Evaluation of Two-Equation Models of Turbulence in Predicting Film Cooling Performance Under High Free Stream Turbulence

Author(s):  
Savas Yavuzkurt ◽  
Jawad S. Hassan

The capabilities of four two-equation turbulence models in predicting film cooling effectiveness under high free stream turbulence (FST) intensity (Tu = 10%) were investigated and their performance are presented and discussed. The four turbulence models are: the standard k-ε, RNG, and realizable k-ε models as well as the standard k-ω model all four found in the FLUENT CFD code. In all models, the enhanced wall treatment has been used to resolve the flow near solid boundaries. A systematic approach has been followed in the computational setup to insure grid-independence and accurate solution that reflects the true capabilities of these models. Exact geometrical and flow-field replicas of an experimental study on discrete hole film cooling were generated and used in FLUENT. A pitch-to-diameter ratio of 3.04, injection tube length-to-diameter ratio of 4.6 and density ratios of 0.92 and 0.97 were some of the parameters used in the film cooling analysis. The study covered two levels of blowing ratios (M = 0.5 and 1.5) at an environment of what is defined as high initial free-stream turbulence intensity (Tu = 10%). Performance of these models under a very low initial FST were presented in a paper by the authors in Turbo Expo 2006. In that case, the standard k-ε model had the most consistent performance among all considered turbulence models and the best centerline film cooling effectiveness predictions under very low FST. However, after the addition of high FST in the free-stream, even the standard k-ε model started to deviate greatly from the experimental data (up to 200% over-prediction) under high blowing ratios (M = 1.5). The model which performed the best under high FST but low blowing ratios (M = 0.5) is still the standard k-ε model. In all cases only standard k-ε model results match the trends of data for both cases. It can be said that under high FST with high M all the models do not do a good job of predicting the data. It was concluded that these deviations resulted from the effects of both high FST and high M. Under high M, near the injection holes deviations could result from the limitations of Boussinesq hypothesis relating the direction of Reynolds stress to the mean strain rate. Also, it seems like all models have trouble including the effects of high FST by not being able to take into account high levels of diffusion of turbulence from the free stream. However, standard k-ε model still looks like the best candidate for further improvement with the addition of new diffusion model for TKE under high FST.

Author(s):  
Jawad S. Hassan ◽  
Savas Yavuzkurt

The capabilities of four two-equation turbulence models in predicting film cooling effectiveness were investigated and their limitations as well as relative performance are presented. The four turbulence models are the standard, RNG, and realizable k-ε models as well as the standard k-ω model all found in the FLUENT CFD code. In all four models, the enhanced wall treatment has been used to resolve the flow near solid boundaries. A systematic approach has been followed in the computational setup to insure grid-independence and accurate solution that reflects the true capabilities of the turbulence models. Exact geometrical and flow-field replicas of an experimental study on discrete-jet film cooling were generated and used in FLUENT. A pitch-to-diameter ratio of 3.04, injection length-to-diameter ratio of 4.6 and density ratios of 0.92 and 0.97 were some of the parameters used in the film cooling analysis. Furthermore, the study covered two levels of blowing ratio (M = 0.5 and 1.5) at an environment of low free-stream turbulence intensity (Tu = 0.1%). The standard k-ε model had the most consistent performance among all considered turbulence models and the best centerline film cooling effectiveness predictions with the results deviating from experimental data by only ±10% and about 20–60% for the low (M = 0.5) and high (M = 1.5) blowing ratio cases, respectively. However, centerline side-view and surface top-view contours of non-dimensional temperature for the standard k-ε cases revealed that the good results for film cooling effectiveness η compared to the experimental data were due to a combination of an over-prediction of jet penetration in the normal direction with an under-prediction of jet spread in the lateral direction. The standard k-ω model completely failed to produce any results that were meaningful with under-predictions of η that ranged between 80 and 85% for the low blowing ratio case and over-predictions of about 200% for the high blowing ratio case. Even though the RNG and realizable models showed to have better predicted the jet spread in the lateral direction compared to the standard k-ε model, there were some aspects of the flow, such as levels of turbulence generated by cross-flow and jet interaction, that were not realistic resulting in errors in the η prediction that ranged from −10% to +80% for the M = 0.5 case and from −80% to +70% for the M = 1.5 case. As a result of this study at this point it was concluded that the standard k-ε model have the most promising potential among the two-equation models considered. It was chosen as the best candidate for further improvement for the simulation of film cooling flows.


