Influence of the 180° Bend Geometry on the Pressure Loss and Heat Transfer in a High Aspect Ratio Rectangular Smooth Channel

Author(s):  
Detlef Pape ◽  
Herve´ Jeanmart ◽  
Jens von Wolfersdorf ◽  
Bernhard Weigand

An experimental and numerical investigation of the pressure loss and the heat transfer in the bend region of a smooth two-pass cooling channel with a 180°-turn has been performed. The channels have a rectangular cross-section with a high aspect ratio of H/W = 4. The heat transfer has been measured using the transient liquid crystal method. For the investigations the Reynolds-number as well as the distance between the tip and the divider wall (tip distance) are varied. While the Reynolds number varies from 50’000 to 200’000 and its influence on the normalized pressure loss and heat transfer is found to be small, the variations of the tip distance from 0.5 up to 3.65 W produce quite different flow structures in the bend. The pressure loss over the bend thus shows a strong dependency on these variations.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-Lun Chen ◽  
Izzet Sahin ◽  
Lesley M. Wright ◽  
Je-Chin Han ◽  
Robert Krewinkel

Abstract This study features a rotating, blade-shaped, two-pass cooling channel with a variable aspect ratio. Internal cooling passages of modern gas turbine blades closely follow the shape and contour of the airfoils. Therefore, the cross-section and the orientation with respect to rotation varies for each cooling channel. The effect of passage orientation on the heat transfer and pressure loss is investigated by comparing to a planar channel design with a similar geometry. Following the blade cross-section, the first pass of the serpentine channel is angled at 50° from the direction of rotation while the second pass has an orientation angle of 105°. The coolant flows radially outward in the first passage with an aspect ratio (AR) = 4:1. After a 180-degree tip turn, the coolant travels radially inward into the second passage with AR = 2:1. The copper plate method is applied to obtain the regionally-averaged heat transfer coefficients on all the interior walls of the cooling channel. In addition to the smooth surface case, 45° angled ribs with a profiled cross section are also placed on the leading and trailing surfaces in both the passages. The ribs are placed such that P/e = 10 and e/H = 0.16. The Reynolds number varies from 10,000 to 45,000 in the first passage and 16,000 to 73,000 in the second passage. The rotational speed ranges from 0 to 400 rpm, which corresponds to maximum rotation numbers of 0.38 and 0.15 in the first and second passes, respectively. The blade-shaped feature affects the heat transfer and pressure loss in the cooling channels. In the second passage, the heat transfer on the outer wall and trailing surface is higher than the inner wall and leading surface due to flow impingement and the swirling motion induced by the blade-shaped tip turn. The rotational effect on the heat transfer and pressure loss is lower in the blade-shaped design than the planar design due to the feature of angled rotation. The tip wall heat transfer is significantly enhanced by rotation in this study. The overall heat transfer and pressure loss in this study is higher than the planar geometry due to the blade-shaped feature. The heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics from this study provide important information for the gas turbine blade internal cooling designs.


Author(s):  
Sulaiman M. Alsaleem ◽  
Lesley M. Wright ◽  
Je-Chin Han

Abstract Serpentine, varying aspect ratio cooling passages, are typically used in cooling advanced gas turbine blades. These passages are usually connected by sharp, 180-deg bends. In the open literature, most of the internal cooling studies use a fixed cross-sectional area for multi-pass channels. Studies that use varying aspect ratio channels, along with a guide (turn) vane to direct the flow with turning, are scarce. In general, studies show that the incorporation of turning vanes in the bend region of a multi-pass channel keeps the heat transfer rate high while reducing pressure loss. Therefore, the current study investigates the effect of using different guide (turn) vane designs on both the detailed heat transfer distribution and pressure loss in a multi-pass channel with an aspect ratio of (4:1) in the entry passage and (2:1) in the second passage downstream of the vane (s). The first vane configuration is one solid-vane with a semi-circular cross-section connecting the two flow passages. The second configuration has three broken-vanes with a quarter-circular cross-section; two broken vanes are located downstream in the first passage (entering the turn), and one broken vane is upstream in the second passage (exiting the turn). For a Reynolds number range 15,000 to 45,000, detailed heat transfer distributions were obtained on all surfaces within the flow passages by using a transient liquid crystal method. The results show that the turning vane configurations have large effects on the heat transfer, in the turning bend and second passage, and the overall pressure drop. Results show that including the semi-circular vane in the turning region of a multi-pass channel enhanced the overall heat transfer by around 29% with a reduction in pressure loss by around 20%. Moreover, results show that the quarter-circular vane design provides higher overall averaged heat transfer enhancement than the semi-circular vane design by around 9% with penalty of higher pressure drop by 6%, which yields higher thermal performance by 7%, over the Reynolds number range.


