Computational and Experimental Study of Enhanced Mixing in a Gas Turbine Combustor Using Guide Vanes

Author(s):  
Alka Gupta ◽  
Mohammed Saeed Ibrahim ◽  
Benjamin Wiegand ◽  
Ryoichi Amano

A number of studies have shown that the flow field exiting a combustor of a gas turbine cycle is highly non-uniform in pressure, velocity and, most importantly, temperature. Much research has been dedicated to the cooling of gas turbine blades using internal, film cooling, impingement jets, and pin/fin cooling technologies. Such designs allow for heated blades to be cooled from the inside out. While advancements in this type of blade cooling technology provide effective means to reduce the occurrence of blade failure due to material overheat conditions, the effect of externally reducing or eliminating the temperature non-uniformities in the exit flow from the combustor would assist in the solution. The goal of this study is to optimize the mixing of primary and dilution air in the dilution zone of the combustor using guide vanes. This improvement in mixing would lead to increase in the degree of temperature uniformity with respect to the radial position at the exit nozzle. To achieve this objective, both experimental and computational studies were performed to investigate the heat and flow behaviors with 45° spherically swept guide vanes attached to the dilution holes. These guide vanes were intended to direct the dilution jets into the primary flow and enhance mixing. A parameter was defined in terms of the temperatures of the dilution and primary flow streams at the inlet and the exit plane, called the mixture fraction. Based on the mixture fraction value, it was found that the guide vanes produce a more uniform exit temperature flow field as compared to the case when there were no guide vanes used. Also, the design was modified for different alignment orientations of the guide vanes — 0°, 30°, 60° and 90° with respect to the primary flow — with the 60° orientation fostering the best results.


1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Tabakoff ◽  
A. Hamed

Gas turbine engines operating in dusty environments are exposed to erosion and performance deterioration. In order to provide the basis for calculating the erosion and performance deterioration of turbines using pulverized coal, an investigation is undertaken to determine the three dimensional particle trajectories in a two stage turbine. The solution takes into account the influence of the variation in the three dimensional flow field. The change in particle momentum due to their collision with the turbine blades and casings is modeled using empirical equations derived from experimental Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) measurements. The results show the three dimensional trajectory characteristics of the solid particles relative to the turbine blades. The results also show that the particle distribution in the flow field are determined by particle-blade impacts. The results obtained from this study indicate the turbine blade locations which are subjected to more blade impacts and hence more erosion damage.



2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 492-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Giezendanner ◽  
P. Weigand ◽  
X. R. Duan ◽  
W. Meier ◽  
U. Meier ◽  
...  

The driving mechanism of pulsations in gas turbine combustors depends on a complex interaction between flow field, chemistry, heat release, and acoustics. Experimental data on all these factors are therefore required to obtain insight into the coupling mechanisms during a pulsation period. In order to develop a comprehensive experimental database to support a phenomenological understanding and to provide validation data for numerical simulation, a standard burner for optical investigations was established that exhibits strong self-excited oscillations. The burner was a swirl-stabilized nonpremixed model combustor designed for gas turbine applications and operated using methane as fuel at atmospheric pressure. It was mounted in a combustion chamber, which provides almost unobstructed optical access. The periodic combustion instabilities were studied by a variety of phase-resolved laser-based diagnostic techniques, locked to the frequency of the dominant pressure oscillation. Measurement techniques used were LDV for velocity measurements, planar laser-induced fluorescence for imaging of CH and OH radicals, and laser Raman scattering for the determination of the major species concentrations, temperature, and mixture fraction. The phase-resolved measurements revealed significant variations of all measured quantities in the vicinity of the nozzle exit, which trailed off quickly with increasing distance. A strong correlation of the heat release rate and axial velocity at the nozzle was observed, while the mean mixture fraction as well as the temperature in the periphery of the flame is phase shifted with respect to axial velocity oscillations. A qualitative interpretation of the experimental observations is given, which will help to form a better understanding of the interaction between flow field, mixing, heat release, and temperature in pulsating reacting flows, particularly when accompanied by corresponding CFD simulations that are currently underway.



2012 ◽  
Vol 614-615 ◽  
pp. 592-595
Author(s):  
Ling Zhang ◽  
Hai Rui Dong ◽  
Guo Liang Wen

The technology of film cooling is one of the most effective means of protecting the turbine blades. In this paper, flow structures of the turbine stator blade with six hole-rows at different blowing ratio(M=0.5, 1.0 and 1.5)and setting angles(β=40°, 50°, 60°, 70°, 80° and 90°) was measured by PIV in piston flow type of low-speed wind tunnel laboratory. Velocity was analyzed. Results show that: velocity gradient of suction side was much higher than pressure side and increased with setting angle reduction; Adherence of film is influenced by setting angle and blowing ratio, when M=1.0 and β=70° anchorage dependent is best and suction side is greater than pressure side.



