Recent research developments for turbine blade tip heat transfer, including development and effects of tip leakage vortices

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hallie Collopy ◽  
Michael Sampson ◽  
Phillip M. Ligrani
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Blade Tip

Effect of Turbine Blade Tip Cooling Configuration on Tip Leakage Flow and Heat Transfer

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergen Sakaoglu ◽  
Harika S. Kahveci
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Thermal Response ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Blade Tip

Abstract The pressure difference between suction and pressure sides of a turbine blade leads to tip leakage flow, which adversely affects the first-stage high-pressure (HP) turbine blade tip aerodynamics. In modern gas turbines, HP turbine blade tips are exposed to extreme thermal conditions requiring cooling. If the coolant jet directed into the blade tip gap cannot counter the leakage flow, it will simply add up to the pressure losses due to leakage. Therefore, the compromise between the aerodynamic loss and the gain in tip-cooling effectiveness must be optimized. In this paper, the effect of tip-cooling configuration on the turbine blade tip is investigated numerically from both aerodynamics and thermal aspects to determine the optimum configuration. Computations are performed using the tip cross section of GE-E3 HP turbine first-stage blade for squealer and flat tips, where the number, location, and diameter of holes are varied. The study presents a discussion on the overall loss coefficient, total pressure loss across the tip clearance, and variation in heat transfer on the blade tip. Increasing the coolant mass flow rate using more holes or by increasing the hole diameter results in a decrease in the area-averaged Nusselt number on the tip floor. Both aerodynamic and thermal response of squealer tips to the implementation of cooling holes is superior to their flat counterparts. Among the studied configurations, the squealer tip with a larger number of cooling holes located toward the pressure side is highlighted to have the best cooling performance.

Effect of Turbine Blade Tip Cooling Configuration on Tip Leakage Flow and Heat Transfer

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergen Sakaoglu ◽  
Harika S. Kahveci
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Thermal Response ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Blade Tip

Abstract The pressure difference between suction and pressure sides of a turbine blade leads to the so-called phenomenon, the tip leakage flow, which most adversely affects the first-stage high-pressure (HP) turbine blade tip aerodynamics. In modern gas turbines, HP turbine blade tips are also exposed to extreme thermal conditions requiring the use of tip cooling. If the coolant jet directed into the blade tip gap cannot counter the leakage flow, it will simply add up to the pressure losses due to this leakage flow. Therefore, it is necessary to handle the design of tip cooling in such a way that the compromise between the aerodynamic loss and the gain in the tip cooling effectiveness is optimized. In this paper, the effect of tip cooling configuration on the turbine blade tip is investigated numerically both from the aerodynamics and thermal aspects in order to determine the optimum tip cooling configuration. The studies are carried out using the tip cross-section of General Electric E3 (Energy Efficient Engine) HP turbine first-stage blade for two different tip geometries, squealer tip and flat tip, where the number, location, and diameter of the cooling holes are varied. The study presents a discussion on the overall loss coefficient, the total pressure loss across the tip clearance, and the variation of heat transfer on the blade tip. The aerodynamic and heat transfer results are compared with the experimental data from literature. It is observed that increasing the coolant mass flow rate by using more holes or by increasing the hole diameter results in a decrease in the area-averaged Nusselt number on the tip floor, as expected. The findings show that both aerodynamic and thermal response of the squealer tips to the implementation of cooling holes is superior to their flat counterparts. Among the studied configurations, the squealer tip with larger number of cooling holes located towards the pressure side is highlighted as the configuration having the best cooling performance.

Turbine Blade Tip Cooling Modeling and Optimization

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Vogel ◽  
Anmol Agrawal ◽  
Praneetha Nannapaneni
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Metal Temperature ◽  
Cfd Analysis ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Cooling Flow ◽  
Blade Tip

