CFD Investigation of the Flow of Trailing Edge Cooling Slots

Author(s):  
Y. Jiang ◽  
N. Gurram ◽  
E. Romero ◽  
P. T. Ireland ◽  
L. di Mare

Slot film cooling is a popular choice for trailing edge cooling in high pressure (HP) turbine blades because it can provide more uniform film coverage compared to discrete film cooling holes. The slot geometry consists of a cut back in the blade pressure side connected through rectangular openings to the internal coolant feed passage. The numerical simulation of this kind of film cooling flows is challenging due to the presence of flow interactions like step flow separation, coolant-mainstream mixing and heat transfer. The geometry under consideration is a cutback surface at the trailing edge of a constant cross-section aerofoil. The cutback surface is divided into three sections separated by narrow lands. The experiments are conducted in a high speed cascade in Oxford Osney Thermo-Fluids Laboratory at Reynolds and Mach number distributions representative of engine conditions. The capability of CFD methods to capture these flow phenomena is investigated in this paper. The isentropic Mach number and film effectiveness are compared between CFD and pressure sensitive paint (PSP) data. Compared to steady k–ω SST method, Scale Adaptive Simulation (SAS) can agree better with the measurement. Furthermore, the profiles of kinetic energy, production and shear stress obtained by the steady and SAS methods are compared to identify the main source of inaccuracy in RANS simulations. The SAS method is better to capture the unsteady coolant-hot gas mixing and vortex shedding at the slot lip. The cross flow is found to affect the film significantly as it triggers flow separation near the lands and reduces the effectiveness. The film is non-symmetric with respect to the half-span plane and different flow features are present in each slot. The effect of mass flow ratio (MFR) on flow pattern and coolant distribution is also studied. The profiles of velocity, kinetic energy and production of turbulent energy are compared among the slots in detail. The MFR not only affects the magnitude but also changes the sign of production.

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Jiang ◽  
N. Gurram ◽  
E. Romero ◽  
P. T. Ireland ◽  
L. di Mare

Slot film cooling is a popular choice for trailing edge (TE) cooling in high pressure (HP) turbine blades because it can provide more uniform film coverage compared to discrete film cooling holes. The slot geometry consists of a cutback in the blade pressure side connected through rectangular openings to the internal coolant feed passage. The numerical simulation of this kind of film cooling flows is challenging due to the presence of flow interactions such as step flow separation, coolant-mainstream mixing, and heat transfer. The geometry under consideration is a cutback surface at the trailing edge of a constant cross-section aerofoil. The cutback surface is divided into three sections separated by narrow lands. The experiments are conducted in a high-speed cascade in Oxford Osney Thermo-Fluids Laboratory at Reynolds and Mach number distributions representative of engine conditions. The capability of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to capture these flow phenomena is investigated in this paper. The isentropic Mach number and film effectiveness are compared between CFD and pressure sensitive paint (PSP) data. When compared with the steady k − ω shear stress transport (SST) method, scale adaptive simulation (SAS) can agree better with the measurement. Furthermore, the profiles of kinetic energy, production, and shear stress obtained by the steady and SAS methods are compared to identify the main source of inaccuracy in RANS simulations. The SAS method is better to capture the unsteady coolant–hot gas mixing and vortex shedding at the slot lip. The cross flow is found to affect the film significantly as it triggers flow separation near the lands and reduces the effectiveness. The film is nonsymmetric with respect to the half-span plane, and different flow features are present in each slot. The effect of mass flow ratio (MFR) on flow pattern and coolant distribution is also studied. The profiles of velocity, kinetic energy, and production of turbulent energy are compared among the slots in detail. The MFR not only affects the magnitude but also changes the sign of production.


