Parametric Optimization of Film Cooling Hole Geometry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fraser B. Jones ◽  
Dale W. Fox ◽  
Todd Oliver ◽  
David G. Bogard

Abstract In this study, a combination of computational simulation and experimental testing was used to evaluate a broad range of forward and lateral expansion angles for a turbine film cooling shaped holes. The study demonstrates the utilizing of RANS based CFD to quickly screen potential optimized geometries, followed by experimental determination of true performance characteristics. As a baseline, the performance of all film cooling holes was evaluated using an internal coolant channel cross-flow. Also, all hole geometries incorporated a filleted inlet-plenum interface, which presumes use of additive manufacturing to construct the turbine components. Experimental validation confirmed that the computational simulations predicted the correct relative performance of various hole geometries, even though actual performance levels were not predicted well. This investigation showed that the performance of laidback, fan shaped holes was much more sensitive to the lateral expansion angle than the forward expansion angle. The optimum shaped hole configuration was found to be a hole with a 15° lateral expansion angle and a 1° forward expansion angle (15-15-1 configuration), which had a maximum average adiabatic effectiveness 40% greater than the baseline 7-7-7 open literature hole. This study also showed that the shaped hole diffuser performance is primarily a function only three parameters: the coolant jet velocity ratio, VR, the shaped hole area ratio, AR, and the hole exit width relative to the pitch between holes, t/P.

2019 ◽  
Vol 153 ◽  
pp. 379-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun Jae Seo ◽  
Young Jun Kang ◽  
Hyun Cheol Lee ◽  
Jae Su Kwak ◽  
Jung Shin Park ◽  
...  

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3573
Author(s):  
Soo-In Lee ◽  
Jin-Young Jung ◽  
Yu-Jin Song ◽  
Jae-Su Kwak

In this study, the effect of mainstream velocity on the optimization of a fan-shaped hole on a flat plate was experimentally investigated. The experiment was conducted by changing the forward expansion angle (βfwd), lateral expansion angle (βlat), and metering length ratio (Lm/D) of the film-cooling hole. A total of 13 cases extracted using the Box–Behnken method were considered to examine the effect of the shape parameters of the film-cooling hole under a 90 m/s mainstream velocity condition, and the results were compared with the results derived under a mainstream velocity of 20 m/s. One density ratio (DR = 2.0) and a blowing ratio (M) ranging from 1.0 to 2.5 were considered, and the pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique was applied for the film-cooling effectiveness (FCE). As a result of the experiment, the optimized hole showed a 49.3% improvement in the overall averaged FCE compared to the reference hole with DR = 2.0 and M = 2.0. As the blowing ratio increased, the hole exit area tended to increase, and this tendency was the same as that in the 20 m/s mainstream condition.


Author(s):  
Ellen Wilkes ◽  
Joshua Anderson ◽  
John McClintic ◽  
David Bogard

This study focuses on specifics of gas turbine film cooling. Laboratory film cooling tests are important for industry because actual engine conditions are too hot, too small, and too fast to take accurate and high resolution measurements. Experiments are typically conducted using a plenum to feed coolant through round or shaped film cooling holes. Less common are experiments using cross-flow fed coolant, a method that flows coolant perpendicular to the mainstream flow and better represents engine designs. There are a few studies that have explored shaped holes in cross-flow, but none have looked at the effect cross-flow channel parameters other than Mach number. Here, the effectiveness of film cooling is quantified by measuring adiabatic effectiveness on a flat plate with a single row of shaped film cooling holes in cross-flow. A preliminary examination of the effect of cross-flow versus plenum fed coolant on the adiabatic effectiveness of the axial 7-7-7 shaped hole, a laidback fan-shaped hole with a 30 degree injection angle, is first conducted. Subsequently, the effects of two internal coolant parameters on film cooling effectiveness are presented: Reynold’s number inside the cross-flow channel, and velocity ratio (defined as the ratio of cross-flow channel average velocity to mainstream velocity). By measuring the effect of these parameters, a chain of relative importance can be generated and applied to future experimentation. Parameters that heavily influence film cooling effectiveness can be studied further and optimized for turbine film cooling design.


Author(s):  
Christian Saumweber ◽  
Achmed Schulz

Cooling holes in real gas turbine applications are prevalently exposed to cross-flow in the coolant passage. The majority of the studies available in literature do not consider the effects of flow in the coolant passage. Our own studies however reveal that especially diffuser holes are very susceptible in respect to cross-flow at the hole entrance, if the orientation of the cross-flow is perpendicular to the symmetry plane of the cooling hole. The effect of coolant cross-flow will be discussed in detail. The superordinate target is to identify the dominating mechanisms, which determine the flow field within the diffuser hole and hence limit the potential of cooling performance augmentation. For this reason a fan-shaped hole with 14° expansion angle will be compared to a simple cylindrical hole. Both holes have a length-to-diameter ratio of 6 and an inclination angle of 30°. The comparison will be performed by means of experimentally gained discharge coefficients, local and laterally averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness, and heat transfer coefficients. Numerical simulations of the cooling flow will support the interpretation of the experimental results.


