Full Surface Heat Transfer Measurement of a Turbine Internal Cooling System Using a Large Scaled Model

A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the detailed heat transfer characteristics of a large scaled model of a turbine blade internal cooling system. The cooling system has one passage in the leading edge and a triple passage for the remained region with two U-bends. A large scaled model (2 times) is designed to acquire high resolution measurement. The similarity of the test model was conducted with Reynolds number at the inlet of the internal cooling system. The model is designed to simulate the flow at engine condition including film extractions to match the changes in flowrates through the internal cooling system. Also, 45 deg ribs were installed for heat transfer enhancement. The experiments were performed varying Reynolds number in the range of 20,000 to 100,000 with and without ribs under stationary condition. This study employs transient heat transfer technique using thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) to obtain full surface heat transfer distributions. The results show the detailed heat transfer distributions and pressure loss. The characteristics of pressure loss is largely dependent on the changes in cross-sectional area along the passages, the presence of U-bends and the extraction of coolant flow through film holes. The local and area averaged Nusselt number were compared to available correlations. Finally, the thermal performance counting the heat transfer enhancement as well as pressure penalty is presented.

Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics in Models of Turbine Blade Tip-Walls With Three Kinds of Turning Vanes

In this paper, effects of three kinds of turning vanes on flow and heat transfer of turbine blade tip-walls with a U-shaped channel have been numerically studied. Numerical simulations are performed to solve three-dimensional, steady, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the standard k-ω turbulence model. The aspect ratio (AR) and the hydraulic diameter of the channel are 2 and 93.13 mm, respectively. The effects of single-layer, double-layer and double-layer dome-shaped turning vanes in the turn region on the tip-wall heat transfer and overall pressure loss of rectangular U-shaped channels are analyzed. Detailed flow and heat transfer characteristics over the tip-walls, as well as the overall performance, are presented and compared with each other. Results show that the tip-wall heat transfer coefficients with double-layer dome-shaped turning vanes are the highest among the three cases. Double-layer dome-shaped turning vanes can promote the lateral spreading of secondary flow and effectively increase the uniformity of heat transfer on the tip-wall. More importantly, this structure can make the cooling air expand and accelerate at the center region of the top of the U-shaped channel, resulting in more heat to be removed from the tip-wall. Additionally, double-layer dome-shaped turning vanes can effectively reduce the pressure loss of the channel.

Effects of Density and Blowing Ratios on the Turbulent Structure and Effectiveness of Film-Cooling

Large eddy simulations (LES) were performed to investigate film cooling of a flat plate, where the cooling jets issued from a plenum through one row of circular holes of diameter D and length 4.7D that are inclined at 35° relative to the plate. The focus is on understanding the turbulent structure of the film-cooling jet and the film-cooling effectiveness. Parameters studied include blowing ratio (BR = 0.5 and 1.0) and density ratio (DR = 1.1 and 1.6). Also, two different boundary layers (BL) upstream of the film-cooling hole were investigated — one in which a laminar BL was tripped to become turbulent from near the leading edge of the flat plate, and another in which a mean turbulent BL is prescribed directly. The wall-resolved LES solutions generated were validated by comparing its time-averaged values with data from PIV and thermal measurements. Results obtained show that having an upstream BL that does not have turbulent fluctuations enhances the cooling effectiveness significantly at low velocity ratios (VR) when compared to an upstream BL that resolved the turbulent fluctuations. However, these differences diminish at higher VRs. Instantaneous flow reveals a bifurcation in the jet vorticity as it exits the hole at low VRs, one branch forming the shear-layer vortex, while the other forms the counter-rotating vortex pair. At higher VRs, the shear layer vorticity is found to reverse direction, changing the nature of the turbulence and the heat transfer. Results obtained also show the strength and structure of the turbulence in the film-cooling jet to be strongly correlated to VR.

