Browsing by Subject "film cooling"
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Item An experimental investigation of turbine blade heat transfer and turbine blade trailing edge cooling(Texas A&M University, 2005-02-17) Choi, JunghoThis experimental study contains two points; part1 ? turbine blade heat transfer under low Reynolds number flow conditions, and part 2 ? trailing edge cooling and heat transfer. The effect of unsteady wake and free stream turbulence on heat transfer and pressure coefficients of a turbine blade was investigated in low Reynolds number flows. The experiments were performed on a five blade linear cascade in a low speed wind tunnel. A spoked wheel type wake generator and two different turbulence grids were employed to generate different levels of the Strouhal number and turbulence intensity, respectively. The cascade inlet Reynolds number based on blade chord length was varied from 15,700 to 105,000, and the Strouhal number was varied from 0 to 2.96 by changing the rotating wake passing frequency (rod speed) and cascade inlet velocity. A thin foil thermocouple instrumented blade was used to determine the surface heat transfer coefficient. A liquid crystal technique based on hue value detection was used to measure the heat transfer coefficient on a trailing edge film cooling model and internal model of a gas turbine blade. It was also used to determine the film effectiveness on the trailing edge. For the internal model, Reynolds numbers based on the hydraulic diameter of the exit slot and exit velocity were 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, and 30,000 and corresponding coolant ? to ? mainstream velocity ratios were 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, and 1.8 for the external models, respectively. The experiments were performed at two different designs and each design has several different models such as staggered / inline exit, straight / tapered entrance, and smooth / rib entrance. The compressed air was used in coolant air. A circular turbulence grid was employed to upstream in the wind tunnel and square ribs were employed in the inlet chamber to generate turbulence intensity externally and internally, respectively.Item Blowing Ratio Effects on Film Cooling Effectiveness(2010-01-14) Liu, Kuo-ChunThe research focuses on testing the film cooling effectiveness on a gas turbine blade suction side surface. The test is performed on a five bladed cascade with a blow down facility. Four different blowing ratios are used in this study, which are 0.5, 1.0, 1.6, and 2.0; mainstream flow conditions are maintained at exit Mach number of 0.7, 1.1 and 1.3. Nitrogen is injected as the coolant so that the oxygen concentration levels can be obtained for the test surface. Based on mass transfer analogy, film cooling effectiveness can be computed with pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. The effect of blowing ratio on film cooling effectiveness is presented for each testing condition. The spanwise averaged effectiveness for each case is also presented to compare the blowing ratio and mainstream effect on film cooling effectiveness. Results show that due to effects of shock, the optimum blowing ratio is 1.6 for exit Mach number of 1.1 and 1.3; however; without the effects of shock, the optimum blowing ratio is 1.0 for exit Mach number of 0.7.Item Effects of convex curvature on adiabatic effectiveness for a film cooled turbine vane(2013-05) Winka, James R; Bogard, David G.A series of experiments were carried out to measure the effects of convex surface curvature on film cooling. In the first series of experiments cooling holes were positioned along the vane such that their non-dimensional curvature parameter, 2r/d, was matched. Single row of holes with the same diameter were placed at high and moderate curvature position along a turbine vane resulting in 2r/d = 28 and 40, accordingly. A third row of holes was installed on the vane at the same location as the moderate curvature row with a larger hole diameter, resulting in 2r/d = 28, matching the high curvature row. Adiabatic temperature measurements were then carried out for blowing ratios of M = 0.30 to 1.60 tested at a density ratio of DR = 1.20. The results indicated that there was some scaling of performance present with matching 2r/d, but there was not an exact matching of performance. The second series of experiments focused on the effects of a changing surface curvature downstream of injection. Two row of holes were positioned along the vane surface such that the local radius of curvature and hole diameters were equivalent, with one row positioned upstream of the maximum curvature point and the other downstream of the maximum curvature point. Adiabatic temperature measurements were carried out for blowing ratios of M = 0.30 to 1.60 and tested at a density ratio of DR = 1.20. The results show that the change in curvature downstream plays a significant role in the performance of film cooling and that the local surface curvature is insufficient in capturing its effects. Additional experiments were carried out to measure the effects of the approaching boundary layer influence on film cooling as well as the effect of injection angle at a weakly convex surface.Item Experimental investigation of film cooling effectiveness on gas turbine blades(2009-05-15) Gao, ZhihongThe