Nozzle Guide Vane Static Strip Seals

Author(s):  
Arash Farahani ◽  
Peter Childs

Sealing of components where there is no relative motion between the elements concerned remains a significant challenge in many gas turbine engine applications. Loss of sealing and cooling air from the internal air system through seals impacts on specific fuel consumption and can lead to undesirable flow interactions with resultant cost implications. For gas turbines, various strip seal types have been developed for use between Nozzle Guide Vanes in order to limit the flow of gas between the main stream annulus and the internal air system. Many different types of design have been proposed for overcoming strip seal problems such as misalignment of the grooves due to manufacturing and assembly constraints. In this paper various methods, with a particular focus on patents, for minimising the amount of leakage caused by such problems for strip seals between nozzle guide vanes are reviewed. By considering the advantages and disadvantages of each technique it is concluded that although apparently new strip seal designs for NGVs have improved performance, none of them can be considered to be ideal. This paper reviews the techniques and makes recommendations for future designs.

Author(s):  
A. A. Thrift ◽  
K. A. Thole ◽  
S. Hada

Gas turbine designs seek improved performance by modifying the endwalls of nozzle guide vanes in the engine hot section. Within the nozzle guide vanes these modifications can be in the form of an axisymmetric contour as the area contracts from the combustor to the turbine. This paper investigates the effect of axisymmetric endwall contouring on the cooling performance of a film cooled endwall. Adiabatic effectiveness measurements were performed in a planar passage for comparison to a contoured passage whereby the exit Reynolds numbers was matched. For the contoured passage, measurements were performed on both the flat endwall and on the contoured endwall. Fully expanded film cooling holes were distributed on the endwall surface preceded by a two-dimensional slot normal to the inlet axis. Results indicated that the coolant coverage from the upstream leakage slot was spread over a larger area of the contoured endwall in comparison to the flat endwall of the planar passage. Film cooling effectiveness on the flat endwall of the contoured passage showed minimal differences relative to the planar passage results. The contracting endwall of the contoured passage, however, showed a significant reduction with average film cooling effectiveness levels approximately 40% lower than the planar passage at low film cooling flow rates. In the case of all endwalls, increasing leakage and film cooling mass flow rates led to an increase in cooling effectiveness and coolant coverage.


2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Thrift ◽  
K. A. Thole ◽  
S. Hada

Gas turbine designs seek improved performance by modifying the endwalls of nozzle guide vanes in the engine hot section. Within the nozzle guide vanes, these modifications can be in the form of an axisymmetric contour as the area contracts from the combustor to the turbine. This paper investigates the effect of axisymmetric endwall contouring on the cooling performance of a film cooled endwall. Adiabatic effectiveness measurements were performed in a planar passage for comparison to a contoured passage, whereby the exit Reynolds numbers were matched. For the contoured passage, measurements were performed both on the flat endwall and on the contoured endwall. Fully expanded film cooling holes were distributed on the endwall surface preceded by a two-dimensional slot normal to the inlet axis. Results indicated that the coolant coverage from the upstream leakage slot was spread over a larger area of the contoured endwall in comparison to the flat endwall of the planar passage. Film cooling effectiveness on the flat endwall of the contoured passage showed minimal differences relative to the planar passage results. The contracting endwall of the contoured passage, however, showed a significant reduction with average film cooling effectiveness levels approximately 40% lower than the planar passage at low film cooling flow rates. In the case of all endwalls, increasing leakage and film cooling mass flow rates led to an increase in cooling effectiveness and coolant coverage.


Author(s):  
S. Luque ◽  
V. Kanjirakkad ◽  
I. Aslanidou ◽  
R. Lubbock ◽  
B. Rosic ◽  
...  

