On Film Cooling Performance of a Turbine Vane Pressure Side: The Effect of Showerhead and Hole Alignment

Author(s):  
Hossein N. Najafabadi ◽  
Matts Karlsson ◽  
Mats Kinell

This study uses transient IR-thermography to evaluate the effect of showerhead cooling and hole position on the performance of single-row cooling hole on the pressure side of a guide vane under engine representative conditions. The investigation includes both cylindrical and fan-shaped holes at two blowing conditions: 0.6 and 1.8. The influence of cooling hole alignment for these hole shapes in the performance of multiple row configurations was also studied in the presence of showerhead. For this purpose, double- and triple-row cases in staggered and non-staggered arrangements were considered for two blowing conditions, similar to the single row. The results are presented in terms of both adiabatic film effectiveness, AFE, and net heat flux reduction, NHFR. The showerhead effect was shown to be profound with regard to both AFE and NHFR for the cooling hole close to it. This holds for both hole shapes and blowing ratios. The overall film cooling performance, NHFR, of the rows further downstream of the showerhead and close to the trailing edge were affected marginally by the showerhead. The later cooling row showed superior performance compared to the other rows for fan-shaped holes in both presence and absence of shower-head at a low blowing ratio. For multiple row configurations, in general fan-shaped holes can maintain higher AFE in staggered alignment, while cylindrical holes benefit from consequent jet interaction between rows of cooling in a non-staggered arrangement. This holds for both investigated blowing ratios and double- and triple-rows. When considering NHFR, the results indicate that fan-shaped holes are less affected by the hole alignment. Cylindrical holes, however, can maintain superior performance in non-staggered alignment for all investigated cases except triple row under low blowing condition. The results also suggest that a double-row configuration in the presence of showerhead will benefit from an additional row mainly at high blowing ratios.

Author(s):  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Terrence W. Simon ◽  
Gongnan Xie

Abstract In modern gas turbines, film cooling is the most common and efficient way to provide thermal protection for hot components. Secondary holes to a primary film cooling hole are used to improve film cooling performance by creating anti-kidney vortices, a technique that has been well documented using flat plate models. This study aims to evaluate the effects of secondary holes on film cooling effectiveness over an airfoil. The film cooling performance and flow fields of a row of primary holes with secondary holes on the pressure side and suction side of a C3X vane are numerically investigated and compared with the results of a single row of cylindrical holes and two rows of staggered cylindrical holes. Cases with different blowing ratios are analyzed. It is shown from the simulation that film cooling effectiveness of primary holes with secondary holes is much better than with a single row of cylindrical holes, and slightly better than with two rows of staggered holes on both pressure side and suction side, with the same amount of coolant usage and blowing ratio. The enhancement is higher on the pressure side than on the suction side. The results show that adding secondary holes can enhance film cooling effectiveness by creating anti-kidney vortices, which will weaken jet lift-off from the primary holes caused by the kidney vortex pair, especially at higher blowing ratios. In addition, film coverage of primary holes with secondary holes is wider and persists further downstream than for a single row of cylindrical holes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Nadali Najafabadi ◽  
Matts Karlsson ◽  
Mats Kinell ◽  
Esa Utriainen

