Film Cooling in Unsteady Flow With Separation Bubble

Author(s):  
M. Deinert ◽  
J. Hourmouziadis

This study gives a detailed experimental evaluation of film cooling characteristics in unsteady flow with a separation bubble. The research project is divided into two phases. In the first phase, which is presented here, only the variation of the velocity caused by upstream blades is simulated in the experiments while the free-stream turbulence intensity is retained at a constant low level. The experiments are carried out on a flat plate with superimposed pressure distribution typical of turbine blading. A contoured wall opposite the flat plate generates this pressure distribution with a strong adverse pressure gradient, which induces a separation bubble in the middle of the plate. The measurements are conducted in an open-circuit, low-speed, suction-type wind tunnel, which can generate periodically pulsating flow. The flat plate is 1000 mm in length and has a width of 400 mm. The cooling air enters the test section through a row of 7 cylindrical film-cooling holes with sharp edges and an inclination angle of 35 degrees. The film cooling holes, which are 8 mm in diameter and have a pitch to diameter ratio of 3:1, are located in the middle of the flat plate. The main objective is to investigate the influence of the separation bubble on the cooling air flow and different film cooling parameters under periodically unsteady flow conditions. Therefore, measurements of the flow velocity and temperature using hot and cold wire anemometry for different boundary conditions were carried out. The results show that the periodic changes of size and shape of the separation bubble in a film cooled flow field under unsteady flow conditions are still dominated by the superimposed periodically changing pressure distribution. The incoming cooling air influences the separation bubble in two ways. On the one hand, the separation bubble is displaced by the film cooling jet, which means that it is only present upstream of the air injection point and on the other hand the separation bubble is thicker directly in front of the incoming film cooling jet because of the superimposed pressure field upstream of the jet. The results of flow temperature measurements show a small low-temperature area upstream of the film cooling jet at the position of the separation bubble.

Author(s):  
Kenichiro Takeishi ◽  
Yutaka Oda ◽  
Shinpei Kondo

This paper describes an experimental study on the film cooling effectiveness of circular and fan-shaped film cooling holes with a swirling film coolant injected through a flat plate and the endwall of a high-loaded first nozzle. The experiments were conducted using a flat plate wind tunnel and a two-dimensional vane cascade, which is designed based on the first-stage vane of an Energy Efficient Engine (E3) studied under a NASA project. The film cooling effectiveness on a flat plate wind tunnel and the endwall of the enlarged first nozzle of the E3 turbine was measured using pressure sensitive paint (PSP) techniques. The experimental results indicate that the film cooling effectiveness of a circular hole improved by increasing the angle θ of two impinging jets inside the cavity, which are used both for cooling the internal wall and generating a swirling motion in the film coolant. In contrast, it was found that there exist optimal jet angles of θ = 20° for a circular film cooling hole, θ = 5–10° for a flat plate wind tunnel test, and θ = 15° for the cascade test conducted using a fan-shaped film cooling hole. Thus the new film cooling method using swirling cooling air has been demonstrated to maintain high film cooling effectiveness even under such a complicated flow field.


Author(s):  
O. Schneider ◽  
H. J. Dohmen ◽  
F. K. Benra ◽  
K. Jarzombek

In the last years the leading manufacturers enhanced the performance of heavy-duty gas turbines rapidly. With the increasing amount of cooling air passing the internal air system, a rising amount of air borne particles are transported to the film cooling holes at the turbine blade surface. Due to the size, these holes are critical for blockage. Experience with gas turbines during operation showed a complex interaction of cooling air under different flow conditions and its particle load. In this paper the results of a new Lagrange-Tracking simulation algorithm based on 3D-Navier-Stokes flow solution are shown for the first time. Compared to previously shown simulations the algorithm is enhanced by models, taking additional, relevant physical effects into account. The new simulation results are compared to experimental results and former simulations.


