Fluid flow characteristics and convective heat transfer improvement on a gas turbine blade

The flow field features and heat transfer enhancement are investigated on a gas turbine blade by applying the jet impingement cooling method. The distribution of the flow field and the Nusselt number (Nu) was determined on the targeted surface in the cooling channel. The injection holes of different shapes, such as circular, square, and rectangular were considered. The Reynolds numbers (Re) of the airflow in the range of 2000–5000 and aspect ratios of 0.5–2 were particularly focused. The flow vortices and recirculation in the cooling channel and their influence on the heat transfer enhancement were analyzed in detail under different airflow and geometric conditions. Decreasing the ratio of the distance between jet-to-target plate to the diameter of the jet orifice (H/d) increased the heat transfer rate and produced high-intensity vortices and recirculation zones. It was noticed that the formation and generation of vortices and recirculation have important effects on the convective heat transfer rate at the impingement surface. Local Nusselt number, formation of complex vortices, and airflow recirculation in the cooling channel decreased with the increase in the distance between the jet hole and the targeted surface. It was found that with the increase in the Reynolds number of the jet, heat transfer between cold airflow and the targeted surface increased. Moreover, it was observed that the cooling performance of the round and square jet holes was better than the rectangular holes.     

Experimental investigations on overall cooling effect of ribbed channel with air bleeds

An experimental investigation on overall heat transfer performance of a rectangular channel, in which one wall has periodically placed oblique ribs to enhance heat exchange and cylindrical film holes to bleed cooling air, has been carried out in a hot wind tunnel at different mainstream temperatures, hot mainstream Reynolds numbers, coolant Reynolds numbers and blowing ratios. To describe the cooling effect of combined external coolant film with the internal heat convection enhanced by the ribs, the overall cooling effectiveness at the surface exposed in the mainstream with high temperature was calculated by the surface temperatures measured with an infrared thermal imaging system. The total mass flow rate of cooling air through the coolant channel was regulated by a digital mass flow rate controller, and the blowing ratio passing through the total film holes was calculated based on the measurements of another digital-type mass flow meter. The detailed distributions of overall cooling effectiveness show distinctive peaks in heat transfer levels near the film holes, remarkable inner convective heat transfer effect over entire channel surface, and visible conductive heat transfer effect through the channel wall; but only when the coolant Reynolds number is large enough, the oblique rib effect can be detected from the overall cooling effectiveness; and the oblique bleeding hole effect shows the more obvious trend with increasing blowing ratios. Based on the experimental data, the overall cooling effectiveness is correlated as the functions of Re_m (Reynolds number of hot mainstream) and Re_c (Reynolds number of internal coolant flow at entrance) for the parametric conditions examined.     

Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Mainstream Turbulence on Full Coverage Film Cooling Effectiveness for a Turbine Guide Vane

Experiments have been performed to investigate the effect of mainstream turbulence on the three-dimensional distribution of the full coverage film cooling effectiveness for two enlarged actual twisted vanes with cylindrical or shaped holes. The film cooling effectiveness was measured by transient liquid crystal technique at mainstream turbulence intensities of 2%, 9% and 15%. The mass flow rate ratios range from 5.5% to 12.5%. There are 3, 8 and 7 rows of film holes on the suction side, leading edge and pressure side, respectively. Results show that for the cylindrical hole vane the high mainstream turbulence intensity decreases the film cooling effectiveness in the top region and down region of pressure side in the low mass flow rate ratio of 5.5%, while the effect is opposite in the high mass flow rate ratio of 12.5%. The film cooling effectiveness in the middle region of pressure side decreases obviously with the increase of the turbulence at the low mass flow rate ratio of 5.5%, while the influence of increasing turbulence weakens gradually with the increase of mass flow rate ratio. Moreover, the high mainstream turbulence improves the film cooling effectiveness in the further downstream of the holes on suction side at the high mass flow rate ratio of 12.5%. For the shaped hole vane, the increase of mainstream turbulence decreases the film cooling effectiveness at all mass flow rate ratios. This study reveals the influence rule of the mainstream turbulence on the film cooling effectiveness in the different regions of the three-dimensional vane surface. The results would guide the designs of engineering heat transfer with application in gas turbine blade/vane cooling.     