Author(s):  
Shane Haydt ◽  
Stephen Lynch ◽  
Scott Lewis

Shaped film cooling holes are used as a cooling technology in gas turbines to reduce metal temperatures and improve durability, and they generally consist of a small metering section connected to a diffuser that expands in one or more directions. The area ratio of these holes is defined as the area at the exit of the diffuser, divided by the area at the metering section. A larger area ratio increases the diffusion of the coolant momentum, leading to lower average momentum of the coolant jet at the exit of the hole and generally better cooling performance. Cooling holes with larger area ratios are also more tolerant of high blowing ratio conditions, and the increased coolant diffusion typically better prevents jet liftoff from occurring. Higher area ratios have traditionally been accomplished by increasing the expansion angle of the diffuser while keeping the overall length of the hole constant. The present study maintains the diffuser expansion angles and instead increases the length of the diffuser, which results in longer holes. Various area ratios have been examined for two shaped holes: one with forward and lateral expansion angles of 7° (7-7-7 hole) and one with forward and lateral expansion angles of 12° (12-12-12 hole). Each hole shape was tested at numerous blowing ratios to capture trends across various flow rates. Adiabatic effectiveness measurements indicate that for the baseline 7-7-7 hole, a larger area ratio provides higher effectiveness, especially at higher blowing ratios. Measurements also indicate that for the 12-12-12 hole, a larger area ratio performs better at high blowing ratios but the hole experiences ingestion at low blowing ratios. Steady RANS simulations did not accurately predict the levels of adiabatic effectiveness, but did predict the trend of improving effectiveness with increasing area ratio for both hole shapes. Flowfield measurements with PIV were also performed at one downstream plane for a low and high area ratio case, and the results indicate an expected decrease in jet velocity due to a larger diffuser.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale W. Fox ◽  
Fraser B. Jones ◽  
John W. McClintic ◽  
David G. Bogard ◽  
Thomas E. Dyson ◽  
...  

Most studies of turbine airfoil film cooling in laboratory test facilities have used relatively large plenums to feed flow into the coolant holes. However, a more realistic inlet condition for the film cooling holes is a relatively small channel. Previous studies have shown that the film cooling performance is significantly degraded when fed by perpendicular internal crossflow in a smooth channel. In this study, angled rib turbulators were installed in two geometric configurations inside the internal crossflow channel, at 45 deg and 135 deg, to assess the impact on film cooling effectiveness. Film cooling hole inlets were positioned in both prerib and postrib locations to test the effect of hole inlet position on film cooling performance. A test was performed independently varying channel velocity ratio and jet to mainstream velocity ratio. These results were compared to the film cooling performance of previously measured shaped holes fed by a smooth internal channel. The film cooling hole discharge coefficients and channel friction factors were also measured for both rib configurations with varying channel and inlet velocity ratios. Spatially averaged film cooling effectiveness is largely similar to the holes fed by the smooth internal crossflow channel, but hole-to-hole variation due to inlet position was observed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Rogers ◽  
Zhong Ren ◽  
Warren Buzzard ◽  
Brian Sweeney ◽  
Nathan Tinker ◽  
...  

Experimental results are presented for a double wall cooling arrangement which simulates a portion of a combustor liner of a gas turbine engine. The results are collected using a new experimental facility designed to test full-coverage film cooling and impingement cooling effectiveness using either cross flow, impingement, or a combination of both to supply the film cooling flow. The present experiment primarily deals with cross flow supplied full-coverage film cooling for a sparse film cooling hole array that has not been previously tested. Data are provided for turbulent film cooling, contraction ratio of 1, blowing ratios ranging from 2.7 to 7.5, coolant Reynolds numbers based on film cooling hole diameter of about 5000–20,000, and mainstream temperature step during transient tests of 14 °C. The film cooling hole array consists of a film cooling hole diameter of 6.4 mm with nondimensional streamwise (X/de) and spanwise (Y/de) film cooling hole spacing of 15 and 4, respectively. The film cooling holes are streamwise inclined at an angle of 25 deg with respect to the test plate surface and have adjacent streamwise rows staggered with respect to each other. Data illustrating the effects of blowing ratio on adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient are presented. For the arrangement and conditions considered, heat transfer coefficients generally increase with streamwise development and increase with increasing blowing ratio. The adiabatic film cooling effectiveness is determined from measurements of adiabatic wall temperature, coolant stagnation temperature, and mainstream recovery temperature. The adiabatic wall temperature and the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness generally decrease and increase, respectively, with streamwise position, and generally decrease and increase, respectively, as blowing ratio becomes larger.


