Effusion-Cooling Performance at Gas Turbine Combustor Representative Flow Conditions

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.

Author(s):  
Donald L. Schmidt ◽  
David G. Bogard

A flat plate test section was used to study how high free-stream turbulence with large turbulence length scales, representative of the turbine environment, affect the film cooling adiabatic effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient for a round hole film cooling geometry. This study also examined cooling performance with combined high free-stream turbulence and a rough surface which simulated the roughness representative of an in-service turbine. The injection was from a single row of film cooling holes with injection angle of 30°. The density ratio of the injectant to the mainstream was 2.0 for the adiabatic effectiveness tests, and 1.0 for the heat transfer coefficient tests. Streamwise and lateral distributions of adiabatic effectiveness and heat transfer coefficients were obtained at locations from 2 to 90 hole diameters downstream. At small to moderate momentum flux ratios, which would normally be considered optimum blowing conditions, high free-stream turbulence dramatically decreased adiabatic effectiveness. However, at large momentum flux ratios, conditions for which the film cooling jet would normally be detached, high free-stream turbulence caused an increase in adiabatic effectiveness. The combination of high free-stream turbulence with surface roughness resulted in an increase in adiabatic effectiveness relative to the smooth wall with high free-stream turbulence. Heat transfer rates were relatively unaffected by a film cooling injection. The key result from this study was a substantial increase in the momentum flux ratios for maximum film cooling performance which occurred for high free-stream turbulence and surface roughness conditions which are more representative of actual turbine conditions.


Author(s):  
James L. Rutledge ◽  
Jonathan F. McCall

Traditional hot gas path film cooling characterization involves the use of wind tunnel models to measure the spatial adiabatic effectiveness (η) and heat transfer coefficient (h) distributions. Periodic unsteadiness in the flow, however, causes fluctuations in both η and h. In this paper we present a novel inverse heat transfer methodology that may be used to approximate the η(t) and h(t) waveforms. The technique is a modification of the traditional transient heat transfer technique that, with steady flow conditions only, allows the determination of η and h from a single experiment by measuring the surface temperature history as the material changes temperature after sudden immersion in the flow. However, unlike the traditional transient technique, this new algorithm contains no assumption of steadiness in the formulation of the governing differential equations for heat transfer into a semi-infinite slab. The technique was tested by devising arbitrary waveforms for η and h at a point on a film cooled surface and running a computational simulation of an actual experimental model experiencing those flow conditions. The surface temperature history was corrupted with random noise to simulate actual surface temperature measurements and then fed into an algorithm developed here that successfully and consistently approximated the η(t) and h(t) waveforms.


Author(s):  
Reddaiah Vishnumolakala ◽  
Jong S. Liu ◽  
Sridhar Murari ◽  
Ramakumar Bommisetty

In modern gas turbines, film cooling is one of the widely used external cooling techniques for turbine vanes and blades. The turbine airfoil leading edge, which is highly loaded thermally, is currently protected from the hot gas by film cooling schemes, so called showerhead cooling. Flow field in film cooling is very complex and detailed knowledge of heat transfer rates and metal temperatures are required while designing these cooling systems. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is gaining popularity for modeling these complex cooling systems. However, the application of CFD depends on its accuracy and reliability. This requires the CFD code to be validated with laboratory measurements to ensure its predictive capacity. In this regard, a project has been taken to validate the commercially available CFD code for predicting the blade heat transfer characteristics with shower head film cooling. The validation is accomplished with the test results of Ames [5]. C3X vanes were used for their four vane cascade test facility. The showerhead array used consists of 5 rows of 20° spanwise slanted holes. Experiments were carried out with lower (1%) and higher (12%) turbulence intensities. Results of metal temperatures and heat transfer coefficients were reported. The objective of this study is to validate and calibrate a commercially available CFD code, against the available test data [5] and to understand the relationship between complex flow fields and heat transfer behavior. STAR-CCM+ is used for model generation, mesh generation and solution. Polyhedral elements with prism layers around the wall surfaces are generated. Three turbulence models, Durbin’s v2f model, Menter SST and SST transition models are explored in this study. Simulations are performed for two turbulence intensities available. Typical flow parameters such as blade surface heat transfer coefficient (HTC), surface temperatures and the location of flow transition are compared. Results were compared for two typical cascade exit Mach number conditions such as 0.2 and 0.7, which represents subsonic and transonic conditions respectively. Except in suction side transition region, numerically simulated heat transfer coefficient and Stanton number matched well with test data. Vane wall temperature contours were presented to understand the heat transfer behavior. The heat transfer behavior was numerically investigated for realistic exit Mach numbers. Sensitivity study for two inlet free stream turbulence intensities and three inlet free stream turbulence length scales are performed for realistic exit Mach number and reported heat transfer coefficient and Stanton number.


Author(s):  
Joshua B. Anderson ◽  
John W. McClintic ◽  
David G. Bogard ◽  
Thomas E. Dyson ◽  
Zachary Webster

The use of compound-angled shaped film cooling holes in gas turbines provides a method for cooling regions of extreme curvature on turbine blades or vanes. These configurations have received surprisingly little attention in the film cooling literature. In this study, a row of laid-back fanshaped holes based on an open-literature design, were oriented at a 45-degree compound angle to the approaching freestream flow. In this study, the influence of the approach flow boundary layer thickness and character were experimentally investigated. A trip wire and turbulence generator were used to vary the boundary layer thickness and freestream conditions from a thin laminar boundary layer flow to a fully turbulent boundary layer and freestream at the hole breakout location. Steady-state adiabatic effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient augmentation were measured using high-resolution IR thermography, which allowed the use of an elevated density ratio of DR = 1.20. The results show adiabatic effectiveness was generally lower than for axially-oriented holes of the same geometry, and that boundary layer thickness was an important parameter in predicting effectiveness of the holes. Heat transfer coefficient augmentation was highly dependent on the freestream turbulence levels as well as boundary layer thickness, and significant spatial variations were observed.