Author(s):  
P. J. Bryanston-Cross ◽  
J. J. Camus

A simple technique has been developed which samples the dynamic image plane information of a schlieren system using a digital correlator. Measurements have been made in the passages and in the wakes of transonic turbine blades in a linear cascade. The wind tunnel runs continuously and has independently variable Reynolds and Mach number. As expected, strongly correlated vortices were found in the wake and trailing edge region at 50 KHz. Although these are strongly coherent we show that there is only limited cross-correlation from wake to wake over a Mach no. range M = 0.5 to 1.25 and variation of Reynolds number from 3 × 105 to 106. The trailing edge fluctuation cross correlations were extended both upstream and downstream and preliminary measurements indicate that this technique can be used to obtain information on wake velocity. The vortex frequency has also been measured over the same Mach number range for two different cascades. The results have been compared with high speed schlieren photographs.


Author(s):  
Reinaldo A. Gomes ◽  
Reinhard Niehuis

Film cooling experiments were run at the High-Speed Cascade Wind Tunnel of the University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich. The investigations were carried out on a linear cascade of highly loaded turbine blades. The main targets of the tests were to assess the film cooling effectiveness and the heat transfer in zones with main flow separation. The previous cascade was designed to have a large zone with flow separation on the pressure side starting at the leading edge and reaching up to approximately half of the axial chord. This cascade was changed for a new design with a larger pitch to chord ratio in order to set the focus on flow separation on the suction side. This increased pitch forces a massive separation on the suction side due to strong shocks. The flow separation is controlled with aid of vortex generating jets in order to reduce the total pressure loss caused by it. Film cooling is provided on the suction side upstream of the vortex generating jets. The measurements comprise of blade loading, profile loss, adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient under two Mach numbers at a Reynolds number of 390,000. In a previous publication detailed results with homogeneous inflow where shown. Now, the focus is set on the effects of periodic unsteady wakes resulting from bars moving upstream of the cascade. These moving bars create a periodic unsteady inflow similar to the interaction between stator and rotor in the machine. It is shown how these wakes have significant influence on the heat transfer in the acceleration region of the suction side and affect the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness upstream of the shock.


2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinaldo A. Gomes ◽  
Reinhard Niehuis

Film cooling experiments were run at the high-speed cascade wind tunnel of the University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich. The investigations were carried out on a linear cascade of highly loaded turbine blades. The main targets of the tests were to assess the film cooling effectiveness and the heat transfer in zones with main flow separation. The previous cascade was designed to have a large zone with flow separation on the pressure side starting at the leading edge and reaching up to approximately half of the axial chord. This cascade was changed for a new design with a larger pitch to chord ratio in order to set the focus on flow separation on the suction side. This increased pitch forces a massive separation on the suction side due to strong shocks. The flow separation is controlled with aid of vortex generating jets in order to reduce the total pressure loss caused by it. Film cooling is provided on the suction side upstream of the vortex generating jets. The measurements comprise of blade loading, profile loss, adiabatic film cooling effectiveness, and heat transfer coefficient under two Mach numbers at a Reynolds number of 390,000. In a previous publication detailed results with homogeneous inflow where shown. Now, the focus is set on the effects of periodic unsteady wakes resulting from bars moving upstream of the cascade. These moving bars create a periodic unsteady inflow similar to the interaction between stator and rotor in the machine. It is shown how these wakes have significant influence on the heat transfer in the acceleration region of the suction side and affect the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness upstream of the shock.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Ligrani

The influences of a variety of different physical phenomena are described as they affect the aerodynamic performance of turbine airfoils in compressible, high-speed flows with either subsonic or transonic Mach number distributions. The presented experimental and numerically predicted results are from a series of investigations which have taken place over the past 32 years. Considered are (i) symmetric airfoils with no film cooling, (ii) symmetric airfoils with film cooling, (iii) cambered vanes with no film cooling, and (iv) cambered vanes with film cooling. When no film cooling is employed on the symmetric airfoils and cambered vanes, experimentally measured and numerically predicted variations of freestream turbulence intensity, surface roughness, exit Mach number, and airfoil camber are considered as they influence local and integrated total pressure losses, deficits of local kinetic energy, Mach number deficits, area-averaged loss coefficients, mass-averaged total pressure loss coefficients, omega loss coefficients, second law loss parameters, and distributions of integrated aerodynamic loss. Similar quantities are measured, and similar parameters are considered when film-cooling is employed on airfoil suction surfaces, along with film cooling density ratio, blowing ratio, Mach number ratio, hole orientation, hole shape, and number of rows of holes.