Enhancement of Impingement Heat Transfer With the Crossflow Normal to Ribs and Pins Between Each Row of Holes

Impingement heat transfer investigations with obstacle (fins) on the target surface were carried out with the obstacles aligned normal to the cross-flow. Conjugate heat transfer (CHT) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis were used for the geometries previously been investigated experimentally. A 10 × 10 row of impingement jet holes or hole density, n, of 4306 m−2 with ten rows of holes in the cross-flow direction was used. The impingement hole pitch X to diameter D, X/D, and gap Z to diameter, Z/D, ratios were kept constant at 4.66 and 3.06 for X, D and Z of 15.24, 3.27 and 10.00 mm, respectively. Nimonic 75 test walls were used with a thickness of 6.35 mm. Two different shaped obstacles of the same flow blockage were investigated: a continuous rectangular ribbed wall of 4.5 mm height, H, and 3.0 mm thick and 8 mm high rectangular pin-fins that were 8.6 mm wide and 3.0 mm thick. The obstacles were equally spaced on the centre-line between each row of impingement jets and aligned normal to the cross-flow. The two obstacles had height to diameter ratios, H/D, of 1.38 and 2.45, respectively. Comparison of the predictions and experimental results were made for the flow pressure loss, ΔP/P, and the surface average heat transfer coefficient (HTC), h. The computations were carried out for air coolant mass flux, G, of 1.08, 1.48 and 1.94 kg/sm2bar. The pressure loss and surface average HTC for all the predicted G showed reasonable agreement with the experimental results, but the predictions for surface averaged h were below the measured values by 5–10%. The predictions showed that the main effect of the ribs and pins was to increase the pressure loss, which led to an increased flow maldistribution between the ten rows of holes. This led to lower heat transfer over the first 5 holes and higher heat transfer over the last 3 holes and the net result was little benefit of either obstacle relative to a smooth wall. The results were significantly worse than the same obstacles aligned for co-flow, where the flow maldistribution changes were lower and there was a net benefit of the obstacles on the surface averaged heat transfer coefficient.

Influences of the Non-Uniform Pin-Fin Array on Heat Transfer Distribution in a Rotating Rectangular Channel

The liquid crystal thermography was used to investigate the heat transfer of non-uniform pin-fin arrays in a rotating rectangular channel (AR = 4:1) at a channel orientation of 135°. The pin-fin array consisted of four and three pins in a staggered arrangement. The different sized pins were inserted at the rows exhibiting four pins, which produced a non-uniform distribution of the pin-fin array. The experiments were operated at Reynolds numbers of 10,000 and 20,000 for both stationary and rotating conditions. The rotation number varied from 0 to 0.33 and the buoyancy parameter ranged from 0 to 0.27. Results indicated that various heat transfer contours were observed as a result of flow separation and vortices caused by non-uniform pins. Compared to the stationary case, rotation increased heat transfer on both trailing and leading surfaces. The pin-fin array consisted of 6 and 9 mm pins produced the highest heat transfer and frictional losses under rotation condition.

Effect of Buoyancy and Density Ratio on Heat Transfer in a Smooth Cooling Channel of a Gas Turbine Blade

The present work investigates the effects of buoyancy and density ratio on the thermal performance of a rotating two-pass square channel. The U-bend configuration with smooth walls is selected for this study. The channel has a square cross-section with a hydraulic diameter of 5.08 cm (2 inches). The lengths of the first and second passes are 514 mm and 460 mm, respectively. The turbulent flow enters the channel with Reynolds numbers of up to 34,000. The rotational speed varies from 0 to 600 rpm with the rotational numbers up to 0.75. For this study, two approaches are considered for tracking the buoyancy effect on heat transfer. In the first case, the density ratio is set constant, and the rotational speed is varied. In the second case, the density ratio is changed in the stationary case, and the effect of density ratio is discussed. The range of Buoyancy number along the channel is 0–6. The objective is to investigate the impact of Buoyancy forces on a broader range of rotation number (0–0.75) and Buoyancy number scales (0–6), and their combined effects on heat transfer coefficient for a channel with aspect ratio of 1:1. Several computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation are carried out for this study, and some of the results are validated against experimental data.