This paper describes a new modular experimental facility that was purpose-built to investigate flow interactions between the combustor and first stage nozzle guide vanes of heavy duty power generation gas turbines with multiple can combustors. The first stage turbine nozzle guide vane is subjected to the highest thermal loads of all turbine components and therefore consumes a proportionally large amount of cooling air that contributes detrimentally to the stage and cycle efficiency. It has become necessary to devise novel cooling concepts that can substantially reduce the coolant air requirement but still allow the turbine to maintain its aerothermal performance. The present work aims to aid this objective by the design and commissioning of a high-speed linear cascade which consists of two can combustor transition ducts and four first stage nozzle guide vanes. This is a modular non-reactive air test platform with engine realistic geometries (gas path and near gas path), cooling system, and boundary conditions (inlet swirl, turbulence level and boundary layer). The paper presents the various design aspects of the high pressure blow down type facility, and the initial results from a wide range of aerodynamic and heat transfer measurements under highly engine realistic conditions.


Author(s):  
Arash Farahani ◽  
Peter Childs

Strip seals are commonly used to prevent or limit leakage flows between nozzle guide vanes (NGV) and other gas turbine engine components that are assembled from individual segments. Leakage flow across, for example, a nozzle guide vane platform, leads to increased demands on the gas turbine engine internal flow system and a rise in specific fuel consumption (SFC). Careful attention to the flow characteristics of strip seals is therefore necessary. The very tight tolerances associated with strip seals provides a particular challenge to their characterisation. This paper reports the validation of CFD modelling for the case of a strip seal under very carefully controlled conditions. In addition, experimental comparison of three types of strip seal design, straight, arcuate, and cloth, is presented. These seals are typical of those used by competing manufacturers of gas turbine engines. The results show that the straight seal provides the best flow sealing performance for the controlled configuration tested, although each design has its specific merits for a particular application.


2012 ◽  
Vol 445 ◽  
pp. 1047-1052
Author(s):  
Alaaeldin H. Mustafa

Failure analysis investigation was conducted on 70 MW set of 1st stage turbine nozzle guide vanes (NGVs) of heavy industrial gas turbine. The failure was investigated using the light optical microscope (LOM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) in an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). The results of the analysis indicate that the NGVs which were made of Co base superalloy FSX-414 had been operated above the recommended operating hours under different fuel types in addition to inadequate repair process in previous repair removal. The XRD analysis of the fractured areas sample shows presence ofwhich might indicate the prolonged operation at high temperature. Keywords: cobalt-base; nozzle guide vanes, gas turbine.


1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 734-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Harasgama ◽  
C. D. Burton

Heat transfer and aerodynamic measurements have been made on the endwalls of an annular cascade of turbine nozzle guide vanes in the presence of film cooling. The results indicate that high levels of cooling effectiveness can be achieved on the endwalls of turbine nozzle guide vanes (NGV). The NGV were operated at the correct engine nondimensional conditions of Reynolds number, Mach number, gas-to-wall temperature ratio, and gas-to-coolant density ratio. The results show that the secondary flow and horseshoe vortex act on the coolant, which is convected toward the suction side of the NG V endwall passage. Consequently the coolant does not quite reach the pressure side/casing trailing edge, leading to diminished cooling in this region. Increasing the blowing rate from 0.52 to 1.1 results in significant reductions in heat transfer to the endwall. Similar trends are evident when the coolant temperature is reduced. Measured heat transfer rates indicate that over most of the endwall region the film cooling reduces the Nusselt number by 50 to 75 percent.


Author(s):  
Koichi Yonezawa ◽  
Masahiro Takayasu ◽  
Genki Nakai ◽  
Kazuyasu Sugiyama ◽  
Katsuhiko Sugita ◽  
...  

Abstract Nozzle guide vanes (NGVs) and rotor blades deteriorate due to erosion, and this may affect the aerodynamic characteristics of gas turbines. According to previous studies, the erosion of first-stage NGVs significantly affected the blade loading of the first-stage rotor. An increase in the tip gap also may significantly affect the gas turbine performance. In the present study, numerical investigations have been carried out using a real eroded nozzle and blade geometries for two purposes. One purpose was to clarify the influences underlying the deterioration of the nozzle and the rotor blade, such as the effects on the erosion of NGVs in the first stage and the effects of the tip gap on the gas turbine performance. The other was to develop a method to estimate the total gas turbine performance using a CFD simulation and a heat balance analysis. The results show that the erosion of NGV leads to an increased flow rate and affects the operating condition of the gas turbine cycle. This, in turn, can decrease the total thermal efficiency. The experimental results suggest that an increase in the tip gap width decreases rotor output almost linearly, and the numerical results showed the same tendency. The influence of the tip gap in the real gas turbine condition was also examined, revealing that an increase in the tip gap leads to an increase in the pressure loss in the nozzle downstream as well as around the rotor blade itself. Consequently, the total power output and the isentropic efficiency of the turbine decreased.


