Improving Pin-Fin Heat Transfer Predictions Using Artificial Neural Networks

In much of the public literature on pin-fin heat transfer, Nusselt number is presented as a function of Reynolds number using a power-law correlation. Power-law correlations typically have an accuracy of 20% while the experimental uncertainty of such measurements is typically between 5% and 10%. Additionally, the use of power-law correlations may require many sets of empirical constants to fully characterize heat transfer for different geometrical arrangements. In the present work, artificial neural networks were used to predict heat transfer as a function of streamwise spacing, spanwise spacing, pin-fin height, Reynolds number, and row position. When predicting experimental heat transfer data, the neural network was able to predict 73% of array-averaged heat transfer data to within 10% accuracy while published power-law correlations predicted 48% of the data to within 10% accuracy. Similarly, the neural network predicted 81% of row-averaged data to within 10% accuracy while 52% of the data was predicted to within 10% accuracy using power-law correlations. The present work shows that first-order heat transfer predictions may be simplified by using a single neural network model rather than combining or interpolating between power-law correlations. Furthermore, the neural network may be expanded to include additional pin-fin features of interest such as fillets, duct rotation, pin shape, pin inclination angle, and more making neural networks expandable and adaptable models for predicting pin-fin heat transfer.

Numerical Investigation of Improving Turbine Sealing Effectiveness Through Slot Width Modification of the Rim Seal

The hot gas in the main annulus of a gas turbine can ingest into the rotor-stator cavities through the rim seal clearance as a result of the interaction of the rotor and the stator disks and the external flow in the hot gas annulus. To prevent the turbine root region from being heated up, this ingestion has to be avoided almost completely. This paper introduces a new idea to improve turbine sealing effectiveness through slot width modification of the rim seal. Unsteady numerical simulations are performed with two different rim seal geometries at the design condition with different cooling flow rates. Both of the rim seal geometries are simple axial seal configurations. One is uniform slot rim seal geometry and is taken as the reference case. The other is a new kind of rim seal geometry with slot width modification. The clearance is bigger in the main flow path and smaller in the stator wake region keeping the area of the two kinds of rim seal surfaces equivalent. The sealing air egress happens in the main path flow region and the ingestion happens in the stator wake region. Through comparing the results of the two kinds of rim seal geometries, it is found out that the contoured slot rim seal geometry can reduce the pressure in the cavity which leads to the decrease of the gas turbine loss. The inward radial velocity of the ingestion increases in the stator wake region and hence the axial seal gap has been reduced in this region. The time-averaged outward radial velocity decreases in the main flow region and becomes more uniform. Unsteady flow patterns in the rim seal region are compared for the two seal configurations. The sealing effectiveness is rapidly improved by using the contoured seal configuration. This work provides an idea to increase the sealing effectiveness and decrease the pressure in the cavity.

Heat Transfer for High Aspect Ratio Rectangular Channels in a Stationary Serpentine Passage With Turbulated and Smooth Surfaces

Heat transfer distributions are presented for a stationary three passage serpentine internal cooling channel for a range of engine representative Reynolds numbers. The spacing between the sidewalls of the serpentine passage is fixed and the aspect ratio (AR) is adjusted to 1:1, 1:2, and 1:6 by changing the distance between the top and bottom walls. Data are presented for aspect ratios of 1:1 and 1:6 for smooth passage walls and for aspect ratios of 1:1, 1:2, and 1:6 for passages with two surfaces turbulated. For the turbulated cases, turbulators skewed 45° to the flow are installed on the top and bottom walls. The square turbulators are arranged in an offset parallel configuration with a fixed rib pitch-to-height ratio (P/e) of 10 and a rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio (e/Dh) range of 0.100 to 0.058 for AR 1:1 to 1:6, respectively. The experiments span a Reynolds number range of 4,000 to 130,000 based on the passage hydraulic diameter. While this experiment utilizes a basic layout similar to previous research, it is the first to run an aspect ratio as large as 1:6, and it also pushes the Reynolds number to higher values than were previously available for the 1:2 aspect ratio. The results demonstrate that while the normalized Nusselt number for the AR 1:2 configuration changes linearly with Reynolds number up to 130,000, there is a significant change in flow behavior between Re = 25,000 and Re = 50,000 for the aspect ratio 1:6 case. This suggests that while it may be possible to interpolate between points for different flow conditions, each geometric configuration must be investigated independently. The results show the highest heat transfer and the greatest heat transfer enhancement are obtained with the AR 1:6 configuration due to greater secondary flow development for both the smooth and turbulated cases. This enhancement was particularly notable for the AR 1:6 case for Reynolds numbers at or above 50,000.