hot gas temperature in gas turbine engines is far above the permissible metal temperatures. Advanced cooling technologies must be applied to cool the blades, so they can withstand the extreme conditions. Film cooling is widely used in modern high temperature and high pressure blades as an active cooling scheme. In this study, the film cooling effectiveness in different regions of gas turbine blades was investigated with various film hole/slot configurations and mainstream flow conditions. The study consisted of four parts: 1) effect of upstream wake on blade surface film cooling, 2) effect of upstream vortex on platform purge flow cooling, 3) influence of hole shape and angle on leading edge film cooling and 4) slot film cooling on trailing edge. Pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique was used to get the conduction-free film cooling effectiveness distribution. For the blade surface film cooling, the effectiveness from axial shaped holes and compound angle shaped holes were examined. Results showed that the compound angle shaped holes offer better film effectiveness than the axial shaped holes. The upstream stationary wakes have detrimental effect on film effectiveness in certain wake rod phase positions. For platform purge flow cooling, the stator-rotor gap was simulated by a typical labyrinth-like seal. Delta wings were used to generate vortex and modeled the passage vortex generated by the upstream vanes. Results showed that the upstream vortex reduces the film cooling effectiveness on the platform. For the leading edge film cooling, two film cooling designs, each with four film cooling hole configurations, were investigated. Results showed that the shaped holes provide higher film cooling effectiveness than the cylindrical holes at higher average blowing ratios. In the same range of average blowing ratio, the radial angle holes produce better effectiveness than the compound angle holes. The seven-row design results in much higher effectiveness than the three-row design. For the trailing edge slot cooling, the effect of slot lip thickness on film effectiveness under the two mainstream conditions was investigated. Results showed thinner lips offer higher effectiveness. The film effectiveness on the slots reduces when the incoming mainstream boundary layer thickness decreases.Item Experimental study of gas turbine blade film cooling and internal turbulated heat transfer at large Reynolds numbers(2009-06-02) Mhetras, ShantanuFilm cooling effectiveness on a gas turbine blade tip on the near tip pressure side and on the squealer cavity floor is investigated. Optimal arrangement of film cooling holes, effect of a full squealer and a cutback squealer, varying blowing ratios and squealer cavity depth are also examined on film cooling effectiveness. The film-cooling effectiveness distributions are measured on the blade tip, near tip pressure side and the inner pressure and suction side rim walls using a Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP) technique. A blowing ratio of 1.0 is found to give best results on the pressure side whereas the other tip surfaces give best results for blowing ratios of 2. Film cooling effectiveness tests are also performed on the span of a fully-cooled high pressure turbine blade in a 5 bladed linear cascade using the PSP technique. Film cooling effectiveness over the entire blade region is determined from full coverage film cooling, showerhead cooling and from each individual row with and without an upstream wake. The effect of superposition of film cooling effectiveness from each individual row is then compared with full coverage film cooling. Results show that an upstream wake can result in lower film cooling effectiveness on the blade. Effectiveness magnitudes from superposition of effectiveness data from individual rows are comparable with that from full coverage film cooling. Internal heat transfer measurements are also performed in a high aspect ratio channel and from jet array impingement on a turbulated target wall at large Reynolds numbers. For the channel, three dimple and one discrete rib configurations are tested on one of the wide walls for Reynolds numbers up to 1.3 million. The presence of a turbulated wall and its effect on heat transfer enhancement against a smooth surface is investigated. Heat transfer enhancement is found to decrease at high Re with the discrete rib configurations providing the best enhancement but highest pressure losses. Experiments to investigate heat transfer and pressure loss from jet array impingement are also performed on the target wall at Reynolds numbers up to 450,000. The heat transfer from a turbulated target wall and two jet plates is investigated. A target wall with short pins provides the best heat transfer with the dimpled target wall giving the lowest heat transfer among the three geometries studied.Item Investigations of flow and film cooling on turbine blade edge regions(Texas A&M University, 2006-10-30) Yang, HuitaoThe inlet temperature of modern gas turbine engines has been increased to achieve higher thermal efficiency and increased output. The blade edge regions, including the blade tip, the leading edge, and the platform, are exposed to the most extreme heat loads, and therefore, must be adequately cooled to maintain safety. For the blade tip, there is tip leakage flow