Author(s):  
S. P. Harasgama ◽  
C. D. Burton

Heat transfer and aerodynamic measurements have been made on the endwalls of an annular cascade of turbine nozzle guide vanes in the presence of film cooling. The results indicate that high levels of cooling effectiveness can be achieved on the endwalls of turbine nozzle guide vanes (NGV). The NGV were operated at the correct engine non-dimensional conditions of Reynolds number, Mach number, gas-to-wall temperature ratio and gas-to-coolant density ratio. The results show that the secondary flow and horse-shoe vortex act on the coolant which is converted towards the suction side of the NGV endwall passage. Consequently the coolant does not quite reach the pressure side/casing trailing edge, leading to diminished cooling in this region. Increasing the blowing rate from 0.52 to 1.1 results in significant reductions in heat transfer to the endwall. Similar trends are evident when the coolant temperature is reduced. Measured heat transfer rates indicate that over most of the endwall region the film cooling reduces the Nusselt number by 50% to 75%.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 202-215
Author(s):  
Faisal Shaikh ◽  
Budimir Rosic

The combustor-turbine interface in a gas turbine is characterised by complex, highly unsteady flows. In a combined experimental and large eddy simulation (LES) study including realistic combustor geometry, the standard model of secondary flows in the nozzle guide vanes (NGV) is found to be oversimplified. A swirl core is created in the combustion chamber which convects into the first vane passages. Four main consequences of this are identified: variation in vane loading; unsteady heat transfer on vane surfaces; unsteadiness at the leading edge horseshoe vortex, and variation in the position of the passage vortex. These phenomena occur at relatively low frequencies, from 50–300 Hz. It seems likely that these unsteady phenomena result in non-optimal film cooling, and that by reducing unsteadiness designs with greater cooling efficiency could be achieved. Measurements were performed in a high speed test facility modelling a large industrial gas turbine with can combustors, including nozzle guide vanes and combustion chambers. Vane surfaces and endwalls of a nozzle guide vane were instrumented with 384 high speed thin film heat flux gauges, to measure unsteady heat transfer. The high resolution of measurements was such to allow direct visualisation in time of large scale turbulent structures over the endwalls and vane surfaces. A matching LES simulation was carried out in a domain matching experimental conditions including upstream swirl generators and transition duct. Data reduction allowed time-varying LES data to be recorded for several cycles of the unsteady phenomena observed. The combination of LES and experimental data allows physical explanation and visualisation of flow events.


1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-115
Author(s):  
Sohail H. Zaidi ◽  
Robin L. Elder

T-100 is a multipurpose small power unit developed by Sundstrand Power Systems (USA). An extensive research programme was launched for the detailed tests of the rig components including inlet protection system, Compressor stage, Combustor and the Turbine stage. Turbomachinery Group at Cranfield was involved in the study of the Turbine unit used in this programme. From the design point of view, detailed aerodynamics in these small units are of great interest especially where high velocities and narrow passages are involved. Experimental study was carried out to investigate the flow in the region between the nozzle guide vanes and the turbine rotor entry. The main concern was to find out how the nozzle guide vane flow was modified by the rotor and how the rotor flow was affected by the nozzle guide vanes. Laser measurements were taken at these positions for various flow conditions. An other area which needs considerable attention is downstream of the turbine rotor where the turning of flow and mixing process make the situation very complicated. Laser studies were undertaken in that region and to gain more confidence on laser results, a Cobra pressure probe was traversed at these stations. This paper describes various steps undertaken to obtain laser results within the machine. At the end typical laser results have been presented and discussed.


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