In this paper, the transient IR-thermography method is used to investigate the effect of showerhead cooling on the film-cooling performance of the suction side of a turbine guide vane working under engine-representative conditions. The resulting adiabatic film effectiveness, heat transfer coefficient (HTC) augmentation, and net heat flux reduction (NHFR) due to insertion of rows of cooling holes at two different locations in the presence and absence of the showerhead cooling are presented. One row of cooling holes is located in the relatively high convex surface curvature region, while the other is situated closer to the maximum throat velocity. In the latter case, a double staggered row of fan-shaped cooling holes has been considered for cross-comparison with the single row at the same position. Both cylindrical and fan-shaped holes have been examined, where the characteristics of fan-shaped holes are based on design constraints for medium size gas turbines. The blowing rates tested are 0.6, 0.9, and 1.2 for single and double cooling rows, whereas the showerhead blowing is maintained at constant nominal blowing rate. The adiabatic film effectiveness results indicate that most noticable effects from the showerhead can be seen for the cooling row located on the higher convex surface curvature. This observation holds for both cylindrical and fan-shaped holes. These findings suggest that while the showerhead blowing does not have much impact on this cooling row from HTC enhancement perspective, it is influential in determination of the HTC augmentation for the cooling row close to the maximum throat velocity. The double-row fan-shaped cooling seems to be less affected by an upstream showerhead blowing when considering HTC enhancement, but it makes a major contribution in defining adiabatic film effectiveness. The NHFR results highlight the fact that cylindrical holes are not significantly affected by the showerhead cooling regardless of their position, but showerhead blowing can play an important role in determining the overall film-cooling performance of fan-shaped holes (for both the cooling row located on the higher convex surface curvature and the cooling row close to the maximum throat velocity), for both the single and the double row cases.


Author(s):  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Gongnan Xie ◽  
Terrence W. Simon

Secondary holes to a main film cooling hole are used to improve film cooling performance by creating anti-kidney vortices. The effects of injection angle of the secondary holes on both film cooling effectiveness and surrounding thermal and flow fields are investigated in this numerical study. Two kinds of primary hole shapes are adopted. One is a cylindrical hole, the other is a horn-shaped hole which is designed from a cylindrical hole by expanding the hole in the transverse direction to double the hole size at the exit. Two smaller cylindrical holes, the secondary holes, are located symmetrically about the centerline and downstream of the primary hole. Three compound injection angles (α = 30°, 45° and 60°, β = 30°) of the secondary holes are analyzed while the injection angle of the primary hole is kept at 45°. Cases with various blowing ratios are computed. It is shown from the simulation that cooling effectiveness of secondary holes with a horn-shaped primary hole is better than that with a cylindrical primary hole, especially at high blowing ratios. With a cylindrical primary hole, increasing inclination angle of the secondary holes provides better cooling effectiveness because the anti-kidney vortices created by shallow secondary holes cannot counteract the kidney vortex pairs adequately, enhancing mixing of main flow and coolant. For secondary holes with a horn-shaped primary hole, large secondary hole inclination angles provide better cooling performance at low blowing ratios; but, at high blowing ratios, secondary holes with small inclination angles are more effective, as the film coverage becomes wider in the downstream area.


Author(s):  
Matthew N. Fuqua ◽  
James L. Rutledge

Abstract The classical method of superposition has been used for several decades to provide an estimate of the adiabatic effectiveness for multiple sets of already well-characterized film cooling hole rows. In this way, design work is aided by classical superposition theory prior to higher fidelity experiments or simulations that would account for fluid dynamic interaction for which superposition cannot account. In the present work, we consider the additive effects of multiple rows of coolant holes, but now also with coolant issuing at different temperatures. There are a number of ways that coolant may issue from different cooling hole rows at different temperatures, one of which is simply the necessarily different internal channels through which the coolant must pass. The film cooling effectiveness is investigated for double rows of cooling holes wherein the two rows have different coolant temperatures. A double row consisting of an upstream slot and a downstream row of 7-7-7 cooling holes were first evaluated with a single coolant temperature to demonstrate that classical superposition theory applies well to the present configuration. Superposition theory is then extended to the context of multiple coolant temperatures and a new non-dimensional parameter is identified, which governs cooling performance. The theory is experimentally evaluated by independently varying the coolant temperatures of the two rows. Circumstances are identified in which a second row of cooling holes may be detrimental to cooling performance.