Author(s):  
Kevin Liu ◽  
Hongzhou Xu ◽  
Michael Fox

Cooling of the turbine nozzle endwall is challenging due to its complex flow field involving strong secondary flows. Increasingly-effective cooling schemes are required to meet the higher turbine inlet temperatures required by today’s gas turbine applications. Therefore, in order to cool the endwall surface near the pressure side of the airfoil and the trailing edge extended area, the spent cooling air from the airfoil film cooling and pressure side discharge slots, referred to as “phantom cooling” is utilized. This paper studies the effect of compound angled pressure side injection on nozzle endwall surface. The measurements were conducted in a high speed linear cascade, which consists of three nozzle vanes and four flow passages. Two nozzle test models with a similar film cooling design were investigated, one with an axial pressure side film cooling row and trailing edge slots; the other with the same cooling features but with compound angled injection, aiming at the test endwall. Phantom cooling effectiveness on the endwall was measured using a Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP) technique through the mass transfer analogy. Two-dimensional phantom cooling effectiveness distributions on the endwall surface are presented for four MFR (Mass Flow Ratio) values in each test case. Then the phantom cooling effectiveness distributions are pitchwise-averaged along the axial direction and comparisons were made to show the effect of the compound angled injection. The results indicated that the endwall phantom cooling effectiveness increases with the MFR significantly. A compound angle of the pressure side slots also enhanced the endwall phantom cooling significantly. For combined injections, the phantom cooling effectiveness is much higher than the pressure side slots injection only in the endwall downstream extended area.


Author(s):  
Penghao Duan ◽  
Choon S. Tan ◽  
Andrew Scribner ◽  
Anthony Malandra

The measured loss characteristic in a high-speed cascade tunnel of two turbine blades of different designs showed distinctly different trend with exit Mach number ranging from 0.8 to 1.4. Assessments using steady RANS computation of the flow in the two turbine blades, complemented with control volume analyses and loss modelling, elucidate why the measured loss characteristic looks the way it is. The loss model categorizes the total loss in terms of boundary layer loss, trailing edge loss and shock loss; it yields results in good agreement with the experimental data as well as steady RANS computed results. Thus RANS is an adequate tool for determining the loss variations with exit isentropic Mach number and the loss model serves as an effective tool to interpret both the computational and experimental data. The measured loss plateau in Blade 1 for exit Mach number of 1 to 1.4 is due to a balance between a decrease of blade surface boundary layer loss and an increase in the attendant shock loss with Mach number; this plateau is absent in Blade 2 due to a greater rate in shock loss increase than the corresponding decrease in boundary layer loss. For exit Mach number from 0.85 to 1, the higher loss associated with shock system in Blade 1 is due to the larger divergent angle downstream of the throat than that in Blade 2. However when exit Mach number is between 1.00 and 1.30, Blade 2 has higher shock loss. For exit Mach number above around 1.4, the shock loss for the two blades is similar as the flow downstream of the throat is completely supersonic. In the transonic to supersonic flow regime, the turbine design can be tailored to yield a shock pattern the loss of which can be mitigated in near equal amount of that from the boundary layer with increasing exit Mach number, hence yielding a loss plateau in transonic-supersonic regime.