Film cooling on a gas turbine blade pressure side or suction side with axial shaped holes

The film cooling effectiveness on the surface of a high pressure turbine blade is measured using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Four rows of axial laid-back, fan-shaped cooling holes are distributed on the pressure side while two such rows are provided on the suction side. The coolant is only injected to either the pressure side or suction side of the blade at five average blowing ratios ranging from 0.4 to 1.5. The presence of wakes due to upstream vanes is simulated by placing a periodic set of rods upstream of the test blade. Effect of the upstream wakes is recorded at four different phase locations with equal intervals along the pitch-wise direction. The freestream Mach numbers at cascade inlet and exit are 0.27 and 0.44, respectively. Results reveal that the tip leakage vortices and endwall vortices sweep the coolant film on the suction side to the midspan region. The film cooling effectiveness on the suction side is usually higher than that on the pressure side except the regions affected by the secondary vortices. The presence of upstream wakes results in lower film cooling effectiveness on the blade surface. The moderate blowing ratios (M = 0.6 or M = 0.9) give higher film cooling effectiveness immediately downstream of the film cooling holes. Further downstream of the holes, higher blowing ratios cover wider surface area.     

冷却流量对涂层叶片冷却性能影响的数值研究

采用气热耦合数值方法研究了冷却流量对热障涂层气冷涡轮叶片冷却性能的影响,并对结果进行了对比分析。研究结果表明：热障涂层叶片的综合冷却效率随冷却流量的增加而增大,但增幅则逐渐下降。在吸力面上,附加热障涂层的效果更好。基准工况下,附加热障涂层,叶片表面温度可降低72.6 K,综合冷却效率增幅最大可达6.5%。在尾缘区域,热障涂层会阻碍热量从金属叶片表面向低温的流体传递,导致叶片表面性能下降,因此,只有配合高效的内冷技术,才能达到理想的冷却效果。     

透平叶顶气膜冷却效果数值研究

采用三维数值模拟方法,研究了GE E3发动机第一级透平动叶叶顶间隙内的气膜流动与换热特性,评估了气膜吹风比M分别为0.5、1.0和1.5时,对叶顶换热系数以及冷却效率的影响.计算结果表明:叶顶气膜冷却空气改变了叶顶泄漏流动特性,随着吹风比的增加,叶顶间隙内的泄漏流动区域不断缩小,从而导致叶顶间隙泄漏量不断减小;随着气膜冷却吹风比的增大,叶顶平均换热系数逐步降低;在M=1时,冷却效果最佳.     

不同叶顶结构对燃气透平动叶顶部气膜冷却性能的影响

对不同叶顶结构的GE-E3叶片的气膜冷却现象进行了数值研究,比较了三种不同的叶顶结构：平顶、凹槽顶和平顶开槽孔结构在叶顶部的流动和冷却现象,并分析了吹风比对这三种结构的冷却性能的影响。发现凹槽顶和平顶开槽孔在结构上具有相似性;在叶顶开槽后,既降低了射流动量,又降低了顶端泄漏流速,有助于提高冷却效果,同时由于凹槽顶的槽比开槽孔的槽大,冷却气体和燃气在槽内充分混合,使得凹槽顶结构具有最高的冷却效率值和最低的换热系数值,平顶开槽孔结构次之。     

Flowfield and heat transfer past an unshrouded gas turbine blade tip with different shapes

This paper describes the numerical investigations of flow and heat transfer in an unshrouded turbine rotor blade of a heavy duty gas turbine with four tip configurations. By comparing the calculated contours of heat transfer coefficients on the flat tip of the HP turbine rotor blade in the GE-E³ aircraft engine with the corresponding experimental data, the κ-ω turbulence model was chosen for the present numerical simulations. The inlet and outlet boundary conditions for the turbine rotor blade are specified as the real gas turbine, which were obtained from the 3D full stage simulations. The rotor blade and the hub endwall are rotary and the casing is stationary. The influences of tip configurations on the tip leakage flow and blade tip heat transfer were discussed. It’s showed that the different tip configurations changed the leakage flow patterns and the pressure distributions on the suction surface near the blade tip. Compared with the flat tip, the total pressure loss caused by the leakage flow was decreased for the full squealer tip and pressure side squealer tip, while increased for the suction side squealer tip. The suction side squealer tip results in the lowest averaged heat transfer coefficient on the blade tip compared to the other tip configurations.     

Effects of the layout of film holes near the vane leading edge on the endwall cooling and phantom cooling of the vane suction side surface

In the current research, effects of the layout of film holes near the first-stage vane leading edge on the endwall cooling and phantom cooling of the vane suction side surface were numerically studied. The computational results indicate that the case with a positive film-hole angle achieves a higher cooling effectiveness level on the endwall and vane suction side surface compared to the case with a corresponding negative film-hole angle. Furthermore, the location of the film hole has a significant influence on the cooling performance of the endwall and vane suction side surface. In addition, the case with a smaller distance from film holes to the vane stagnation also attains a slightly higher cooling effectiveness (phantom cooling effectiveness) on the vane suction side surface.     