Author(s):  
Axel Widenhorn ◽  
Berthold Noll ◽  
Manfred Aigner

In this contribution the three-dimensional reacting turbulent flow field of a swirl-stabilized gas turbine model combustor is analyzed numerically. The investigated partially premixed and lifted CH4/air flame has a thermal power load of Pth = 35kW and a global equivalence ratio of φ = 0.65. To study the reacting flow field the Scale Adaptive Simulation (SAS) turbulence model in combination with the Eddy Dissipation/Finite Rate Chemistry combustion model was applied. The simulations were performed using the commercial CFD software package ANSYS CFX-11.0. The numerically achieved time-averaged values of the velocity components and their appropriate turbulent fluctuations (RMS) are in very good agreement with the experimental values (LDA). The same excellent results were found for other flow quantities like temperature and mixture fraction. Here, the corresponding time-averaged and the appropriate RMS profiles are compared to Raman measurements. Furthermore the instantaneous flow features are discussed. In accordance with the experiment the numerical simulation evidences the existence of a precessing vortex core (PVC). The PVC rotates with a frequency of 1596Hz. Moreover it is shown that in the upper part of the combustion chamber a tornado-like vortical structure is established.



1977 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Paradis

Experiments have been performed on the film cooling of gas turbine blades in order to study the influence of large temperature differences on the effectiveness of film cooling. A two-dimensional flat plate model was tested in a stream of 1000 K combustion gases flowing at between 110 and 170 m/s. The model was cooled on both sides by jets of air coming from flush angled slots. The range of velocity ratios Uc/Ug covered was from 0.3 to 1.7 and the range of blowing rates was between 0.5 and 5. Film cooling effectiveness was measured and boundary layer traverses were performed. It has been found that once radiation and conduction effects are taken into account, the simple equations proposed by previous workers for the constant property case could be used with little error.



Author(s):  
Shashank Shetty ◽  
Xianchang Li ◽  
Ganesh Subbuswamy

Due to the unique role of gas turbine engines in power generation and aircraft propulsion, significant effort has been made to improve the gas turbine performance. As a result, the turbine inlet temperature is usually elevated to be higher than the metal melting point. Therefore, effective cooling of gas turbines is a critical task for engines’ efficiency as well as safety and lifetime. Film cooling has been used to cool the turbine blades for many years. The main issues related to film cooling are its poor coverage, aerodynamic loss, and increase of heat transfer coefficient due to strong mixing. To overcome these problems, film cooling with backward injection has been found to produce a more uniform cooling coverage under low pressure and temperature conditions and with simple cylindrical holes. Therefore, the focus of this paper is on the performance of film cooling with backward injection at gas turbine operating conditions. By applying numerical simulation, it is observed that along the centerline on both concave and convex surfaces, the film cooling effectiveness decreases with backward injection. However, cooling along the span is improved, resulting in more uniform cooling.



2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Osama M. Selim ◽  
Tarek Elgammal ◽  
Ryoichi S. Amano

Abstract The importance of gas turbine blades is to convert the thermal energy into shaft work output, which makes the turbine blades as one of the critical components of the gas turbines. Besides the mechanical stresses caused by the centrifugal force and the fluid forces, the thermal stresses arise because of the temperature gradient within the blade materials. This paper aims to have a uniform circumferential temperature field at the combustor exit, consequently reducing the thermal stresses caused by the non-uniform temperature distribution along the turbine blade. The validation of the simulation results with the experiments showed an acceptable agreement with the available experimental data. The agreement includes the uniformity factor and the normalized mixture fraction at two different flowrates. Furthermore, another location of the guide vanes, external guide vanes, was experimentally and numerically tested. The results show that the external guide vanes with a 30 deg orientation gave the most uniform temperature flow for the two different flowrates. Compared with the internal guide vanes with the same orientation, the external guide vanes gave a 7.5% higher uniformity factor and a 2% lower pressure drop. The main reason for this result is that the external guide vanes direct the cold stream to penetrate the dilution zone with an angle enhance the swirling effect which are the main factors for excellent mixing, while the pressure drop is lower as the external guide vanes are facing the lower flowrate which is the secondary stream. Another advantage of the external guide vanes over the internal ones is that they are subjected to less thermal stresses as they are facing the cold flow. Furthermore, the external guide vanes are reachable and easy to maintain compared with the internal guide vanes.



2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Faisal Shaikh ◽  
Budimir Rosic

Abstract Gas turbine blades and vanes are typically manufactured with small clearances between adjacent vane and blade platforms, termed the midpassage gap. The midpassage gap reduces turbine efficiency and causes additional heat load into the vane platform, as well as changing the distribution of endwall heat transfer and film cooling. This paper presents a low-order analytical analysis to quantify the effects of the midpassage gap on aerodynamics and heat transfer, verified against an experimental campaign and CFD. Using this model, the effects of the gap can be quantified, for a generic turbine stage, based only on geometric features and the passage static pressure field. It is found that at present there are significant losses and a large proportion of heat load caused by the gap, but that with modified design this could be reduced to negligible levels. Cooling flows into the gap to prevent ingression are investigated analytically and with CFD. Recommendations are given for targets that turbine designers should work toward in reducing the adverse effects of the midpassage gap. A method to estimate the effect of gap flow is presented, so that for any machine the significance of the gap may be assessed.



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