due to the pressure gradient across the tip. This leakage flow not only reduces the blade aerodynamic performance, but also yields a high heat load due to the thin boundary layer and high speed. Various tip configurations, such as plane tip, double side squealer tip, and single suction side squealer tip, have been studied to find which one is the best configuration to reduce the tip leakage flow and the heat load. In addition to the flow and heat transfer on the blade tip, film cooling with various arrangements, including camber line, upstream, and two row configurations, have been studied. Besides these cases of low inlet/outlet pressure ratio, low temperature, non-rotating, the high inlet/outlet pressure ratio, high temperature, and rotating cases have been investigated, since they are closer to real turbine working conditions. The leading edge of the rotor blade experiences high heat transfer because of the stagnation flow. Film cooling on the rotor leading edge in a 1-1/2 turbine stage has been numerically studied for the design and off-design conditions. Simulations find that the increasing rotating speed shifts the stagnation line from the pressure side, to the leading edge and the suction side, while film cooling protection moves in the reverse direction with decreasing cooling effectiveness. Film cooling brings a high unsteady intensity of the heat transfer coefficient, especially on the suction side. The unsteady intensity of film cooling effectiveness is higher than that of the heat transfer coefficient. The film cooling on the rotor platform has gained significant attention due to the usage of low-aspect ratio and low-solidity turbine designs. Film cooling and its heat transfer are strongly influenced by the secondary flow of the end-wall and the stator-rotor interaction. Numerical predictions have been performed for the film cooling on the rotating platform of a whole turbine stage. The design conditions yield a high cooling effectiveness and decrease the cooling effectiveness unsteady intensity, while the high rpm condition dramatically reduces the film cooling effectiveness. High purge flow rates provide a better cooling protection. In addition, the impact of the turbine work process on film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient has been investigated. The overall cooling effectiveness shows a higher value than the adiabatic effectiveness does.Item Massively-parallel Spectral Element Algorithm Development for High Speed Flows(2013-10-07) Camp, Joshua LaneThe need to reduce both the time and cost of product design has allowed numerical analysis to play an ever-increasing role in design cycle analysis. This is particularly true in the aerospace industry, where the use of computational fluid dynamics can help reduce the need for costly prototype testing. Due to the extremely high computational costs associated with simulating complex industrial flows directly, most modern simulation tools employ solvers that rely heavily on turbulence modeling. However, the combination of modern supercomputers and algorithms that can take full advantage of them allows for higher fidelity solvers, with reduced dependence on turbulence modeling, to be included in design cycle analysis. This work employs the discontinuous Galerkin spectral element method in a solver designed for high fidelity simulations in the subsonic and transonic flow regimes. The algorithm is implemented using NEK5000, an open-source incompressible spectral element solver, as a code base. Details of the algorithm are given, and the code is validated against several canonical inviscid and viscous test cases. The validation cases show that the code is accurate, stable, and a good performer on supercom- puters. The new solver is then used to study the effectiveness of a cylindrical film cooling hole. The results show a much improved prediction capability of film cooling effectivness as compared to previous low-Mach simulation results. The algorithm is proven to produce quality large-eddy simulation data in a time frame accessible for design cycle analysis. At the end, a suggested direction for future development of the algorithm is discussed, with a focus on how to improve the stability and performance of the solver.Item Parametric Study of Turbine Blade Internal Cooling and Film Cooling(2010-10-12) Rallabandi, Akhilesh P.Gas turbine engines are extensively used in the aviation and power generation industries. They are used as topping cycles in combined cycle power plants, or as stand alone power generation units. Gains in thermodynamic efficiency can be realized by increasing the turbine inlet temperatures. Since modern turbine inlet temperatures exceed the melting point of the constituent superalloys, it is necessary to provide an aggressive cooling system. Relatively cool air, ducted from the compressor of the engine is used to remove heat from the hot turbine blade. This air flows through passages in the hollow blade (internal cooling), and is also ejected onto the surface of the blade to form an insulating film (film cooling). Modern land-based gas turbine engines use high Reynolds number internal flow to cool their internal passages. The first part of this study focuses on experiments pertaining to passages with Reynolds numbers of up to 400,000. Common turbulator designs (45degree parallel sharp-edged