Heat transfer in internal channel of a blade: Effects of rotation in a trailing edge cooling system

The aerothermal performance of a trailing edge (TE) internal cooling system of a high pressure gas turbine blade was evaluated under stationary and rotating conditions.The investigated geometry consists of a 30:1 scaled model reproducing a typical wedge shaped discharge duct with one row of enlarged pedestals.The airflow pattern inside the device simulates a highly loaded rotor blade cooling scheme with a 90 [deg] turning flow from the radial hub inlet to the tangential TE outlet.Two different tip configurations were tested,the first one with a completely closed section,the second one with a 5 holes outlet surfaces discharging at ambient pressure.In order to assess rotation effects,a rotating test rig,composed of a rotating arm holding both the PMMA TE model and the instru-mentation,was purposely developed and manufactured.A thin Inconel heating foil and wide band Thermo-chromic Liquid Crystals are used to perform steady state heat transfer measurements on the blade pres-sure side.A rotary joint ensures the pneumatic connection between the blower and the rotating apparatus;more-over several slip rings are used for both instrumentation power supply and thermocouple connection.A parallel CFD analysis involving steady-state RANS modeling was conducted to allow an insight of the flow field inside the redirecting channel and the interpedestal ducts to better interpret the developing vortical structures.Low-Reynolds grid clustering permits to integrate up to the wall both the momentum and the thermal boundary layer.Calculations were performed by means of an in-house developed pressure based solver exploiting the k-ω SST turbulence model implemented in the framework of the open-source finite volume discretization toolbox OpenFOAM?.Analyzed flow conditions correspond to Reynolds number of 20000 in the hub inlet section and angular speed varies to obtain rotation numbers in the range from 0 to 0.3.The orientation of the rotation axis is orthogonal to the heated surface as to resemble a 90 [deg] blade metal angle.Results are reported in terms of de-tailed heat transfer coefficient 2D maps on the suction side surface as well as spanwise profiles inside the pedestal ducts.     

Numerical study of film cooled rotor leading edge with tip clearance in 1-1/2 turbine stage

Numerical simulations were performed to predict the film cooling effectiveness and the associated heat transfer coefficient in a 1-1/2 turbine stage. The leading edge of the rotor blade is film cooled with three rows of film cooling holes. The rotor tip leakage has been investigated for a clearance of 0.8% of blade span. Sliding grid is used for the rotor domain, and interface technique is employed to exchange information between stator and rotor domains. Simulations were carried out for both design and off-design conditions to investigate the effects of the stator–rotor interaction on the film cooling characteristics. The commercial code FLUENT with Reynolds stress model is used in the prediction. It is found that the tilted stagnation line on the rotor leading edge moves from the pressure side to the suction side, and the instantaneous coolant streamlines shift from the suction side to the pressure side with the increasing rotating speed. For the fixed inlet/outlet pressure ratio of turbine stage, the high rpm reduces the heat transfer coefficient on the rotor due to the low rotor relative velocity, and increases the “sweet spot” on the rotor tip. These trends are well supported by the experimental results.     

Influence of Trenched Shaped Holes on Turbine Blade Leading Edge Film Cooling

Computational results are presented for a row of coolant injection holes on each side of a high-pressure turbine blade near the leading edge. Seven hole configurations have been used to show the effect of various diffusion shaped holes and their trenching on film cooling effectiveness: (1) cylindrical film hole; (2) forward diffused film hole; (3) trenched forward diffused film hole; (4) conically flared film hole; (5) trenched conically flared film hole; (6) laterally diffused film hole; and (7) trenched laterally diffused film hole. Computational solutions of the steady, Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations are obtained using a finite-volume method. Results show that the main effect of trenching is the reduction of jet lifting off from the blade surface and so the prevention of sudden lowering of cooling effectiveness after the injection location. Moreover, hole trenching has more effect on film cooling flow on the suction side than on the pressure side. Also, the trenched laterally diffused shaped hole has the highest laterally averaged effectiveness on both the suction side and the pressure side of the blade.     