Author(s):  
Radheesh Dhanasegaran ◽  
Girish Venkatachalapathy ◽  
Nagarajan Gnanasekaran

A computational investigation is carried out to understand the film cooling performance and flow phenomenon on a pressure side of gas turbine airfoil. A specific geometry with multiple rows of cylindrical holes is considered on the pressure surface and opposite to which a flat surface is kept so as to avoid effect of imposed flow conditions. Meshing of the present model is done by using GAMBIT. Computations are carried out with K-epsilon Realizable model available in the commercial code FLUENT. The film cooling performance is discussed with flow structure followed by the effectiveness distribution on the pressure surface. The blowing ratio is varied from 0.4–2.4 and it is found that, at very low blowing ratio cases in the initial part of the pressure surface higher effectiveness values are observed but at higher blowing ratio these values become very low whereas close to the trailing edge side the effectiveness distribution is just the reverse. It was found that the optimum blowing ratio was close to unity where better flow and temperature distribution were observed.


Author(s):  
A. Khanicheh ◽  
M. E. Taslim

High component lifetimes of modern gas turbines can be achieved by cooling the airfoils effectively. Film cooling is commonly employed on the airfoils and other engine hot section surfaces in order to protect them from the high thermal stress fields created by exposure to combustion gases. Complex geometries as well as optimized cooling considerations often dictate the use of compound-angled film cooling hole. In the present experimental and computational study, the effects that two different compound angle film cooling hole injection configurations have on film cooling effectiveness are investigated. Film cooling effectiveness measurements have been made downstream of a single row of compound angle cylindrical holes with a diameter of 7.5 mm, and a single row of compound angle, diffuser-shaped holes with an inlet diameter of 7.5 mm. The cylindrical holes were inclined (α=25°) with respect to the coverage surface and were oriented perpendicular to the high-temperature airflow direction. The diffuser-shaped holes had a compound angle of 45 degrees with respect to the high temperature air flow direction and, similar to the cylindrical film holes, a 25-deg angle with the coverage surface. Both geometries were tested over a blowing ratio range of 0.7 to 4.0. Surface temperatures were measured along four longitudinal rows of thermocouples covering the downstream area between two adjacent holes. The results showed that the best overall protection over the widest range of blowing ratios was provided by the diffuser-shaped film cooling holes. Compared with the cylindrical hole results, the diffuser-shaped expansion holes produced higher film cooling effectiveness downstream of the film cooling holes, particularly at high blowing ratios. The increased cross sectional area at the shaped hole exit compared to that of the cylindrical hole lead to a reduction of the mean velocity, thus the reduction of the momentum flux of the jet exiting the hole. Therefore, the penetration of the jet into the main flow was reduced, resulting in an increased cooling effectiveness. A commercially available CFD software package was used to study film cooling effectiveness downstream of the row of holes. Comparisons between the experimentally measured and numerically calculated film effectiveness distributions showed that the computed results are in reasonable agreement with the measured results. Therefore, CFD can be considered as a viable tool to predict the cooling performance of different film cooling configurations in a parametric study. A more realistic turbulence model, possibly adopting a two-layer model that incorporates boundary layer anisotropy, in the computational study may improve the predicted results.


Author(s):  
O. Hassan ◽  
I. Hassan

This paper presents experimental investigations of the effect of scheme exit height and double jet injection on the film cooling performance of a Micro-Tangential-Jet (MTJ) scheme. The investigations were conducted over a gas turbine vane pressure side using the transient Thermochromic Liquid Crystal technique. The suction side investigations are presented in Part II of the present paper. The MTJ scheme is a micro-shaped scheme designed so that the micro-sized secondary jet is supplied tangentially to the vane surface. The scheme combines the benefits of micro jets and tangential injection. In order to investigate the effect of scheme exit height, one row of the MTJ scheme with 1.0 hole diameter exit height and another row with 1.5 hole diameter exit height were investigated. Meanwhile, to investigate the effect of double injection, one row of the MTJ scheme in staggered arrangement with one row of fan-shaped scheme was investigated. The investigations were conducted at various blowing ratios, calculated based on the scheme exit area. The average density ratio, turbulence intensity and Reynolds number were 0.93, 8.5, and 1.4E+5, respectively. The investigations showed that the smaller the exit height, the better the film cooling performance. Meanwhile, double injecting the secondary stream from MTJ and shaped schemes did not result in significant film cooling enhancement due to the enhanced turbulence over the vane surface.