Author(s):  
James E. Mayhew ◽  
James W. Baughn ◽  
Aaron R. Byerley

The film-cooling performance of a flat plate in the presence of low and high freestream turbulence is investigated using liquid crystal thermography. High-resolution distributions of the adiabatic effectiveness are determined over the film-cooled surface of the flat plate using the hue method and image processing. Three blowing rates are investigated for a model with three straight holes spaced three diameters apart, with density ratio near unity. High freestream turbulence is shown to increase the area-averaged effectiveness at high blowing rates, but decrease it at low blowing rates. At low blowing ratio, freestream turbulence clearly reduces the coverage area of the cooling air due to increased mixing with the main flow. However, at high blowing ratio, when much of the jet has lifted off in the low turbulence case, high freestream turbulence turns its increased mixing into an asset, entraining some of the coolant that penetrates into the main flow and mixing it with the air near the surface.


Author(s):  
Vinod U. Kakade ◽  
Steven J. Thorpe ◽  
Miklós Gerendás

The thermal management of aero gas turbine engine combustion systems commonly employs effusion-cooling in combination with various cold-side convective cooling schemes. The combustor liner incorporates many small holes which are usually set in staggered arrays and at a shallow angle to the cooled surface; relatively cold compressor delivery air is then allowed to flow through these holes to provide the full-coverage film-cooling effect. The efficient design of such systems requires robust correlations of film-cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient at a range of aero-thermal conditions, and the use of appropriately validated computational models. However, the flow conditions within a combustor are characterised by particularly high turbulence levels and relatively large length scales. The experimental evidence for performance of effusion-cooling under such flow conditions is currently sparse. The work reported here is aimed at quantifying typical effusion-cooling performance at a range of combustor relevant free-stream conditions (high turbulence), and also to assess the importance of modeling the coolant to free-stream density ratio. Details of a new laboratory wind-tunnel facility for the investigation of film-cooling at high turbulence levels are reported. For a typical combustor effusion geometry that uses cylindrical holes, spatially resolved measurements of adiabatic effectiveness, heat transfer coefficient and net heat flux reduction are presented for a range of blowing ratios (0.48 to 2), free-stream turbulence conditions (4 and 22%) and density ratios (0.97 and 1.47). The measurements reveal that elevated free-stream turbulence impacts on both the adiabatic effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient, although this is dependent upon the blowing ratio being employed and particularly the extent to which the coolant jets detach from the surface. At low blowing ratios the presence of high turbulence levels causes increased lateral spreading of the coolant adjacent to the injection points, but more rapid degradation in the downstream direction. At high blowing ratios, high turbulence levels cause a modest increase in effectiveness due to turbulent transport of the detached coolant fluid. Additionally, the augmentation of heat transfer coefficient caused by the coolant injection is seen to be increased at high free-stream turbulence levels.


2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerrit Dähnert ◽  
Christoph Lyko ◽  
Dieter Peitsch

Based on detailed experimental work conducted at a low speed test facility, this paper describes the transition process in the presence of a separation bubble with low Reynolds number, low free-stream turbulence, and steady main flow conditions. A pressure distribution has been created on a long flat plate by means of a contoured wall opposite of the plate, matching the suction side of a modern low-pressure turbine aerofoil. The main flow conditions for four Reynolds numbers, based on suction surface length and nominal exit velocity, were varied from 80,000 to 300,000, which covers the typical range of flight conditions. Velocity profiles and the overall flow field were acquired in the boundary layer at several streamwise locations using hot-wire anemometry. The data given is in the form of contours for velocity, turbulence intensity, and turbulent intermittency. The results highlight the effects of Reynolds number, the mechanisms of separation, transition, and reattachment, which feature laminar separation-long bubble and laminar separation-short bubble modes. For each Reynolds number, the onset of transition, the transition length, and the general characteristics of separated flow are determined. These findings are compared to the measurement results found in the literature. Furthermore, the experimental data is compared with two categories of correlation functions also given in the literature: (1) correlations predicting the onset of transition and (2) correlations predicting the mode of separated flow transition. Moreover, it is shown that the type of instability involved corresponds to the inviscid Kelvin-Helmholtz instability mode at a dominant frequency that is in agreement with the typical ranges occurring in published studies of separated and free-shear layers.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Derrar ◽  
J. Nagler ◽  
W. W. Koschel