and round-edged) ribs are studied. Older correlations are found to require corrections in order to be valid in the high Reynolds number parameter space. The effect of rotation on heat transfer in a typical three-pass serpentine channel is studied using a computational model with near-wall refinement. Results from this computational study indicate that the hub experiences abnormally high heat transfer under rotation. An experimental study is conducted at Buoyancy numbers similar to an actual engine on a wedge shaped model trailing edge, roughened with pin-fins and equipped with slot ejection. Results show an asymmetery between the leading and trailing surfaces due to rotation - a difference which is subdued due to the provision of pin-fins. Film cooling effectiveness is measured by the PSP mass transfer analogy technique in two different configurations: a flat plate and a typical high pressure turbine blade. Parameters studied include a step immediately upstream of a row of holes; the Strouhal number (quantifying rotor-stator interaction) and coolant to mainstream density ratio. Results show a deterioration in film cooling effectiveness with on increasing the Strouhal number. Using a coolant with a higher density results in higher film cooling effectiveness.Item Shaped hole effects on film cooling effectiveness and a comparison of multiple effectiveness measurement techniques(Texas A&M University, 2005-02-17) Varvel, Trent AlanThis experimental study consists of two parts. For the first part, the film cooling effectiveness for a single row of seven cylindrical holes with a compound angle is measured on a flat surface using five different measurement techniques: steady-state liquid crystal thermography, transient liquid crystal thermography, pressure sensitive paint (PSP), thermocouples, and infrared thermography. A comparison of the film cooling effectiveness from each of the measurement techniques is presented. All methods show a good comparison, especially for the higher blowing ratios. The PSP technique shows the most accurate measurements and has more advantages for measuring film cooling effectiveness. Also, the effect of blowing ratio on the film cooling effectiveness is investigated for each of the measurement techniques. The second part of the study investigates the effect of hole geometries on the film cooling effectiveness using pressure sensitive paint. Nitrogen is injected as the coolant air so that the oxygen concentration levels can be obtained for the test surface. The film effectiveness is then obtained by the mass transfer analogy. Five total hole geometries are tested: fan-shaped laidback with a compound angle, fan-shaped laidback with a simple angle, a conical configuration with a compound angle, a conical configuration with a simple angle, and the reference geometry (cylindrical holes) used in part one. The effect of blowing ratio on film cooling effectiveness is presented for each hole geometry. The spanwise averaged effectiveness for each geometry is also presented to compare the geometry effect on film cooling effectiveness. The geometry of the holes has little effect on the effectiveness at low blowing ratios. The laterally expanded holes show improved effectiveness at higher blowing ratios. All experiments are performed in a low speed wind tunnel with a mainstream velocity of 34 m/s. The coolant air is injected through the coolant holes at four different coolant-to-mainstream velocity ratios: 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, and 1.8.Item Turbine blade platform film cooling with simulated stator-rotor purge flow with varied seal width and upstream wake with vortex(2009-05-15) Blake, Sarah AnneThe turbine blade platform can be protected from hot mainstream gases by injecting cooler air through the gap between stator and rotor. The effectiveness of this film cooling method depends on the geometry of the slot, the quantity of injected air, and the secondary flows near the platform. The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of the upstream vane or stator on this type of platform cooling, as well as the effect of changes in the width of the gap. Film cooling effectiveness distributions were obtained on a turbine blade platform within a linear cascade with upstream slot injection. The width of the slot was varied as well as the mass flow rate of the injected coolant. Obstacles were placed upstream to model the effect of the upstream vane. The coolant was injected through an advanced labyrinth seal to simulate purge flow through a stator-rotor seal. The width of the opening of this seal was varied to simulate the effect of misalignment. Stationary rods were placed upstream of the cascade in four phase locations to model the unsteady wake formed at the trailing edge of the upstream vane. Delta wings were also placed in four positions to create a vortex similar to the passage vortex at the exit of the vane. The film cooling effectiveness distributions were measured using pressure-sensitive paint (PSP). Reducing the width of the slot was found to decrease the area of coolant coverage, although the film cooling effectiveness close to the slot was slightly increased. The unsteady wake was found to have a trivial effect on platform cooling, while the passage vortex from the upstream vane may significantly reduce the film cooling effectiveness.