The turbine blade tip is considered as one of the most critical areas of gas turbine engines. The tip region often lacks durability and is challenging to cool. To achieve successful blade tip cooling designs, ALSTOM engineers are performing state of the art aero thermal analyses of blade tip cooling configurations. This paper describes the approach used for this analysis and draws conclusion for blade tip cooling optimization. Numerical simulations of flow and heat transfer are presented for a modern industrial gas turbine blade with a film cooled tip. The blade tip metal temperature distribution is analyzed for three different blade tip clearances with a detailed CFD analysis around the blade tip performed. The CFD analysis provides flow streamlines through the blade tip as well as a total blade tip leakage flow. Rough streamlines estimates are then used to define a set of control volumes for which dedicated cooling flow mixing is considered. The total mass flowing through all volumes corresponds to the CFD blade tip leakage. For each control volume corresponds a specific Reynolds number that is used to define a corresponding heat transfer coefficient. The latter is obtained from experimental Nusselt number correlations for the different regions of a blade squealer tip (crown, fillet and cavity). Application of the obtained heat transfer coefficient and mixing temperature boundary conditions on a 3D blade tip finite element model, together with an internal cooling flow network associated to the 3D model allows calculating the blade tip metal temperature. Results for two different tip clearances relative to nominal blade tip gap are presented and discussed. Comparison with experimental data such as thermal paint test and metallurgical data are given, showing good agreement with the blade tip cooling modeling introduced in this paper. Cooling performance of the blade tip is discussed based on the modeling approach proposed in this paper. The latter allows drawing conclusions for blade tip cooling optimization.

scholarly journals Turbine blade tip aero-thermal management: Some recent advances and research outlook

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. K7ADQC ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Li He
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Design Space ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
The Past ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Flow Turbulence ◽  
And Control

AbstractThis article provides an overview of some recent progress in understanding HP turbine blade shroudless tip heat transfer and aerodynamics, especially in a transonic regime. The review is mostly based on the experimental and numerical efforts the authors have been involved in during the past ten years. Some fundamental flow physics especially in high speed Over-Tip-Leakage (OTL) flows are highlighted, including tip choking, shock waves, and the roles played by flow turbulence, etc. These mechanisms bring qualitative differences in tip heat transfer and loss generation, and prospects in tip aerothermal management and control. Of great interest is the strong OTL flow–coolant interaction, which can dramatically affect the tip aerodynamics, and thus would challenge any “optimized” tip geometry based on an uncooled configuration. It is suggested that optimal tip aero-thermal configurations should be an iterative process between blade tip shaping and cooling injection scheme. Combining tip geometry shaping and cooling injection patterns concurrently may provide more extensive exploitation of tip aerothermal design space.

scholarly journals Heat Transfer and Flow on the Blade Tip of a Gas Turbine Equipped With a Mean-Camberline Strip

2001 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 704-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Ameri
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Sharp Edge ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Large Power ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Numerical Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Convective Heat Transfer Coefficients

Experimental and computational studies have been performed to investigate the detailed distribution of convective heat transfer coefficients on the first-stage blade tip surface for a geometry typical of large power generation turbines (>100 MW). In a previous work the numerical heat transfer results for a sharp edge blade tip and a radiused blade tip were presented. More recently several other tip treatments have been considered for which the tip heat transfer has been measured and documented. This paper is concerned with the numerical prediction of the tip surface heat transfer for radiused blade tip equipped with mean-camberline strip (or “squealer” as it is often called). The heat transfer results are compared with the experimental results and discussed. The effectiveness of the mean-camberline strip in reducing the tip leakage and the tip heat transfer as compared to a radiused edge tip and sharp edge tip was studied. The calculations show that the sharp edge tip works best (among the cases considered) in reducing the tip leakage flow and the tip heat transfer.

Investigation of Leakage Flow and Heat Transfer in a Gas Turbine Blade Tip With Emphasis on the Effect of Rotation

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianliang Yang ◽  
Xiaobing Yu ◽  
Zhenping Feng
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Relative Motion ◽  
Turbulence Models ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Blade Height ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Flow And Heat Transfer ◽  
Blade Rotation ◽  
Blade Tip