Experimental Investigation of Effect of Tip Coolant Ejection on Internal Flow Characteristics Within a Realistic Blade Coolant Channel

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the characteristics of the fluid flow within an entire coolant channel of a low pressure (LP) turbine blade. The serpentine channel, which keeps realistic blade geometry, consists of three passes connected by a 180° sharp bend and a semi-round bend, 2 tip exits and 25 trailing edge exits. The mean velocity fields within several typical cross sections were captured using a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system. Pressure and flow rate at each exit were determined through the measurements of local static pressure and volume flow rate. To optimize the design of LP turbine blade coolant channels, the effect of tip ejection ratio (ER) from 180° sharp bend on the flow characteristics in the coolant channel were experimentally investigated at a series of inlet Reynolds numbers from 25,000 to 50,000. A complex flow pattern, which is different from the previous investigations conducted by a simplified square or rectangular two-pass U-channel, is exhibited from the PIV results. This experimental investigation indicated that: a) in the main flow direction, the regions of separation bubble and flow impingement increase in size with a decrease of the ER; b) the shape, intensity and position of the secondary vortices are changed by the ER; c) the mass flow ratio of each exit to inlet is not sensitive to the inlet Reynolds number; d) the increase of the ER reduces the mass flow ratio through each trailing edge exit to the extent of about 23–28% of the ER = 0 reference under the condition that the tip exit located at 180° bend is full open; e) the pressure drop through the entire coolant channel decreases with an increase in the ER and inlet Reynolds number, and a reduction about 35–40% of the non-dimensional pressure drop is observed at different inlet Reynolds numbers, under the condition that the tip exit located at 180° bend is full open.

Overall Thermal Performance of a Rectangular Channel With an Array of Elongated Pedestals

Experiments have been conducted to investigate the overall thermal performance of a rectangular channel implemented with an elongated pedestal array. The staggered pedestals were elongated in the spanwise direction in order that the jet flow from between the pedestals impinges at the centre of the pedestals in the downstream row. The average heat transfer coefficient of the pedestal and the local heat transfer coefficient distribution of the bottom channel wall were investigated for different geometrical arrangements. The pressure drop across the pedestal bank was measured. The transient liquid crystal method was used to obtain the local heat transfer coefficient distribution on the bottom channel wall and the lumped capacitance method was used to measure the average heat transfer coefficient of the pedestals in the last two rows of the bank. Five pressure taps were arranged on the centerline of each gap between two pedestal rows to measure the pressure drop. The heat transfer coefficients were measured over the Reynolds number range from 10,000 to 30,000. The minimum flow area to the channel cross-section flow area ratio ranged from 0.149 to 0.333. The effects of pedestal geometry and array distribution were investigated in detail showing the relationship between the pedestal array geometry, heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop. Conclusions were drawn on the effects of geometry and flow conditions on overall thermal performance of the respective channels.

Heat Transfer in Rotating Multi-Pass Rectangular Smooth Channel With and Without a Turning Vane in Hub Region

This paper experimentally investigates the effect of a turning vane on hub region heat transfer in a multi-pass rectangular smooth channel at high rotation numbers. The experimental data were taken in the second and the third passages (Aspect Ratio = 2:1) connected by an 180° U-bend. The flow was radial inward in the second passage and was radial outward after the 180° U-bend in the third passage. The Reynolds number ranged 10,000 to 40,000 while the rotation number ranged 0 to 0.42. The density ratio was a constant of 0.12. Results showed that rotation increases heat transfer on leading surface but decreases it on the trailing surface in the second passage. In the third passage, the effect of rotation is reversed. Without a turning vane, rotation reduces heat transfer substantially on all surfaces in the hub 180° turn region. After adding a half-circle-shaped turning vane, heat transfer coefficients do not change in the second passage (before turn) while they are quite different in the turn region and the third passage (after turn). Regional heat transfer coefficients are correlated with rotation numbers for multi-pass rectangular smooth channel with and without a turning vane.

