scholarly journals Liquid Crystal Thermography in Gas Turbine Heat Transfer: A Review on Measurement Techniques and Recent Investigations

Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1332
Author(s):  
Srinath V. Ekkad ◽  
Prashant Singh

Liquid Crystal Thermography is a widely used experimental technique in the gas turbine heat transfer community. In turbine heat transfer, determination of the convective heat transfer coefficient (h) and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness (η) is imperative in order to design hot gas path components that can meet the modern-day engine performance and emission goals. LCT provides valuable information on the local surface temperature, which is used in different experimental methods to arrive at the local h and η. The detailed nature of h and η through LCT sets it apart from conventional thermocouple-based measurements and provides valuable insights into cooling designers for concept development and its further iterations. This article presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art experimental methods employing LCT, where a critical analysis is presented for each, as well as some recent investigations (2016–present) where LCT was used. The goal of this article is to familiarize researchers with the evolving nature of LCT given the advancements in instrumentation and computing capabilities, and its relevance in turbine heat transfer problems in current times.

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Srinath V. Ekkad ◽  
Prashant Singh

Detailed understanding of hot gas path flow and heat transfer characteristics in gas turbine systems is imperative in order to design cooling strategies to meet the stringent requirements in terms of coolant usage to maintain critical components below a certain temperature. To this end, extensive research has been carried out over the past four decades on advanced thermal diagnostic methods to accurately measure heat transfer quantities such as Nusselt number and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. The need to capture local heat transfer characteristics of these complex flow systems drives the development of measurement techniques and the experimental test facilities to support such measurements. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art thermal diagnostic efforts pertaining to heat transfer measurements in rotating gas turbine blade internal and external cooling and rotor-stator disc cavity, all under rotating environments. The major investigation efforts have been identified for each of the above three categories and representative experimental results have been presented and discussed.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 648-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Su Kwak ◽  
Je-Chin Han

Experimental investigations were performed to measure the detailed heat transfer coefficients and film cooling effectiveness on the squealer tip of a gas turbine blade in a five-bladed linear cascade. The blade was a two-dimensional model of a first stage gas turbine rotor blade with a profile of the GE-E3 aircraft gas turbine engine rotor blade. The test blade had a squealer (recessed) tip with a 4.22% recess. The blade model was equipped with a single row of film cooling holes on the pressure side near the tip region and the tip surface along the camber line. Hue detection based transient liquid crystals technique was used to measure heat transfer coefficients and film cooling effectiveness. All measurements were done for the three tip gap clearances of 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.5% of blade span at the two blowing ratios of 1.0 and 2.0. The Reynolds number based on cascade exit velocity and axial chord length was 1.1×106 and the total turning angle of the blade was 97.9 deg. The overall pressure ratio was 1.2 and the inlet and exit Mach numbers were 0.25 and 0.59, respectively. The turbulence intensity level at the cascade inlet was 9.7%. Results showed that the overall heat transfer coefficients increased with increasing tip gap clearance, but decreased with increasing blowing ratio. However, the overall film cooling effectiveness increased with increasing blowing ratio. Results also showed that the overall film cooling effectiveness increased but heat transfer coefficients decreased for the squealer tip when compared to the plane tip at the same tip gap clearance and blowing ratio conditions.


Author(s):  
Jacob C. Snyder ◽  
Curtis K. Stimpson ◽  
Karen A. Thole ◽  
Dominic Mongillo

With the advances of Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), also generically referred to as additive manufacturing, novel geometric features of internal channels for gas turbine cooling can be achieved beyond those features using traditional manufacturing techniques. There are many variables, however, in the DMLS process that affect the final quality of the part. Of most interest to gas turbine heat transfer designers are the roughness levels and tolerance levels that can be held for the internal channels. This study investigates the effect of DMLS build direction and channel shape on the pressure loss and heat transfer measurements of small scale channels. Results indicate that differences in pressure loss occur between the test cases with differing channel shapes and build directions, while little change is measured in heat transfer performance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick R. Jagerhofer ◽  
Marios Patinios ◽  
Tobias Glasenapp ◽  
Emil Göttlich ◽  
Federica Farisco

Abstract Due to stringent environmental legislation and increasing fuel costs, the efficiencies of modern turbofan engines have to be further improved. Commonly, this is facilitated by increasing the turbine inlet temperatures in excess of the melting point of the turbine components. This trend has reached a point where not only the high-pressure turbine has to be adequately cooled, but also components further downstream in the engine. Such a component is the turbine center frame (TCF), having a complex aerodynamic flow field that is also highly influenced by purge-mainstream interactions. The purge air, being injected through the wheelspace cavities of the upstream high-pressure turbine, bears a significant cooling potential for the TCF. Despite this, fundamental knowledge of the influencing parameters on heat transfer and film cooling in the TCF is still missing. This paper examines the influence of purge-to-mainstream blowing ratio, purge-to-mainstream density ratio and purge flow swirl angle on the convective heat transfer coefficient and the film cooling effectiveness in the TCF. The experiments are conducted in a sector-cascade test rig specifically designed for such heat transfer studies using infrared thermography and tailor-made flexible heating foils with constant heat flux. The inlet flow is characterized by radially traversing a five-hole-probe. Three purge-to-mainstream blowing ratios and an additional no purge case are investigated. The purge flow is injected without swirl and also with engine-similar swirl angles. The purge swirl and blowing ratio significantly impact the magnitude and the spread of film cooling in the TCF. Increasing blowing ratios lead to an intensification of heat transfer. By cooling the purge flow, a moderate variation in purge-to-mainstream density ratio is investigated, and the influence is found to be negligible.


Author(s):  
G. Paniagua ◽  
C. H. Sieverding ◽  
T. Arts

Advances in turbine-based engine efficiency and reliability are achieved through better knowledge of the mechanical interaction with the flow. The life-limiting component of a modern gas turbine engine is the high-pressure (HP) turbine stage due to the arduous environment. For the same reason, real gas turbine engine operation prevents fundamental research. Various types of experimental approaches have been developed to study the flow and in particular the heat transfer, cooling, materials, aero-elastic issues and forced response in turbines. Over the last 30 years short duration facilities have dominated the research in the study of turbine heat transfer and cooling. Two decades after the development of the von Karman Institute compression tube facility (built in the 90s), one could reconsider the design choices in view of the modern technology in compression, heating, control and electronics. The present paper provides first the history of the development and then how the wind tunnel is operated. Additionally the paper disseminates the experience and best practices in specifically designed measurement techniques to both experimentalists and experts in data processing. The final section overviews the turbine research capabilities, providing details on the required upgrades to the test section.


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