Flow Check and Adiabatic Effectiveness Measurements on Traditionally Versus Additively Manufactured Film-Cooling Holes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Cubeda ◽  
L. Andrei ◽  
L. Innocenti ◽  
F. Paone ◽  
L. Cocchi ◽  
...  

Abstract In the recent years Additive Manufacturing (AM) methods, such as the Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM) technology, are getting more and more attractive and feasible for the realization of components and subcomponents of gas turbines. In particular, they are receiving much attention since, on one hand, the manufacturing of complex 3D geometries is allowed and, on the other, manufacturing and delivery times can be cut down. At the current state of the art, although AM is entering and spreading within modern gas turbines at fast pace, to the authors’ knowledge only few applications have yet been commercialized relatively to cooling holes, due to the intrinsic difficulties associated with such a critical feature. Lately, Baker Hughes is studying the possibility to manufacture film-cooling holes via the DMLM technology in order to exploit the flexibility of such innovative manufacturing method and hence eliminate additional processes and lead time. From the open literature it is known that additively manufactured holes can have a more irregular shape and higher roughness than traditional ones, which may lead not only to a reduction in coolant flow but more importantly to a decay of the film-cooling adiabatic effectiveness. For this reason, a test campaign has been conducted in collaboration with the University of Florence (Italy) with the objective of characterizing the performance (minimum passage diameter, flow check and adiabatic effectiveness) of AM vs traditional cylindrical holes on simple-geometry coupons built upon different construction angles. Results were then analyzed in order to fully compare the performance of AM vs traditional film-cooling holes at different operating regimes. In addition, selected holes were inspected through tomography in order to reveal the microscopic characteristics of lateral and outlet surfaces and get a further appreciation of the two different technologies. Ultimately the dependency of AM holes performance on print angles is sought with the purpose of characterizing the impact of such manufacturing technology on film-cooling holes design.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Simone Cubeda ◽  
Luca Andrei ◽  
Luca Innocenti ◽  
Fabrizio Paone ◽  
Lorenzo Cocchi ◽  
...  

Abstract In the recent years Additive Manufacturing (AM) methods are getting more and more attractive and feasible for the realization of components and subcomponents of gas turbines. They are receiving much attention since, on one hand, the manufacturing of complex 3D geometries is allowed and, on the other, manufacturing and delivery times can be cut down. At the current state of the art, to the authors' knowledge only few applications have yet been commercialized relatively to cooling holes, due to the intrinsic difficulties associated with such a critical feature. Lately, Baker Hughes is studying the possibility to manufacture film-cooling holes via the DMLM technology in order to exploit the flexibility of such innovative manufacturing method and hence eliminate additional processes and lead time. From the open literature it is known that additively manufactured holes can have a more irregular shape and higher roughness than traditional ones, which may lead not only to a reduction in coolant flow but more importantly to a decay of the film-cooling adiabatic effectiveness. For this reason, a test campaign has been conducted in collaboration with the University of Florence (Italy) with the objective of characterizing the performance (minimum passage diameter, flow check and adiabatic effectiveness) of AM vs traditional cylindrical holes on simple-geometry coupons built upon different construction angles. Results were then analyzed in order to fully compare the performance of AM vs traditional film-cooling holes at different operating regimes.


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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Haydt ◽  
Stephen Lynch ◽  
Scott Lewis

Shaped film cooling holes are used extensively in gas turbines to reduce component temperatures. These holes generally consist of a metering section through the material and a diffuser to spread coolant over the surface. These two hole features are created separately using electrical discharge machining (EDM), and occasionally, an offset can occur between the meter and diffuser due to misalignment. The current study examines the potential impact of this manufacturing defect to the film cooling effectiveness for a well-characterized shaped hole known as the 7-7-7 hole. Five meter-diffuser offset directions and two offset sizes were examined, both computationally and experimentally. Adiabatic effectiveness measurements were obtained at a density ratio of 1.2 and blowing ratios ranging from 0.5 to 3. The detriment in cooling relative to the baseline 7-7-7 hole was worst when the diffuser was shifted upstream (aft meter-diffuser offset), and least when the diffuser was shifted downstream (fore meter-diffuser offset). At some blowing ratios and offset sizes, the fore meter-diffuser offset resulted in slightly higher adiabatic effectiveness than the baseline hole, due to a reduction in the high-momentum region of the coolant jet caused by a separation region created inside the hole by the fore meter-diffuser offset. Steady Reynolds-averaging Navier–Stokes (RANS) predictions did not accurately capture the levels of adiabatic effectiveness or the trend in the offsets, but it did predict the fore offset's improved performance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (5) ◽  
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 (AR) of these holes is defined as the area at the exit of the diffuser, divided by the area at the metering section. A larger AR 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 ARs are also more tolerant of high blowing ratio conditions, and the increased coolant diffusion typically better prevents jet lift-off from occurring. Higher ARs 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 ARs have been examined for two shaped holes: one with forward and lateral expansion angles of 7 deg (7-7-7 hole) and one with forward and lateral expansion angles of 12 deg (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 AR provides higher effectiveness, especially at higher blowing ratios. Measurements also indicate that for the 12-12-12 hole, a larger AR performs better at high blowing ratios but the hole experiences ingestion at low blowing ratios. Steady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations did not accurately predict the levels of adiabatic effectiveness, but did predict the trend of improving effectiveness with increasing AR for both hole shapes. Flowfield measurements with particle image velocimetry (PIV) were also performed at one downstream plane for a low and high AR case, and the results indicate an expected decrease in jet velocity due to a larger diffuser.