Effect of Rib Configuration and Lateral Ejection on a High Aspect Ratio Trailing Edge Channel

Thermal issues of gas turbine blade trailing edge are complex and challenging, due to limited space for effective cooling. The trailing edge cavities are usually large aspect ratio ducts with lateral ejection. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of different rib configurations and lateral ejection on heat transfer characteristics inside a trailing edge channel. The investigations were conducted on a large aspect ratio wedge-shaped channel with square ribs of e/Dh = 0.05, under Reynolds number 15,000. Twelve different configurations were tested: 1)three rib types, including a symmetry V-shaped rib configuration and two non-symmetry V-shaped rib configurations, of which the rib angles are 60 degrees, 2) two rib pitches, P/e = 10 and P/e = 5, 3) two flow directions, with an open tip outlet or with lateral ejection. Spatially resolved heat transfer distributions were obtained using the transient thermochromic liquid crystal experimental method. The configurations were also investigated numerically for the detailed flow field and for the validation of CFD codes. Results show that with lateral ejection, the heat transfer coefficients decrease from inlet to outlet. The heat transfer near the ejection holes is enhanced while heat transfer coefficients near the wall opposite to the exit holes decrease. The curvature of the streamlines creates a large separation area near the end of the channel and thus results in low local heat transfer coefficients. The P/e = 10 configurations have higher average heat transfer compared with P/e = 5 configurations. Average heat transfer coefficient is the highest with the center of the V-shaped rib placed at the middle of the channel, and is the lowest when the V-shaped rib center is located near the narrow part of the channel.

Numerical Investigation of Impingement Heat Transfer on a Flat and Square Pin-Fin Roughened Plates

A numerical investigation of the heat transfer characteristics within an array of impingement jets on a flat and square pin-fin roughened plate with spent air in one direction has been conducted. Four types of optimized pin-fin configurations and the flat plate have been investigated in the Reynolds number range of 15000–35000. All the computation results have been validated well with the data of published literature. The effects of variation of jet Reynolds number and different configurations on the distribution of the average and local Nusselt number and the related pressure loss have been obtained. The highest total heat transfer rate increased up to 162% with barely any extra pressure loss compared with that of the flat plate. Pressure distributions and streamlines have also been captured to explain the heat transfer characteristic.

Unsteady Numerical Analysis of a Whole Ring of Finger Seal With Grooves on Finger Pads

This paper presents a numerical investigation of lifting and sealing performance of a whole ring of finger seal with grooving pad structures. Different grooves on the bottom of lifting pad, such as one and two straight grooves, or two herringbone grooves with different gradients etc. are simulated. The rotor vibration is taken into account during the numerical computation. Computational results indicate that the complete ring model is more suitable than an individual finger model to simulate the fluid-solid interactions of the finger seal. Vibration of the rotor changes the deformation pattern of finger seal, and the seal deformation should adapt the clearance in a uniform way according to the rotor position. The grooving pad structures have effects on the leakage flows and the lifting force on the finger. Analytical data revealed the self-adaptive performance of finger seal to rotor vibration. This will be helpful to make the finger seal be of lower wear and smaller leakage in rotational sealing system.

Three Components- and Tomographic-PIV Measurements of a Cyclone Cooling Flow in a Swirl Tube

Swirl cooling is a very efficient method for turbine blade cooling. However, the flow in such a system is quite complicated. In order to gain understanding of the flow structure, the velocity field in a leading edge swirl cooling chamber with two tangential inlet ducts is experimentally studied via Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The examined swirl tube is 1 m long and has a diameter of 50 mm. It represents an upscaled generic model of a leading edge swirl chamber. The Reynolds number, defined by the bulk velocity and the swirl tube diameter, ranges from 10,000 to 40,000, and the swirl number is 5.3. Velocity fields are measured in the center plane of the tube axis with stereo- and tomographic-PIV using two and four CCD cameras respectively. Tomographic-PIV is a three-dimensional PIV technique relying on the illumination, recording, reconstruction and cross correlation of a tracer particle distribution in a measurement volume opposed to a plane in stereo-PIV. For statistical analysis 2,000 vector maps are calculated and evaluations show a sample size of 1,000 ensembles is sufficient. Our experiment showed, that the flow field is characterized by a vortex system around the tube axis. Near the tube wall we observed an axial flow towards the outlet with a circumferential velocity component in the same order of magnitude. In contrast the vortex core consists of an axial backflow (vortex breakdown). The gained understanding of the flow field allows to predict regions of enhanced heat transfer in swirl chambers.