Author(s):  
Hossein N. Nadali ◽  
Matts Karlsson ◽  
Mats Kinell ◽  
Esa Utriainen

In this study a CFD based sensitivity analysis is performed including the flow parameter blowing ratio, the geometrical parameter cooling hole shape and the effect of approaching flow (hole position), investigating the film cooling performance of a real vane configuration working at engine like conditions. For this purpose numerical results from the commercial CFD code FLUENT using the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model has been validated versus experimental results on the same vane including the film cooling hole configurations. Blowing ratios ranging from (0.2–1.8) have been considered. In addition, film cooling performance of rows of cooling holes at six different positions located around the suction and pressure side of the vane are investigated for studying the influence of flow acceleration present in turbine vanes. These flow parameters are investigated for both cylindrical and fan-shaped holes. Investigations are performed at a fixed unity density ratio. It has been found that for fan-shaped holes film cooling performance is higher for cooling holes located at positions whit a high accelerated flow. On the other hand, film cooling performance of cylindrical holes are found to be affected less by acceleration. Due to the low velocity and low acceleration on the pressure side the hole position seems to have relatively low influence on the cooling performance.


Author(s):  
Nathan J. Greiner ◽  
Marc D. Polanka ◽  
James L. Rutledge ◽  
Andrew T. Shewhart

The present work examines film cooling on a flat plate surface with a freestream temperature between 1430K and 1600K and a coolant to freestream density ratio of approximately two. Since the objective of film cooling is to reduce heat flux to a surface, Net Heat Flux Reduction (NHFR) is used to quantify film cooling performance. It is first demonstrated that non-dimensional matching can be used to scale NHFR between freestream temperature conditions of 1490K and 1600K. Next, the NHFR of a single row of cylindrical holes, fan-shaped holes, holes embedded in a trench, and a slot are compared at a blowing ratio of unity. Finally, the NHFR of five rows of cylindrical holes, holes embedded in trenches, and slots are compared to show the effect of a build-up of coolant near the wall.


Author(s):  
Sanga Lee ◽  
Dong-Ho Rhee ◽  
Bong Jun Cha ◽  
Kwanjung Yee

Although a plethora of high-performance film cooling hole configurations have been suggested, they are too complicated to manufacture and extremely difficult to maintain their original shapes during turbine operation. Thus, it is assumed that there is little room for further performance improvement by optimizing a single hole shape. However, optimization researches on the arrangement of the film cooling holes are still insufficient, so investigation of the possibility of the optimal hole array for improving film cooling performance is worth pursuing. In this study, to improve the film cooling performance of the pressure side surface of the nozzle guide vane, not a single film cooling hole shape, but an arrangement of the holes was considered. First, the optimum hole arrangements were determined by numerical optimization strategy, which contains newly suggested hole arrangement parameterization method and Efficient Global Optimization (EGO) method. Each array of the holes was parameterized by the shape function which consists of 5 design variables. This shape function is able to represent more general array shapes than the existing turbine film cooling hole array shape regardless of how many holes are included in a row. EGO method based on Kriging model is applied with Genetic Algorithm (GA), which yields superior optimization efficiency with minimum number of sampling points. Each sampling point obtained their fitness function by analyzing the nozzle with various array shape. Through this, the group of optimum hole arrangements, which greatly reduce the average wall temperature and the temperature deviation of the nozzle surface simultaneously were obtained. From the results, it is confirmed that the superior cooling performance was achieved when the array has smaller hole distances at the hub rather than at the shroud and when the array is disposed on the upstream position rather than on the downstream position. These optimization results were validated against experimental data, and it will be discussed in PART II.


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