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

Shaped film cooling holes are used extensively in gas turbines to reduce component temperatures. These holes generally consist of a metering section through the material and a diffuser to spread coolant over the surface. These two hole features are created separately using electrical discharge machining, and occasionally an offset can occur between the meter and diffuser due to misalignment. The current study examines the potential impact of this manufacturing defect to the film cooling effectiveness for a well-characterized shaped hole known as the 7-7-7 hole. Five meter-diffuser offset directions and two offset sizes were examined, both computationally and experimentally. Adiabatic effectiveness measurements were obtained at a density ratio of 1.2 and blowing ratios ranging from 0.5 to 3. The detriment in cooling relative to the baseline 7-7-7 hole was worst when the diffuser was shifted upstream (aft meter-diffuser offset), and least when the diffuser was shifted downstream (fore meter-diffuser offset). At some blowing ratios and offset sizes, the fore meter-diffuser offset resulted in slightly higher adiabatic effectiveness than the baseline hole, due to a reduction in the high-momentum region of the coolant jet caused by a separation region created inside the hole by the fore meter-diffuser offset. Steady RANS predictions did not accurately capture the levels of adiabatic effectiveness or the trend in the offsets, but it did predict the fore offset’s improved performance.


2011 ◽  
Vol 84-85 ◽  
pp. 259-263
Author(s):  
Xun Liu ◽  
Song Tao Wang ◽  
Xun Zhou ◽  
Guo Tai Feng

In this paper, the trailing edge film cooling flow field of a heavy duty gas turbine cascade has been studied by central difference scheme and multi-block grid technique. The research is based on the three-dimensional N-S equation solver. By way of analysis of the temperature field, the distribution of profile pressure, and the distribution of film-cooling adiabatic effectiveness in the region of trailing edge with different cool air injection mass and different angles, it is found that the impact on the film-cooling adiabatic effectiveness is slightly by changing the injection mass. The distribution of profile pressure dropped intensely at the pressure side near the injection holes line with the large mass cooling air. The cooling effect is good in the region of trailing edge while the injection air is along the direction of stream.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Wilkins ◽  
Stephen P. Lynch ◽  
Karen A. Thole ◽  
San Quach ◽  
Tyler Vincent ◽  
...  

Abstract Ceramic matrix composite (CMC) parts create the opportunity for increased turbine entry temperatures within gas turbines. To achieve the highest temperatures possible, film cooling will play an important role in allowing turbine entry temperatures to exceed acceptable surface temperatures for CMC components, just as it does for the current generation of gas turbine components. Film cooling over a CMC surface introduces new challenges including roughness features downstream of the cooling holes and changes to the hole exit due to uneven surface topography. To better understand these impacts, this study presents flowfield and adiabatic effectiveness CFD for a 7-7-7 shaped film cooling hole at two CMC weave orientations. The CMC surface selected is a 5 Harness Satin weave pattern that is examined at two different orientations. To understand the ability of steady RANS to predict flow and convective heat transfer over a CMC surface, the weave surface is initially simulated without film and compared to previous experimental results. The simulation of the weave orientation of 0°, with fewer features projecting into the flow, matches fairly well to the experiment, and demonstrates a minimal impact on film cooling leading to only slightly lower adiabatic effectiveness compared to a smooth surface. However, the simulation of the 90° orientation with a large number of protruding features does not match the experimentally observed surface heat transfer. The additional protruding surface produces degraded film cooling performance at low blowing ratios but is less sensitive to blowing ratio, leading to improved relative performance at higher blowing ratios, particularly in regions far downstream of the hole.


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.


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.


Author(s):  
A. Kohli ◽  
K. A. Thole

Film-cooling is a widely used method of prolonging blade life in high performance gas turbines and is implemented by injecting cold air through discrete holes on the blade surface. Most experimental research on film-cooling has been performed using round holes supplied by a stagnant plenum. This can be quite different from the actual turbine blade conditions in that a crossflow may be present whereby the internal channel Reynolds number could be as high as 90,000. This computational study uses a film-cooling hole that is inclined at 35° with respect to the mainstream and is diffused at the hole exit by 15°. An engine representative jet-to-mainstream density ratio of two was simulated. The test matrix consisted of fourteen different cases that were simulated for the two different blowing ratios in which the following effects were investigated: a) the effect of the orientation of the coolant supply channel relative to the cooling hole, b) the effect of the channel Reynolds number, and c) the effect of the metering length of the cooling hole. Results showed that the orientation of the coolant supply had a large effect whereby the worst orientation, in terms of a reduced adiabatic effectiveness, was predicted when the channel supplying the cooling hole was perpendicular to the mainstream. For this particular orientation, higher laterally averaged effectiveness occurred at lower channel Reynolds numbers and with the hole having a short metering length.


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