Author(s):  
Pavin Ganmol ◽  
Minking K. Chyu

Described in this paper is an experimental investigation of the heat transfer and pressure characteristics in a high aspect ratio, (4.5:1 width-to-height), two-pass channel, with cube-shaped and diamond-shaped block arrays placed in both passes before and after a 180-degree sharp turn. Transient liquid crystal technique was applied to acquire detailed local heat transfer data on both the channel surfaces and the block elements. Reynolds number tested varies between 13000 and 28000. To further explore potential design alternatives for enhancement cooling, the effects of block height, ranging from 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full span of the channel height were also evaluated. Present results suggest that a staggered cube-array can enhance heat transfer rate up to 3.5 fold in the first pass and about 1.9 fold in the second pass, relative to the fully-developed smooth channel counterpart. For the corresponding diamond-shaped block array, the enhancement is 3.4 and 1.9 fold respectively. Even though the post-turn turbulence transport in the second pass is generally higher than that in the first pass, the effects of surface-block induced heat transfer enhancement in fact are less prominent in the post-turn region of the second pass. Pressure loss for diamond block arrays is generally higher than that of the corresponding cube-block arrays.


Author(s):  
S. Gedupudi ◽  
Y. Q. Zu ◽  
T. G. Karayiannis ◽  
D. B. R. Kenning ◽  
Y. Y. Yan

A simple 1-D model with low requirements for computing time is required to investigate parametric influences on the potentially adverse effects of pressure fluctuations driven by confined vapour bubble growth in microchannel evaporative cooling systems operating at high heat fluxes. A model is developed in this paper for the particular conditions of a channel of rectangular cross-section with high aspect ratio with a constant inlet flow rate (zero upstream compressibility). (The model will later be extended to the conditions of finite upstream compressibility that lead to transient flow reversal). Some parametric trends predicted by the model are presented. The simplifying assumptions in the model are examined in the light of a 3-D simulation by a commercial CFD code, described in an accompanying paper by the same authors. The predictions of pressure changes are in reasonable agreement. It is suggested that the 1-D model will be a useful design tool.


Author(s):  
Christopher Katinas ◽  
Ahmad Fakheri

In this study, flow and heat transfer for laminar flow in curved channels of rectangular cross section is examined. The focus of the numerical solutions is on rectangular cross sections with an aspect ratio less than one, since little information is available for heat transfer in curved rectangular pipes whose width is greater than height. The study examines the impact of the aspect ratio and Dean number on both friction factor and Nusselt number. The results show that although both friction factor and Nusselt number increase as a result of curvature effects, the heat transfer enhancements significantly outweigh the friction factor penalty. Numerical solutions in this study consider the more realistic case of hydrodynamically developed and thermally developing flow.


Author(s):  
M Schüler ◽  
S O Neumann ◽  
B Weigand

In the present study, the pressure loss and heat transfer of a two-pass internal cooling channel with engine-similar cross-sections were investigated experimentally. This channel consisted of a trapezoidal leading edge pass, a sharp 180° bend, and a nearly rectangular outlet pass. The investigations focused on the influence of tip-to-web distance and rib configuration on pressure loss and heat transfer. The channel was equipped with skewed ribs (α=45°, P/ e=10, e/ dh=0.1) in an inline and a staggered configuration. The dimensionless tip-to-web distance Wel/ dS was varied from 0.6 to 1.2. The investigated Reynolds number ranged from 15 000 up to 100 000. The experimental results showed a strong increase in pressure loss with decreasing tip-to-web distance, while heat transfer was only slightly increasing. Both rib configurations showed nearly the same heat transfer enhancement in the bend region.


Author(s):  
Rui Kan ◽  
Shuqing Tian

A combined impingement-pedestal geometry for turbomachinery double wall cooling application is studied numerically with the shear stress transport turbulence model. Conjugated CFD simulation is performed to investigate the cooling effectiveness distribution. The configuration consists of a high aspect ratio cooling duct, with jet array impinging onto the pin fin-roughed wall. The jet Reynolds number varies from 8,000 to 80,000, jet-to-target wall spacing is kept constant at Z/Dj=0.8. Three main parameters are investigated, including the jet Reynolds number, pin fin shapes (circular and elongated) and the relative location between jets and pin fins (the jet placed uniformly inside the duct or more densely at the front of the duct). For more detailed investigations, the pin fin diameter and impingement hole diameter are varied independently, and a total of 26 configurations are studied. The results show that the double wall configuration with pin fins significantly increases the heat transfer coefficients, compared to that with only impingement. Non-uniform jet arrangement results in a stronger crossflow and enhances heat transfer on the pins, which brings an increase of cooling effectiveness and more uniform temperature distribution.


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