Numerical Investigation of the Cooling Performance on the Endwall With and Without Fillet

High inlet temperature of turbine vane increases the demand of high film cooling effectiveness. Vane endwall region was extensively cooled due to the high and flat exit temperature distribution of combustor. Leakage flow from the combustor-turbine gap was used to cool the endwall region except for preventing hot gas ingestion. Numerical predictions were conducted to investigate the flow structure and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness of endwall region in a linear cascade with vane-endwall junction fillet. The simulations were completed by solving the three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) equations with shear stress transport(SST) k-ω turbulence model, meanwhile, the computational method and turbulence model were validated by comparing computational result with the experiment. Three types of linear fillet with the length-to-height ratio of 0.5, 1 and 2, named fillet A, fillet B and fillet C respectively, were studied. In addition, circular fillet with radius of 2mm was compared with linear fillet B. The interrupted slot, produced by changing the way of junction of combustor and turbine vane endwall, is introduced at X/Cax = −0.2 upstream of the vane leading edge. Results showed that fillet can significantly affect the cooling performance on the endwall due to suppressing the strength of the secondary flow. Fillet C presented the best cooling performance comparing to fillet A and fillet B because a portion of the coolant which climbs to the fillet was barely affected by secondary flow. Results also showed the effect of fillet on the total pressure loss. The result indicated that only fillet A slightly decreases endwall loss.

A Numerical Study of Heat Transfer and Flow Structure in Channels With Miniature V Rib-Dimple Hybrid Structure on One Wall

This paper presents a numerical study on turbulent flow and heat transfer in the channels with a novel hybrid cooling structure with miniature V-shaped ribs and dimples on one wall. The heat transfer characteristics, pressure loss and turbulent flow structures in the channels with the rib-dimples with three different rib heights of 0.6 mm, 1.0 mm and 1.5 mm are obtained for the Reynolds numbers ranging from 18,700 to 60,000 by numerical simulations, which are also compared with counterpart of a pure dimpled and pure V ribbed channel. The results show that the overall Nusselt numbers of the V rib-dimple channel with the rib height of 1.5 mm is up to 70% higher than that of the channels with pure dimples. The numerical simulations show that the arrangement of the miniature V rib upstream each dimple induces complex secondary flow near the wall and generates downwashing vortices, which intensifies the flow mixing and turbulent kinetic energy in the dimple, resulting in significant improvement in heat transfer enhancement and uniformness.

Numerical Investigation of Unsteady Film Cooling on the Turbine Shroud With the Blade Passing

Numerical simulations have been performed on the turbine shroud unsteady film cooling under the blade passing. There are many published experimental studies for turbine shroud heat transfer and a few computational fluid dynamics data. In this paper, unsteady RANS method has been performed to study the effect of the blade rotation speeds and the film blowing ratios on the behavior of film cooling effectiveness. And the sliding mesh in Fluent was used to achieve relative rotation between blade and shroud. These results are reported for blowing ratios of 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, blade rotation speeds of 1600 rpm, 1800rpm, 2089rpm, 2400rpm. The results show that the time instantaneous film cooling effectiveness on the shroud have a notable different distribution with the steady blade case. And at the rotation results, the film cooling effectiveness is even coverage with the blowing ratio increasing. The time-averaged film cooling effectiveness on the shroud increases by increasing the blowing ratio on all blade rotational velocities. And in this study, the blade at different rotation speeds, the distribution of time-averaged film cooling effectiveness has a significantly reduce on the shroud because of the relative movement of blade and shroud.

Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in a Converging Pedestal Array With Exit Area Variation

The trailing edge of a vane is one of the most difficult areas to cool due to a narrowing flow path, high external heat transfer rates, and deteriorating external film cooling protection. Converging pedestal arrays are often used as a means to provide internal cooling in this region. The thermally induced stresses in the trailing edge region of these converging arrays have been known to cause failure in the pedestals of conventional solidity arrays. The present paper documents the heat transfer and pressure drop through two high solidity converging rounded diamond pedestal arrays. These arrays have a 45 percent pedestal solidity. One array which was tested has nine rows of pedestals with an exit area in the last row consistent with the convergence. The other array has eight rows with an expanded exit in the last row to enable a higher cooling air flow rate. The expanded exit of the eight row array allows a 30% increase in the coolant flow rate compared with the nine row array for the same pressure drop. Heat transfer levels correlate well based on local Reynolds numbers but fall slightly below non converging arrays. The pressure drop across the array naturally increases toward the trailing edge with the convergence of the flow passage. A portion of the cooling air pressure drop can be attributed to acceleration while a portion can be attributed to flow path losses. Detailed array static pressure measurements provide a means to develop a correlation for the prediction of pressure drop across the cooling channel. Measurements have been acquired over Reynolds numbers based on exit flow conditions and the characteristic pedestal length scale ranging from 5000 to over 70,000.