In this paper, numerical methods have been applied to the investigation of the effect of rotation on the blade tip leakage flow and heat transfer. Using the first stage rotor blade of GE-E3 engine high pressure turbine, both flat tip and squealer tip have been studied. The tip gap height is 1% of the blade height, and the groove depth of the squealer tip is 2% of the blade height. Heat transfer coefficient on tip surface obtained by using different turbulence models was compared with experimental results. And the grid independence study was carried out by using the Richardson extrapolation method. The effect of the blade rotation was studied in the following cases: 1) blade domain is rotating and shroud is stationary; 2) blade domain is stationary and shroud is rotating; and 3) both blade domain and shroud are stationary. In this approach, the effects of the relative motion of the endwall, the centrifugal force and the Coriolis force can be investigated respectively. By comparing the results of the three cases discussed, the effects of the blade rotation on tip leakage flow and heat transfer are revealed. It indicated that the main effect of the rotation on the tip leakage flow and heat transfer is resulted from the relative motion of the shroud, especially for the squealer tip blade.

scholarly journals A Summary of the Cooled Turbine Blade Tip Heat Transfer and Film Effectiveness Investigations Performed by Dr. D. E. Metzger

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. W. Kim ◽  
W. Abdel-Messeh ◽  
J. P. Downs ◽  
F. O. Soechting ◽  
G. D. Steuber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Film Cooling ◽  
Convection Heat Transfer ◽  
Secondary Flows ◽  
Test Surface ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Test Technique ◽  
Coolant Injection ◽  
Blade Tip

The clearance gap between the stationary outer air seal and blade tips of an axial turbine allows a clearance gap leakage flow to be driven through the gap by the pressure-to-suction side pressure difference. The presence of strong secondary flows on the pressure side of the airfoil tends to deliver air from the hottest regions of the mainstream to the clearance gap. The blade tip region, particularly near the trailing edge, is very difficult to cool adequately with blade internal coolant flow. In this case, film cooling injection directly onto the blade tip region can be used in an attempt to directly reduce the heat transfer rates from the hot gases in the clearance gap to the blade tip. The present paper is intended as a memorial tribute to the late Professor Darryl E. Metzger who has made significant contributions in this particular area over the past decade. A summary of this work is made to present the results of his more recent experimental work that has been performed to investigate the effects of film coolant injection on convection heat transfer to the turbine blade tip for a variety of tip shapes and coolant injection configurations. Experiments are conducted with blade tip models that are stationary relative to the simulated outer air seal based on the result of earlier works that found the leakage flow to be mainly a pressure-driven flow which is related strongly to the airfoil pressure loading distribution and only weakly, if at all, to the relative motion between blade tip and shroud. Both heat transfer and film effectiveness are measured locally over the test surface using a transient thermal liquid crystal test technique with a computer vision data acquisition and reduction system for various combinations of clearance heights, clearance flow Reynolds numbers, and film flow rates with different coolant injection configurations. The present results reveal a strong dependency of film cooling performance on the choice of the coolant supply hole shapes and injection locations for a given tip geometry.

Effects of Guide Vanes on the Tip Heat Transfer Enhancement of a Turbine Blade

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gongnan Xie ◽  
Bengt Sunde´n
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Heat Transfer Enhancement ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Pressure Loss ◽  
Transfer Enhancement ◽  
Guide Vanes ◽  
Flow And Heat Transfer ◽  
Numerical Predictions ◽  
Blade Tip

Gas turbine blade tips encounter large heat load as they are exposed to the high temperature gas. A common way to cool the blade and its tip is to design serpentine passages with 180-deg turns under the blade tip-cap inside the turbine blade. Improved internal convective cooling is therefore required to increase the blade tip life time. This paper presents numerical predictions of turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer through two-pass channels with and without guide vanes placed in the turn regions using RANS turbulence modeling. The effects of adding guide vanes on the tip-wall heat transfer enhancement and the channel pressure loss were analyzed. The guide vanes have a height identical to that of the channel. The inlet Reynolds numbers are ranging from 100,000 to 600,000. The detailed three-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer over the tip-walls are presented. The overall performances of several two-pass channels are also evaluated and compared. It is found that the tip heat transfer coefficients of the channels with guide vanes are 10∼60% higher than that of a channel without guide vanes, while the pressure loss might be reduced when the guide vanes are properly designed and located, otherwise the pressure loss is expected to be increased severely. It is suggested that the usage of proper guide vanes is a suitable way to augment the blade tip heat transfer and improve the flow structure, but is not the most effective way compared to the augmentation by surface modifications imposed on the tip-wall directly.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document