance.

Numerical investigation of high pressure turbine blade tip-shaping effects on the aerothermal and dynamic performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1121-1135
Author(s):  
Fujuan Tong ◽  
Wenxuan Gou ◽  
Lei Li ◽  
Zhufeng Yue ◽  
Wenjing Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Dynamic Performance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Local Pressure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Turbine Efficiency ◽  
Flow Loss ◽  
Blade Tip

Purpose In order to improve the engine reliability and efficiency, an effective way is to reform the turbine blade tip conformation. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach The present research provides several novel tip-shaping structures, which are considered to control the blade tip loss. Four different tip geometries have been studied: flat tip, squealer tip, flat tip with streamwise ribs and squealer tip with streamwise ribs. The tip heat transfer and leakage flow are both analyzed in detail, for example the tip heat transfer coefficient, tip flow and local pressure distributions. Findings The results show that the squealer seal and streamwise rib can reduce the tip heat transfer and leakage loss, especially for the squealer tip with streamwise ribs. The tip and near-tip flow patterns at the different locations of axial chord reflect that both the squealer seal and streamwise rib structure can control the tip leakage flow loss. In addition, the analysis of the aerodynamic parameters (the static pressure and turbine efficiency) also indicates that the squealer tip with streamwise ribs obtains the highest adiabatic efficiency with an increase of 2.34 percent, compared with that of the flat tip case. Originality/value The analysis of aerothermal and dynamic performance can provide a reference for the blade tip design and treatment.

Heat Transfer and Film Cooling on a Contoured Blade Endwall With Platform Gap Leakage

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen P. Lynch ◽  
Karen A. Thole
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Film Cooling ◽  
Vortical Flow ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Cooling Effectiveness ◽  
Film Cooling Effectiveness ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Manufacturing Assembly

Turbine blade components in an engine are typically designed with gaps between parts due to manufacturing, assembly, and operational considerations. Coolant is provided to these gaps to limit the ingestion of hot combustion gases. The interaction of the gaps, their leakage flows, and the complex vortical flow at the endwall of a turbine blade can significantly impact endwall heat transfer coefficients and the effectiveness of the leakage flow in providing localized cooling. In particular, a platform gap through the passage, representing the mating interface between adjacent blades in a wheel, has been shown to have a significant effect. Other important turbine blade features present in the engine environment are nonaxisymmetric contouring of the endwall, and an upstream rim seal with a gaspath cavity, which can reduce and increase endwall vortical flow, respectively. To understand the platform gap leakage effect in this environment, measurements of endwall heat transfer, and film cooling effectiveness were performed in a scaled blade cascade with a nonaxisymmetric contour in the passage. A rim seal with a cavity, representing the overlap interface between a stator and rotor, was included upstream of the blades and a nominal purge flowrate of 0.75% of the mainstream was supplied to the rim seal. The results indicated that the endwall heat transfer coefficients increased as the platform gap net leakage increased from 0% to 0.6% of the mainstream flowrate, but net heat flux to the endwall was reduced due to high cooling effectiveness of the leakage flow.

Measured Adiabatic Effectiveness and Heat Transfer for Blowing From the Tip of a Turbine Blade

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Christophel ◽  
E. Couch ◽  
K. A. Thole ◽  
F. J. Cunha
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Forward Region ◽  
Cooling Effectiveness ◽  
Combustion Gas ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Blade Alloy

The clearance gap between the tip of a turbine blade and the shroud has an inherent leakage flow from the pressure side to the suction side of the blade. This leakage flow of combustion gas and air mixtures leads to severe heat transfer rates on the blade tip of the high-pressure turbine. As the thermal load to the blade increases, blade alloy oxidation and erosion rates increase thereby adversely affecting component life. The subject of this paper is the cooling effectiveness levels and heat transfer coefficients that result from blowing through two holes placed in the forward region of a blade tip. These holes are referred to as dirt purge holes and are generally required for manufacturing purposes and expelling dirt from the coolant flow when operating in sandy environments. Experiments were performed in a linear blade cascade for two tip-gap heights over a range of blowing ratios. Results indicated that the cooling effectiveness was highly dependent on the tip-gap clearance with better cooling achieved at smaller clearances. Also, heat transfer was found to increase with blowing. In considering an overall benefit of cooling from the dirt purge blowing, a large benefit was realized for a smaller tip gap as compared with a larger tip gap.

Effect of Turbine Blade Tip Cooling Configuration on Tip Leakage Flow and Heat Transfer

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergen Sakaoglu ◽  
Harika S. Kahveci
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Thermal Response ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Blade Tip

Abstract The pressure difference between suction and pressure sides of a turbine blade leads to the so-called phenomenon, the tip leakage flow, which most adversely affects the first-stage high-pressure (HP) turbine blade tip aerodynamics. In modern gas turbines, HP turbine blade tips are also exposed to extreme thermal conditions requiring the use of tip cooling. If the coolant jet directed into the blade tip gap cannot counter the leakage flow, it will simply add up to the pressure losses due to this leakage flow. Therefore, it is necessary to handle the design of tip cooling in such a way that the compromise between the aerodynamic loss and the gain in the tip cooling effectiveness is optimized. In this paper, the effect of tip cooling configuration on the turbine blade tip is investigated numerically both from the aerodynamics and thermal aspects in order to determine the optimum tip cooling configuration. The studies are carried out using the tip cross-section of General Electric E3 (Energy Efficient Engine) HP turbine first-stage blade for two different tip geometries, squealer tip and flat tip, where the number, location, and diameter of the cooling holes are varied. The study presents a discussion on the overall loss coefficient, the total pressure loss across the tip clearance, and the variation of heat transfer on the blade tip. The aerodynamic and heat transfer results are compared with the experimental data from literature. It is observed that increasing the coolant mass flow rate by using more holes or by increasing the hole diameter results in a decrease in the area-averaged Nusselt number on the tip floor, as expected. The findings show that both aerodynamic and thermal response of the squealer tips to the implementation of cooling holes is superior to their flat counterparts. Among the studied configurations, the squealer tip with larger number of cooling holes located towards the pressure side is highlighted as the configuration having the best cooling performance.

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