Author(s):  
Fraser B. Jones ◽  
Dale W. Fox ◽  
David G. Bogard

Abstract Film cooling is used to protect turbine components from the extreme temperatures by ejecting coolant through arrays of holes to create an air buffer from the hot combustion gases. Limitations in traditional machining meant film cooling holes universally have sharp inlets which create separation regions at the hole entrance. The present study uses experimental and computational data to show that these inlet separation are a major cause of performance variation in crossflow fed film cooling holes. Three hole designs were experimentally tested by independently varying the coolant velocity ratio (VR) and the coolant channel velocitty ratio (VRc) to isolate the effects of crossflow on hole performance. Leveraging additive manufacturing technologies, the addition of a 0.25D radius fillet to the inlet of a 7-7-7 shaped hole is shown to significantly improve diffuser usage and significantly reduce variation in performance with VRc. A second AM design used a very large radius of curvature inlet to reduce biasing caused by the inlet crossflow. Experiments showed that this “swept” hole design did minimize biasing of coolant flow to one side of the shaped hole and it significantly reduced variations due to varying VRc. RANS simulations at six VR and three VRc conditions were made for each geometry to better understand how the new geometries changed the velocity field within the hole. The sharp and rounded inlets were seen to have very similar tangential velocity fields and jet biasing. Both AM inlets created more uniform, slower velocity fields entering the diffuser. The results of this paper indicate large improvements in film cooling performance can be found by leveraging AM technology.


Author(s):  
Chia Hui Lim ◽  
Graham Pullan ◽  
Peter Ireland

Turbine design engineers have to ensure that film cooling can provide sufficient protection to turbine blades from the hot mainstream gas, while keeping the losses low. Film cooling hole design parameters include inclination angle (α), compound angle (β), hole inlet geometry and hole exit geometry. The influence of these parameters on aerodynamic loss and net heat flux reduction is investigated, with loss being the primary focus. Low-speed flat plate experiments have been conducted at momentum flux ratios of IR = 0.16, 0.64 and 1.44. The film cooling aerodynamic mixing loss, generated by the mixing of mainstream and coolant, can be quantified using a three-dimensional analytical model that has been previously reported by the authors. The model suggests that for the same flow conditions, the aerodynamic mixing loss is the same for holes with different α and β but with the same angle between the mainstream and coolant flow directions (angle κ). This relationship is assessed through experiments by testing two sets of cylindrical holes with different α and β: one set with κ = 35°, another set with κ = 60°. The data confirm the stated relationship between α, β, κ and the aerodynamic mixing loss. The results show that the designer should minimise κ to obtain the lowest loss, but maximise β to achieve the best heat transfer performance. A suggestion on improving the loss model is also given. Five different hole geometries (α = 35.0°, β = 0°) were also tested: cylindrical hole, trenched hole, fan-shaped hole, D-Fan and SD-Fan. The D-Fan and the SD-Fan have similar hole exits to the fan-shaped hole but their hole inlets are laterally expanded. The external mixing loss and the loss generated inside the hole are compared. It was found that the D-Fan and the SD-Fan have the lowest loss. This is attributed to their laterally expanded hole inlets, which lead to significant reduction in the loss generated inside the holes. As a result, the loss of these geometries is ≈ 50% of the loss of the fan-shaped hole at IR = 0.64 and 1.44.


1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Thole ◽  
M. Gritsch ◽  
A. Schulz ◽  
S. Wittig

One viable option to improve cooling methods used for gas turbine blades is to optimize the geometry of the film-cooling hole. To optimize that geometry, effects of the hole geometry on the complex jet-in-crossflow interaction need to be understood. This paper presents a comparison of detailed flowfield measurements for three different single, scaled-up hole geometries, all at a blowing ratio and density ratio of unity. The hole geometries include a round hole, a hole with a laterally expanded exit, and a hole with a forward-laterally expanded exit. In addition to the flowfield measurements for expanded cooling hole geometries being unique to the literature, the testing facility used for these measurements was also unique in that both the external mainstream Mach number (Ma∞ = 0.25) and internal coolant supply Mach number (Mac = 0.3) were nearly matched. Results show that by expanding the exit of the cooling holes, both the penetration of the cooling jet and the intense shear regions are significantly reduced relative to a round hole. Although the peak turbulence level for all three hole geometries was nominally the same, the source of that turbulence was different. The peak turbulence level for both expanded holes was located at the exit of the cooling hole resulting from the expansion angle being too large. The peak turbulence level for the round hole was located downstream of the hole exit where the velocity gradients were very large.


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