Author(s):  
Andrew F. Chen ◽  
Shiou-Jiuan Li ◽  
Je-Chin Han

A systematic study was performed to investigate the combined effects of hole geometry, blowing ratio, density ratio and free-stream turbulence intensity on flat plate film cooling with forward and backward injection. Detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions were obtained using the steady state pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Four common film-hole geometries with forward injection were used in this study: simple angled cylindrical holes and fan-shaped holes, and compound angled (β = 45°) cylindrical holes and fan-shaped holes. Additional four film-hole geometries with backward injection were tested by reversing the injection direction from forward to backward to the mainstream. There are seven holes in a row on each plate and each hole is 4 mm in diameter. The hole length to diameter ratio is 7.5. The blowing ratio effect was studied at 10 different blowing ratios ranging from M = 0.3 to M = 2.0. The coolant to main stream density ratio (DR) effect was studied by using foreign gases with DR = 1 (N2), 1.5 (CO2), and 2 (15% SF6 + 85% Ar). The free stream turbulence intensity effect was tested at 0.5% and 6%. The results show higher density coolant provides higher effectiveness than lower density coolant, fan-shaped holes perform better than cylindrical holes, and compound angled holes are better than simple angled holes. In general, the results show the film cooling effectiveness with backward injection is greatly reduced for shaped holes as compared with the forward injection. However, significant improvements can be seen in both simple angled and compound angled cylindrical holes at higher blowing ratios and density ratio (DR = 2). Comparison was made between experimental data and empirical correlations for simple angled fan-shaped holes at engine representative density ratios. An improved correlation which covers a wider range of density ratios (DR = 1.0 to DR = 2.0) is proposed.


Author(s):  
Diganta P. Narzary ◽  
Christopher LeBlanc ◽  
Srinath Ekkad

Film cooling performance of two hole geometries is evaluated on a flat plate surface with steady-state IR (infrared thermography) technique. The base geometry is a simple cylindrical hole design inclined at 30° from the surface with pitch-to-diameter ratio of 3.0. The second geometry is an anti-vortex design where the two side holes, also of the same diameter, branch out from the root at 15° angle. The pitch-to-diameter ratio is 6.0 between the main holes. The mainstream Reynolds number is 3110 based on the coolant hole diameter. Two secondary fluids — air and carbon-dioxide — were used to study the effects of coolant-to-mainstream density ratio (DR = 0.95 and 1.45) on film cooling effectiveness. Several blowing ratios in the range 0.5 –4.0 were investigated independently at the two density ratios. Results indicate significant improvement in effectiveness with anti-vortex holes compared to cylindrical holes at all the blowing ratios studied. At any given blowing ratio, the anti-vortex hole design uses 50% less coolant and provides at least 30–40% higher cooling effectiveness. The use of relatively dense secondary fluid improves effectiveness immediately downstream of the anti-vortex holes but leads to poor performance downstream.


Author(s):  
Christopher LeBlanc ◽  
Sridharan Ramesh ◽  
Srinath Ekkad ◽  
Mary Anne Alvin

In this study, effect of breakout angle of side holes from the main hole in a tripod hole design on film cooling performance is evaluated on a flat plate surface with steady-state IR (infrared thermography) technique. The designs are compared a cylindrical hole design inclined at 30° from the surface with pitch-to-diameter ratio of 3.0 and a shaped hole design, which is identical to the cylindrical hole design with the addition of adding a 10° flare and laydown to the exit on the mainstream surface. The two tripod hole designs are one where the two side holes, also of the same diameter, branch from the root at a 15° angle while maintaining the same 30° inclination as the cylindrical and shaped designs witha pitch-to-diameter ratio between the main holes for this design is 6.0. The other tripod hole design is a modified tripod hole design that increases the branch angle to 30°, which has the added effect of increasing the pitch-to-diameter ratio between the main holes to 7.5. Two secondary fluids — air and carbon-dioxide — were used to study the effects of coolant-to-mainstream density ratio (DR = 0.95 and 1.45) on film cooling effectiveness. Several blowing ratios in the range 0.5–4.0 were investigated independently at the two density ratios. Results show that the tripod hole design provides similar film cooling effectiveness as the shaped hole case with overall reduced coolant usage. Increasing the breakout angle from 15° to 30° reduces overall cooling effectiveness but increases jet-to-jet interactions.


Author(s):  
Nian Wang ◽  
Mingjie Zhang ◽  
Chao-Cheng Shiau ◽  
Je-Chin Han

This study investigates the combined effects of blowing ratio and density ratio on flat plate film cooling effectiveness from two-row of compound angled cylindrical holes. Two arrangements of two-row compound angled cylindrical holes are tested: the first row and second row are oriented in staggered but same compound angled direction (β = +45° for the first row, +45° for the second row); the first row and second row are oriented in inline but opposite direction (β = +45° for the first row, −45° for the second row). Each cooling hole is 4 mm in diameter with an inclined angle 30°. The streamwise distance between the two rows is fixed at 4d and the spanwise pitch between the two holes (p) is 4d, 6d, and 8d, respectively. The experiments are performed at four blowing ratios (M = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0) and three density ratios (DR = 1.0, 1.5, 2.0). The free stream turbulence intensity is kept at 6%. Detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions are obtained using the steady state pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique. The detailed film cooling effectiveness contours are presented and the spanwise averaged film effectiveness results are compared over the range of flow parameters. Film cooling effectiveness correlations are developed for both inline and staggered compound angled cylindrical holes. The results provide baseline information for the flat plate film cooling analysis with two-row of compound angled cylindrical holes.