具有新型双层壁结构的透平叶片流热耦合研究

多通道壁面射流冷却结构是一种新型的燃气透平动叶内部冷却结构,具有消耗冷气少、压力损失小等优点。本文构建了简化的壁面射流冷却叶片与GE-E3冷却结构叶片模型,采用流热耦合方法对比研究了其流动与换热特性。结果表明,壁面射流冷却通道内的狭小空间抑制了横流的产生,冷气在冷却通道中形成了流向涡;前缘冷气流道中的大量冷气流经吸力侧冷却区,并从出口压力更小、面积更大的尾缘排出,使得前缘气膜孔出流的冷气流量和动量较小,冷气在叶片外表面的气膜覆盖特性更好;离心力的影响导致前缘冷气流道中叶根处的压力较低,叶根附近的气膜孔出现燃气主流入侵现象。相比于GE-E3叶片,壁面射流冷却叶片的前缘温度和温度梯度都较小,因此多通道壁面射流冷却在前缘具有更优异的冷却特性。     

Direct numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer in periodic wavy channels with rectangular cross-sections

Fully-developed flow and heat transfer in periodic wavy channels with rectangular cross sections are studied using direct numerical simulation, for increasing Reynolds numbers spanning from the steady laminar to transitional flow regimes. The results show that steady flow is characterized by the formation of symmetric secondary flow or Dean vortices when liquid flows past the bends. It is found that the patterns of Dean vortices may evolve along the flow direction, thus leading to chaotic advection, which can greatly enhance the convective fluid mixing and heat transfer. With increasing Reynolds numbers, the flow undergoes transition from a steady state to a periodic one with a single frequency, and subsequently to a quasiperiodic flow with two incommensurate fundamental frequencies. Within these unsteady regimes, the flow is characterized by very complex Dean vortices patterns which evolve temporally and spatially along the flow direction, and the flow symmetry may even be lost. Further increase in Reynolds number leads to chaotic flow, where the Fourier spectrum of the velocity evolution becomes broadband. The bifurcation scenario in wavy channels may thus share some common features with the well-known Ruelle–Takens–Newhouse scenario. Heat transfer simulation in all flow regimes is carried out with constant wall temperature condition and liquid water as the coolant. It is found that due to the efficient mixing in wavy channels, the heat transfer performance is always significantly more superior to that of straight channels with the same cross sections; at the same time the pressure drop penalty of wavy channels can be much smaller than the heat transfer enhancement. The present study shows that these wavy channels may have advantages over straight channels and thus serve as promising candidates for incorporation into efficient heat transfer devices.     

Film cooling performance of converging slot-hole rows on a gas turbine blade

Experimental tests have been performed to investigate the film cooling performance of converging slot-hole (console) rows on the turbine blade. Film cooling effectiveness of each single hole row is measured under three momentum flux ratios based on the wide-band liquid crystal technique. Measurements of the cooling effectiveness with all the hole rows open are also carried out under two coolant–mainstream flux ratios. Film cooling effectiveness of cylindrical hole rows on the same blade model is measured as a comparison. The results reveal that the trace of jets from both consoles and cylindrical holes is converging on the suction surface and expanding on the pressure surface by the influence of the passage vortex, while the influence of passage vortex on the jets from consoles is weaker. The film coverage area and the film cooling effectiveness of single/multiple console row(s) are much larger than those of single/multiple cylindrical hole row(s). When the console row is discrete and the diffusion angle of the console is not very large, the adjacent jets cannot connect immediately after ejecting out of the holes and the cooling effectiveness in the region between adjacent holes is relatively lower. On the pressure surface, the film cooling effectiveness of console rows increases notably with the increasing of momentum flux ratio or coolant–mainstream flux ratio. But on the suction side, the increase in cooling effectiveness is not very notable for console row film cooling as the coolant flux increases. Moreover, for the film cooling of single console row at the gill region of the suction surface, the jets could lift off from the blade surface because of the convex geometry of the suction surface.     

Experimental investigation on the leading edge film cooling of cylindrical and laid-back holes with different hole pitches

Experimental investigation has been performed to study the film cooling performances of cylindrical holes and laid-back holes on the turbine blade leading edge. Four test models are measured for four blowing ratios to investigate the influences of film hole shape and hole pitch on the film cooling performances Film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient have been obtained using a transient heat transfer measurement technique with double thermochromic liquid crystals. As the blowing ratio increases, the trajectory of jets deviates to the spanwise direction and lifts off gradually. However, more area can benefit from the film protection under large blowing ratio, while the is also higher. The basic distribution features of heat transfer coefficients are similar for all the four models. Heat transfer coefficient in the region where the jet core flows through is relatively lower, while in the jet edge region is relatively higher. For the models with small hole pitch, the laid-back holes only give better film coverage performance than the cylindrical holes under large blowing ratio. For the models with large hole pitch, the advantage of laid-back holes in film cooling effectiveness is more obvious in the upstream region relative to the cylindrical holes. For the cylindrical hole model and the laid-back hole model with the same hole pitch, heat transfer coefficients are nearly the same with each other under the same blowing ratios. Compared with the models with large hole pitch, the laterally averaged film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient are larger for the models with small hole pitch because of larger proportion of film covering area and strong heat transfer region.     