Abstract This paper presents experiments on the cooling effectiveness obtained for two different injection locations on the suction side of a turbine blade at transonic flow conditions. Previous results of a computational analysis and flow visualization indicated that a separation bubble is present on the suction side at a location x/L = 0.43 and the location x/L = 0.575 corresponds to a shock-boundary interaction zone [9]. The scientific interest is primarily focused on the realization of high film cooling efficiencies and its relevant parameters under these flow conditions. Streamwise aligned as well as inclined angled film coolant hole configurations have been investigated for each location. Due to the high number of interacting parameters the experimental simulation of turbine blade film cooling is extremely complex, which can only be solved by a simultaneous modeling using the experimentally measured results. Test rig, instrumentation and data analysis are described in detail. The goal of the investigations is to determine the optimum location of the film coolant injection.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 30-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farouk Kebir ◽  
Azzeddine Khorsi

Film cooling is vital for gas turbine blades to protect them from thermal stresses and high temperatures due to the hot gas flow in the blade surface. Film cooling is applied to almost all external surfaces associated with aerodynamic profiles that are exposed to hot combustion gases such as main bodies, end-walls, blade tips and leading edges. In a review of the literature, it was found that there are strong effects of free-stream turbulence, surface curvature and hole shape on film cooling performance also blowing ratio. The performance of the film cooling is difficult to predict due to the inherent complex flow fields along the surfaces of the airfoil components in the turbine engines. From all what we introducing the film cooling is reviewed through a discussion of the analyses methodologies, a physical description, and the various influences on film-cooling performance. Initially Computational analysis was done on a flat plate with hole inclined at 55° to the surface plate. This study focuses on the efficient computation of film cooling flows with three blowing ratio. The numerical results show the effectiveness cooling and heat transfer behavior with increasing injection blowing ratio M (0.5, 1, and 1.5). The influence of increased blade film cooling can be assessed via the values of Nusselt number in terms of reduced heat transfer to the blade. Predictions of film effectiveness are compared with experimental results for a circular jet at blowing ratios ranging from 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. The present results are obtained at a free stream turbulence of 10%, which are the typical conditions upstream of the effectiveness is generally lower for a large stream-wise angle of 55°.


Author(s):  
Jerrit Da¨hnert ◽  
Christoph Lyko ◽  
Dieter Peitsch

Based on detailed experimental work conducted at a low speed test facility, this paper describes the transition process in the presence of a separation bubble with low Reynolds number, low free-stream turbulence, and steady main flow conditions. A pressure distribution has been created on a long flat plate by means of a contoured wall opposite of the plate, matching the suction side of a modern low-pressure turbine aerofoil. The main flow conditions for four Reynolds numbers, based on suction surface length and nominal exit velocity, were varied from 80,000 to 300,000, which covers the typical range of flight conditions. Velocity profiles and the overall flow field were acquired in the boundary layer at several streamwise locations using hot-wire anemometry. The data given is in the form of contours for velocity, turbulence intensity, and turbulent intermittency. The results highlight the effects of Reynolds number, the mechanisms of separation, transition, and reattachment, which feature laminar separation-long bubble and laminar separation-short bubble modes. For each Reynolds number, the onset of transition, the transition length, and the general characteristics of separated flow are determined. These findings are compared to the measurement results found in the literature. Furthermore, the experimental data is compared with two categories of correlation functions also given in the open literature: (1) correlations predicting the onset of transition and (2) correlations predicting the mode of separated flow transition. Moreover, it is shown that the type of instability involved corresponds to the inviscid Kelvin-Helmholtz instability mode at a dominant frequency that is in agreement with the typical ranges occurring in published studies of separated and free-shear layers.


