CONVECTION IN SCALED TURBINE INTERNAL COOLING PASSAGES WITH ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING ROUGHNESS

Additive manufacturing processes, such as direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), enable creation of novel turbine cooling internal passages and systems. However, the DMLS method produces a significant and unique surface roughness. Previous work in scaled passages analyzed pressure losses and friction factors associated with the rough surfaces, as well as investigated the velocity profiles and turbulent flow characteristics within the passage. In this study, the heat transfer characteristics of scaled additively manufactured surfaces were measured using infrared (IR) thermography. Roughness panels were CNC machined from plates of aluminum 6061 to create near isothermal roughness elements when heated. Fluid resistance differences between the aluminum roughness panels and roughness panels constructed from ABS plastic using the same roughness patterns from McClain et al. (2020) were investigated. Finally, the overall thermal performance enhancements and friction losses were assessed through calculation of surface averaged “global thermal performance” ratios. The global thermal performance characterizations indicate results in-line with those found for traditional commercial roughness and slightly below traditional internal passage convection enhancement methods such as swirl chambers, dimples, and ribs. The passages investigated in this study do not include compressibility effects or the long-wavelength artifacts and channel geometric deviations observed by Wildgoose et al. (2020). However, the results of this study indicate that, based on the roughness augmentation alone, artificial convective cooling enhancers such as turbulators or dimples may still be required for additively manufactured turbine component cooling.

Low-Pressure Turbine Cooling Systems

Modern low-pressure turbine engines are equipped with casings impingement cooling systems. Those systems (called Active Clearance Control) are composed of an array of air nozzles, which are directed to strike turbine casing to absorb generated heat. As a result, the casing starts to shrink, reducing the radial gap between the sealing and rotating tip of the blade. Cooling air is delivered to the nozzles through distribution channels and collector boxes, which are connected to the main air supply duct. The application of low-pressure turbine cooling systems increases its efficiency and reduces engine fuel consumption.

Convection in Scaled Turbine Internal Cooling Passages With Additive Manufacturing Roughness

Additive manufacturing processes, such as direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), enable creation of novel turbine cooling internal passages and systems. However, the DMLS method produces a significant and unique surface roughness. Previous work in scaled passages analyzed pressure losses and friction factors associated with the rough surfaces, as well as investigated the velocity profiles and turbulent flow characteristics within the passage. In this study, the heat transfer characteristics of scaled additively manufactured surfaces were measured using infrared (IR) thermography. Roughness panels were CNC machined from plates of aluminum 6061 to create near isothermal roughness elements when heated. Fluid resistance differences between the aluminum roughness panels and roughness panels constructed from ABS plastic using the same roughness patterns from McClain et al. (2020) were investigated. Finally, the overall thermal performance enhancements and friction losses were assessed through calculation of surface averaged “global thermal performance” ratios. The global thermal performance characterizations indicate results in-line with those found for traditional commercial roughness and slightly below traditional internal passage convection enhancement methods such as swirl chambers, dimples, and ribs. The passages investigated in this study do not include compressibility effects or the long-wavelength artifacts and channel geometric deviations observed by Wildgoose et al. (2020). However, the results of this study indicate that, based on the roughness augmentation alone, artificial convective cooling enhancers such as turbulators or dimples may still be required for additively manufactured turbine component cooling.

Estimation of cooling flow rate for conceptual design stage of a gas turbine engine

Development of a gas turbine engine starts with optimization of the working process parameters. Turbine inlet temperature is among the most influential parameters that largely determine performance of an engine. As typical turbine inlet temperatures substantially exceed the point where metal turbine blades maintain reasonable thermal strength, proper modeling of the turbine cooling system becomes crucial for optimization of the engine’s parameters. Currently available numerical models are based on empirical data and thus must be updated regularly. This paper reviews the published information on turbine cooling requirements, and provides an approximation curve that generalizes data on all types of blade/vane cooling and is suitable for computer-based optimization.

Pulsed Impingement Turbine Cooling and Its Effect on the Efficiency of Gas Turbines With Pressure Gain Combustion

Performance improvements of conventional gas turbines are becoming increasingly difficult and costly to achieve. Pressure gain combustion (PGC) has emerged as a promising technology in this respect, due to the higher thermal efficiency of the respective ideal gas turbine cycle. Previous cycle analyses considering turbine cooling methods have shown that the application of pressure gain combustion may require more turbine cooling air. This has a direct impact on the cycle efficiency and reduces the possible efficiency gain that can potentially be harvested from the new combustion technology. Novel cooling techniques could unlock an existing potential for a further increase in efficiency. Such a novel turbine cooling approach is the application of pulsed impingement jets inside the turbine blades. In the first part of this paper, results of pulsed impingement cooling experiments on a curved plate are presented. The potential of this novel cooling approach to increase the convective heat transfer in the inner side of turbine blades is quantified. The second part of this paper presents a gas turbine cycle analysis where the improved cooling approach is incorporated in the cooling air calculation. The effect of pulsed impingement cooling on the overall cycle efficiency is shown for both Joule and PGC cycles. In contrast to the authors’ anticipation, the results suggest that for relevant thermodynamic cycles pulsed impingement cooling increases the thermal efficiency of Joule cycles more significantly than it does in the case of PGC cycles. Thermal efficiency improvements of 1.0 p.p. for pure convective cooling and 0.5 p.p. for combined convective and film with TBC are observed for Joule cycles. But just up to 0.5 p.p. for pure convective cooling and 0.3 p.p. for combined convective and film cooling with TBC are recorded for PGC cycles.

Two-Stage Evaporative Inlet Air Gas Turbine Cooling

Gas turbine inlet air-cooling (TIAC) is an established technology for augmenting gas turbine output and efficiency, especially in hot regions. TIAC using evaporative cooling is suitable for hot, dry regions; however, the cooling is limited by the ambient wet-bulb temperature. This study investigates two-stage evaporative TIAC under the harsh weather of Riyadh city. The two-stage evaporative TIAC system consists of indirect and direct evaporative stages. In the indirect stage, air is precooled using water cooled in a cooling tower. In the direct stage, adiabatic saturation cools the air. This investigation was conducted for the GE 7001EA gas turbine model. Thermoflex software was used to simulate the GE 7001EA gas turbine using different TIAC systems including evaporative, two-stage evaporative, hybrid absorption refrigeration evaporative and hybrid vapor-compression refrigeration evaporative cooling systems. Comparisons of different performance parameters of gas turbines were conducted. The added annual profit and payback period were estimated for different TIAC systems.