Author(s):  
F. Taremi ◽  
S. A. Sjolander ◽  
T. J. Praisner

An experimental investigation of two low-turning (90°) transonic linear turbine cascades was presented in Part I of the paper. Part II examines two high-turning (112°) turbine cascades. The experimental results include total pressure losses, streamwise vorticity and secondary kinetic energy distributions. The measurements were made using a seven-hole pressure probe downstream of the cascades. In addition to the measurements, surface flow visualization was conducted to assist in the interpretation of the flow physics. The turbine cascades in Part II, referred to as SL1F and SL2F, have the same inlet and outlet design flow angles, but different aerodynamic loading levels: SL2F is more highly loaded than SL1F. The surface flow visualization results show evidence of small flow separation on the suction side of both airfoils. At the design conditions (outlet Mach number ≈ 0.8), SL2F exhibits stronger vortical structures and larger secondary velocities than SL1F. The two cascades, however, produce similar row losses based on the measurements at 40% axial chord lengths downstream of the trailing edge. Additional data were collected at off-design outlet Mach numbers of 0.65 and 0.91. As the Mach number is raised, the cascades become more aft-loaded. The absolute blade loadings increase, but the Zweifel coefficients decrease due to higher outlet dynamic pressures. Both profile and secondary losses decrease at higher Mach numbers; the main vortical structures and the corresponding peak losses migrate towards the endwall, and there are reductions in secondary kinetic energy and exit flow angle variations. The streamwise vorticity distributions show smaller peak vorticities associated with the passage and the counter vortices at higher exit Mach numbers. The corner vortex, on the other hand, becomes more intensified, resulting in reduction of flow overturning near the endwall. The results for SL1F and SL2F are compared and contrasted with the results for the lower turning cascades presented in Part I. The possible effects of suction-surface flow separation on profile and secondary losses are discussed in this context. The current research project is part of a larger study concerning the effects of endwall contouring on secondary losses, which will be presented in the near future.


Author(s):  
P. M. Ligrani ◽  
C. Saumweber ◽  
A. Schulz ◽  
S. Wittig

Interactions between shock waves and film cooling are described as they affect magnitudes of local and spanwise-averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distributions. A row of three cylindrical holes is employed. Spanwise spacing of holes is 4 diameters, and inclination angle is 30 degrees. Freestream Mach numbers of 0.8 and 1.10–1.12 are used, with coolant to freestream density ratios of 1.5–1.6. Shadowgraph images show different shock structures as the blowing ratio is changed, and as the condition employed for injection of film into the cooling holes is altered. Investigated are film plenum conditions, as well as perpendicular film injection cross-flow Mach numbers of 0.15, 0.3, and 0.6. Dramatic changes to local and spanwise-averaged adiabatic film effectiveness distributions are then observed as different shock wave structures develop in the immediate vicinity of the film-cooling holes. Variations are especially evident as the data obtained with a supersonic Mach number are compared to the data obtained with a freestream Mach number of 0.8. Local and spanwise-averaged effectiveness magnitudes are generally higher when shock waves are present when a film plenum condition (with zero cross-flow Mach number) is utilized. Effectiveness values measured with a supersonic approaching freestream and shock waves then decrease as the injection cross-flow Mach number increases. Such changes are due to altered flow separation regions in film holes, different injection velocity distributions at hole exits, and alterations of static pressures at film hole exits produced by different types of shock wave events.


Author(s):  
Alexandros Terzis ◽  
Charilaos Kazakos ◽  
Nikolaos Papadopoulos ◽  
Anestis I. Kalfas ◽  
Pavlos K. Zachos ◽  
...  

The penetration of a jet of fluid into a traversal moving stream is a basic configuration of a wide range of engineering applications, such as film cooling and V/STOL aircrafts. This investigation examines experimentally the effect of blowing ratio of fans in cross flow, and numerically, the effect of the swirl velocity of jets in cross flow, downstream of the injection hole. The experimental results indicated an agreement with typically straight jets in cross flow (no vorticity), illustrating that the trace of the jet, remains close to the wall and subsequently enhance cooling at low blowing ratios in the case of turbine blade applications. However, the rotation of the jet results in an imparity between the two parts of the counter rotating vortex pair (CVP), and as a consequence, the injected fluid not only bends in the direction of the main stream but also diverts in the direction of the rotation, in order to conserve its angular momentum. The induction of the swirl velocity on the injected jet destructs one of the two parts of the kidney vortex which entrains fluid from the cross flow to the jet promoting the mixing between the two fluids, while the trace of a swirled jet remains closer to the wall downstream of the injection hole. Finally, the use of contra rotating jet or fan configurations reduces the wall shear stress in a very great extent, leading to better thermal protection of turbine blades, as well as cancels out the yaw torques of each fan separately, resulting in better flight control of typical lift surface.


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