Numerical predictions of augmented heat transfer of an internal blade tip-wall by hemispherical dimples

The heat transferred to the turbine blade is substantially increased as the turbine inlet temperature is increased. Improved cooling methods are therefore needed for the turbine blades to ensure a long durability and safe operation. The blade tip region is exposed to very hot gas flow, and suffers high local thermal loads due to the external tip leakage flow. A common way to cool the tip is to design serpentine passages with 180° turn under the blade tip-cap taking advantage of the three-dimensional turning effect and impingement. Increased internal convective cooling is therefore required to increase the blade tip lifetime. In this paper, augmented heat transfer of a blade tip with internal hemispherical dimples has been investigated numerically. The computational models consist of two-pass channels with 180° turn and arrays of dimples depressed on the internal tip-cap. Turbulent convective heat transfer between the fluid and dimples, and heat conduction within dimples and tip are simultaneously computed. The inlet Reynolds number is ranging from 100,000 to 600,000. Details of the 3D fluid flow and heat transfer over the tip-walls are presented. Comparisons of the overall performance of the models are presented. It is found that due to the combination of turning impingement and dimple-induced advection flow, the heat transfer coefficient of the dimpled tip is up to two times higher than that of a smooth tip with less than 5% pressure drop penalty. It is suggested that the use of dimples is suitable for augmenting blade tip cooling to achieve an optimal balance between thermal and mechanical design requirements.     

Improvement of film cooling performance by trenched holes on turbine leading-edge models

The present study aims to improve cooling performance over the leading edge surface with the high temperature and high thermal stress by the introduction of trenched holes. Three staggered rows of leading-edge film cooling holes with different trench arrangements and hole orientations are included under blowing ratios of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0, compared with round-hole cases. Under the conditions of leading-edge flow patterns and convex curvature, the trenched hole with 2D width plays a role of “protection” of coolant against the impinging hot gas at a large range of blowing ratios. This contributes to the better lateral spread of coolant and cooling performance. Besides, the trenched holes narrow the regions with a high heat transfer coefficient and reduce the detrimental heating on the surface. Compared with round holes, the trenched holes guarantee the downstream coolant coverage and higher cooling performance at a larger inclined angle, in spite of the changed compound angles.     

Conjugate heat transfer investigation on the cooling performance of air cooled turbine blade with thermal barrier coating

A hot wind tunnel of annular cascade test rig is established for measuring temperature distribution on a real gas turbine blade surface with infrared camera. Besides, conjugate heat transfer numerical simulation is performed to obtain cooling efficiency distribution on both blade substrate surface and coating surface for comparison. The effect of thermal barrier coating on the overall cooling performance for blades is compared under varied mass flow rate of coolant, and spatial difference is also discussed. Results indicate that the cooling efficiency in the leading edge and trailing edge areas of the blade is the lowest. The cooling performance is not only influenced by the internal cooling structures layout inside the blade but also by the flow condition of the mainstream in the external cascade path. Thermal barrier effects of the coating vary at different regions of the blade surface, where higher internal cooling performance exists, more effective the thermal barrier will be, which means the thermal protection effect of coatings is remarkable in these regions. At the designed mass flow ratio condition, the cooling efficiency on the pressure side varies by 0.13 for the coating surface and substrate surface, while this value is 0.09 on the suction side.     

Effects of Trenched Film Hole Configurations on the Endwall Film Cooling and Suction Side Phantom Cooling

To maximize the turbine thermal efficiency, modern gas turbine's inlet temperature is significantly augmented within the past few decades. To prolong the lifespan of gas turbines, many efficient cooling techniques have been proposed and applied in the endwall cooling schemes. However, conventional discrete film hole does not take effect at the leading edge nearby region. In this research, how the trenched film hole configurations affects the endwall cooling and phantom cooling characteristics were deeply studied by using a verified approach. Steady 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) governing equations together with the shear stress transport(SST) k-w turbulence model have been solved. Firstly, results indicate that trenched film holes greatly influence the cooling effectiveness at leading edge nearby region compared to normal case. Nevertheless, suction side phantom cooling is hardly influenced by the trenched film holes. Secondly, the case with a smaller trench width obtains higher endwall cooling effectiveness, particularly at upstream region. More importantly, the cases with W=3D achieve large cooling effectiveness at leading edge nearby region with little influence by trench depth. Additionally, majority of trenched film holes coolant flow is driven towards middle passage. Therefore, the suction side phantom cooling is unaffected by the trenched film holes.