Author(s):  
Lin Ye ◽  
Cun-liang Liu ◽  
Hai-yong Liu ◽  
Hui-ren Zhu ◽  
Jian-xia Luo

To investigate the effects of the inclined ribs on internal flow structure in film hole and the film cooling performance on outer surface, experimental and numerical studies are conducted on the effects of rib orientation angle on film cooling of compound cylindrical holes. Three coolant channel cases, including two ribbed cross-flow channels (135° and 45° angled ribs) and the plenum case, are studied under three blowing ratios (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0). 2D contours of film cooling effectiveness as well as heat transfer coefficient were measured by transient liquid crystal measurement technique (TLC). The steady RANS simulations with realizable k-ε turbulence model and enhanced wall treatment were performed. The results show that the spanwise width of film coverage is greatly influenced by the rib orientation angle. The spanwise width of the 45° rib case is obviously larger than that of the 135° rib case under lower blowing ratios. When the blowing ratio is 1.0, the area-averaged cooling effectiveness of the 135° rib case and the 45° rib case are higher than that of the plenum case by 38% and 107%, respectively. With the increase of blowing ratio, the film coverage difference between different rib orientation cases becomes smaller. The 45° rib case also produces higher heat transfer coefficient, which is higher than the 135° rib case by 3.4–8.7% within the studied blowing ratio range. Furthermore, the discharge coefficient of the 45° rib case is the lowest among the three cases. The helical motion of coolant flow is observed in the hole of 45° rib case. The jet divides into two parts after being blown out of the hole due to this motion, which induces strong velocity separation and loss. For the 135° rib case, the vortex in the upper half region of the secondary-flow channel rotates in the same direction with the hole inclination direction, which leads to the straight streamlines and thus results in lower loss and higher discharge coefficient.


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):  
Y. Yu ◽  
M. K. Chyu

This study investigated a practical but never exploited issue concerning the influence of flow leakage through a gap downstream on the film cooling performance with a row of discrete-hole injection. A heat transfer system as such can be categorized as either a three-temperature or a four-temperature problem, depending on the direction of leakage through the gap. To fully characterize a three-temperature based film-cooling system requires knowledge of both local film effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient. A second film effectiveness is necessary for characterizing a four-temperature problem. All these variables can be experimentally determined, based on the transient method of thermochromic liquid crystal imaging. Although the overall convective transport in the region is expected to be dependent on the blowing ratios of the coolants, the mass flow ratio of the two injectants, and the geometry, the current results indicated that the extent of flow injection or extraction through the gap has significant effects on the film effectiveness and less on the heat transfer coefficient which is primarily dominated by the geometric disturbance of gap presence.


Author(s):  
Vijay K. Garg ◽  
Raymond E. Gaugler

An existing three-dimensional Navier-Stokes code (Arnone et al., 1991), modified to include film cooling considerations (Garg and Gaugler, 1994), has been used to study the effect of spanwise pitch of shower-head holes and coolant to mainstream mass flow ratio on the adiabatic effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient on a film-cooled turbine vane. The mainstream is akin to that under real engine conditions with stagnation temperature = 1900 K and stagnation pressure = 3 MPa. It is found that with the coolant to mainstream mass flow ratio fixed, reducing P, the spanwise pitch for shower-head holes, from 7.5 d to 3.0 d, where d is the hole diameter, increases the average effectiveness considerably over the blade surface. However, when P/d = 7.5, increasing the coolant mass flow increases the effectiveness on the pressure surface but reduces it on the suction surface due to coolant jet lift-off. For P/d = 4.5 or 3.0, such an anomaly does not occur within the range of coolant to mainstream mass flow ratios analyzed. In all cases, adiabatic effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient are highly three-dimensional.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. K. Garg ◽  
R. E. Gaugler

An existing three-dimensional Navier–Stokes code (Arnone et al., 1991), modified to include film cooling considerations (Garg and Gaugler, 1994), has been used to study the effect of coolant velocity and temperature distribution at the hole exit on the heat transfer coefficient on three film-cooled turbine blades, namely, the C3X vane, the VKI rotor, and the ACE rotor. Results are also compared with the experimental data for all the blades. Moreover, Mayle’s transition criterion (1991), Forest’s model for augmentation of leading edge heat transfer due to free-stream turbulence (1977), and Crawford’s model for augmentation of eddy viscosity due to film cooling (Crawford et al., 1980) are used. Use of Mayle’s and Forest’s models is relevant only for the ACE rotor due to the absence of showerhead cooling on this rotor. It is found that, in some cases, the effect of distribution of coolant velocity and temperature at the hole exit can be as much as 60 percent on the heat transfer coefficient at the blade suction surface, and 50 percent at the pressure surface. Also, different effects are observed on the pressure and suction surface depending upon the blade as well as upon the hole shape, conical or cylindrical.


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