Author(s):  
Ioanna Aslanidou ◽  
Budimir Rosic ◽  
Vasudevan Kanjirakkad ◽  
Sumiu Uchida

The remarkable developments in gas turbine materials and cooling technologies have allowed a steady increase in combustor outlet temperature and hence in gas turbine efficiency over the last half century. However, the efficiency benefits of higher gas temperature, even at the current levels, are significantly offset by the increased losses associated with the required cooling. Additionally, the advancements in gas turbine cooling technology have introduced considerable complexities into turbine design and manufacture. Therefore, a reduction in coolant requirements for the current gas temperature levels is one possible way for gas turbine designers to achieve even higher efficiency levels. The leading edges of the first turbine vane row are exposed to high heat loads. The high coolant requirements and geometry constraints limit the possible arrangement of the multiple rows of film cooling holes in the so called showerhead region. In the past, investigators have tested many different showerhead configurations, varying the number of rows, inclination angle and shape of the cooling holes. However the current leading edge cooling strategies using showerheads have not been shown to allow further increase in turbine temperature without excessive use of coolant air. Therefore new cooling strategies for the first vane have to be explored. In gas turbines with multiple combustor chambers around the annulus, the transition duct walls can be used to shield, i.e. to protect the first vane leading edges from the high heat loads. In this way the stagnation region at the leading edge and the shower-head of film cooling holes can be completely removed, resulting in a significant reduction in the total amount of cooling air that is otherwise required. By eliminating the showerhead the shielding concept significantly simplifies the design and lowers the manufacturing costs. This paper numerically analyses the potential of the leading edge shielding concept for cooling air reduction. The vane shape was modified to allow for the implementation of the concept and non-restrictive relative movement between the combustor and the vane. It has been demonstrated that the coolant flow that was originally used for cooling the combustor wall trailing edge and a fraction of the coolant air used for the vane showerhead cooling can be used to effectively cool both the suction and the pressure surfaces of the vane.


Author(s):  
Karsten Kusterer ◽  
Nurettin Tekin ◽  
Frederieke Reiners ◽  
Dieter Bohn ◽  
Takao Sugimoto ◽  
...  

In modern gas turbines, the film cooling technology is essential for the protection of the hot parts, in particular of the first stage vanes and blades of the turbine, against the hot gases from the combustion process in order to reach an acceptable life span of the components. As the cooling air is usually extracted from the compressor, the reduction of the cooling effort would directly result to an increased thermal efficiency of the gas turbine. Understanding of the fundamental physics of film cooling is necessary for the improvement of the state-of-the-art. Thus, huge research efforts by industry as well as research organizations have been undertaken to establish high efficient film cooling technologies. It is a today common knowledge that film cooling effectiveness degradation is caused by secondary flows inside the cooling jets, i.e. the Counter-Rotating Vortices (CRV) or sometimes also mentioned as kidney-vortices, which induce a lift-off of the jet. Further understanding of the secondary flow development inside the jet and how this could be influenced, has led to hole configurations, which can induce Anti-Counter-Rotating Vortices (ACRV) in the cooling jets. As a result, the cooling air remains close to the wall and is additionally distributed flatly along the surface. Beside different other technologies, the NEKOMIMI cooling technology is a promising approach to establish the desired ACRV. It consists of a combination of two holes in just one configuration so that the air is distributed mainly on two cooling air streaks following the special shape of the generated geometry. The original configuration was found to be difficult for manufacturing even by advanced manufacturing processes. Thus, the improvement of this configuration has been reached by a set of geometry parameters, which lead to configurations much easier to be manufactured but preserving the principle of the NEKOMIMI technology. Within a numerical parametric study several advanced configurations have been obtained and investigated under ambient air flow conditions similar to conditions for a wind tunnel test rig. By systematic variation of the parameters a further optimization with respect to highest film cooling effectiveness has been performed. A set of most promising configurations has been also investigated experimentally in the test rig. The best configuration outperforms the basic configuration by 17% regarding the overall averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness under the experimental conditions.


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