1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 814-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Bons ◽  
C. D. MacArthur ◽  
R. B. Rivir

This study investigated the adiabatic wall cooling effectiveness of a single row of film cooling holes injecting into a turbulent flat plate boundary layer below a turbulent, zero pressure gradient free stream. Levels of free-stream turbulence (Tu) up to 17.4 percent were generated using a method that simulates conditions at a gas turbine combustor exit. Film cooling was injected from a single row of five 35 deg slant-hole injectors (length/diameter = 3.5, pitch/diameter = 3.0) at blowing ratios from 0.55 to 1.85 and at a nearly constant density ratio (coolant density/free-stream density) of 0.95. Film cooling effectiveness data are presented for Tu levels ranging from 0.9 to 17 percent at a constant free-stream Reynolds number based on injection hole diameter of 19,000. Results show that elevated levels of free-stream turbulence reduce film cooling effectiveness by up to 70 percent in the region directly downstream of the injection hole due to enhanced mixing. At the same time, high free-stream turbulence also produces a 50–100 percent increase in film cooling effectiveness in the region between injection holes. This is due to accelerated spanwise diffusion of the cooling fluid, which also produces an earlier merger of the coolant jets from adjacent holes.


1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. W. Jumper ◽  
W. C. Elrod ◽  
R. B. Rivir

The mechanisms influencing film cooling effectiveness on a flat plate in high free-stream turbulence using a single row of 30 deg slant-hole injectors are examined. The primary area of focus is the area within 40 diameters downstream of injection. Of interest are blowing ratios for optimum film cooling effectiveness within 10 diameters downstream of injection, and the decay of film cooling effectiveness down the plate. Film cooling flow Reynolds numbers. Re, from 24,700 to 86,600 and free-stream turbulence intensities from 14 to 17 percent were examined. Changes in Reynolds number or free-stream turbulence broadened and increased the blowing ratios for optimum film cooling effectiveness. In comparison with tests conducted at 0.5 percent free-stream turbulence, higher free-stream turbulence causes a faster decay in film cooling effectiveness, or a reduction in the effective cooling length, and a reduction of the level of cooling effectiveness at the higher Reynolds numbers.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher LeBlanc ◽  
Diganta P. Narzary ◽  
Srinath Ekkad

Improved film cooling performance and coolant flow usage have a significant effect on overall engine performance. In the current study, film cooling performance of an improved antivortex or tripod hole geometry is evaluated on a flat plate surface with steady-state IR (infrared thermography) technique and compared to traditional baseline geometry. The baseline geometry is a simple cylindrical hole design inclined at 30 deg from the surface with pitch-to-diameter ratio of 3.0. The proposed improvement is a tripod design where the two side holes, also of the same diameter, branch out from the root of the main hole at 15 deg angle with a larger pitch-to-diameter ratio of 6.0 between the main holes. The third geometry studied is the same tripod design embedded in a trench to enhance two-dimensional film performance. The mainstream Reynolds number is 3110 based on the coolant hole inlet diameter. Two secondary fluids, air and carbon dioxide, were used to study the effects of coolant-to-mainstream density ratio (DR = 0.95 and 1.45) on film cooling effectiveness. Several blowing ratios in the range 0.5–4.0 were investigated independently at the two density ratios. Results indicate significant improvement in effectiveness with the tripod holes compared to cylindrical holes at all the blowing ratios studied. The trenched design shows improved effectiveness in the trench region and reduced effectiveness in the downstream region. At any given blowing ratio, the tripod hole designs use 50% less coolant and provide at least 30%–40% overall averaged higher cooling effectiveness. The use of relatively dense secondary fluid improves effectiveness immediately downstream of the antivortex holes but leads to poor performance downstream.


Author(s):  
Nafiz H. K. Chowdhury ◽  
Chao-Cheng Shiau ◽  
Je-Chin Han ◽  
Luzeng Zhang ◽  
Hee-Koo Moon

The performance of a full coverage film cooling configuration called cross-row (CR) configuration including upstream inlet leakage flow was studied by measuring the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distribution using PSP technique. Experiments were conducted in a blow-down wind tunnel cascade facility at the isentropic exit Mach number of 0.5 corresponding to inlet Reynolds number of 3.8 × 105, based on axial chord length. A free-stream turbulence level was generated as high as 19% with a length scale of 1.7 cm at the inlet. The results are presented as two-dimensional adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distributions on the endwall surface with corresponding spanwise averaged distributions. The focus of this study is to investigate the effect of coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratio (MFR) and density ratio (DR) on the proposed endwall cooling design. Initially, increased MFR for the endwall cooling and upstream leakage levels up the local adiabatic cooling effectiveness and yields relatively uniform coverage on the entire endwall. However, in either case, highest MFR does not provide any improvement as endwall cooling suffered from the jet lift-off and leakage coolant coverage restricted by the downstream near-wall flow field. Results also indicated a density ratio of 1.5 provides the best performance. Finally, a fair comparison is made with another design called axial-row (AR) configuration from a companion paper.


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