Experimental Simulation of Turbine Airfoil Leading Edge Film Cooling

1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Wadia ◽  
D. A. Nealy

Leading edge showerhead cooling designs represent an important feature of certain classes of high-temperature turbine airfoils. This paper outlines a methodology for predicting the surface temperatures of showerhead designs with spanwise injection through an array of discrete holes. The paper describes a series of experiments and analyses on scaled cylinder models with injection through holes inclined at 20, 30, 45, and 90 deg for typical radial and circumferential spacing-to-diameter ratios of 10 and 4, respectively. The experiments were conducted in a wind tunnel on several stainless steel test specimens in which flow and heat transfer parameters were measured over the simulated airfoil leading edge surfaces. Based on the experiments, an engineering design model is proposed that treats the gas-to-surface heat transfer coefficient with film cooling in a manner suggested by a recent Purdue–NASA investigation and includes the important contribution of upstream (coolant inlet face) heat transfer. The experiments suggest that the averaged film cooling effectiveness in the showerhead region is primarily influenced by the inclination of the injection holes. The effectiveness parameter is not strongly affected by variations in coolant-to-gas stream pressure ratio, free-stream Mach number, gas-to-coolant temperature ratio, and gas stream Reynolds number. The model is employed to determine (inferentially) the average Stanton number reduction parameter for a series of pressure ratios varying from 1.004 to 1.3, Mach numbers ranging from 0.1 to 0.2, temperature ratios between 1.6 and 2.0, and Reynolds numbers ranging from 3.5×104 to 9.0×104.

Author(s):  
A. R. Wadia ◽  
D. A. Nealy

Leading edge showerhead cooling designs represent an important feature of certain classes of high temperature turbine airfoils. This paper outlines a methodology for predicting the surface temperatures of showerhead designs with spanwise injection through an array of discrete holes. The paper describes a series of experiments and analyses on scaled cylinder models with injection through holes inclined at 20, 30, 45, and 90 degrees for typical radial and circumferential spacing-to-diameter ratios of 10 and 4, respectively. The experiments were conducted in a wind tunnel on several stainless steel test specimens in which flow and heat transfer parameters were measured over the simulated airfoil leading edge surfaces. Based on the experiments, an engineering design model is proposed that treats the gas-to-surface heat transfer coefficient with film cooling in a manner suggested by a recent Purdue-NASA investigation and includes the important contribution of upstream (coolant inlet face) heat transfer. The experiments suggest that the averaged film cooling effectiveness in the showerhead region is primarily influenced by the inclination of the injection holes. The effectiveness parameter is not strongly affected by variations in coolant-to-gas stream pressure ratio, freestream Mach number, gas-to-coolant temperature ratio and gas stream Reynolds number. This is appropriately reflected in the design model in which the increase in coolant side heat transfer coefficient (with blowing ratio) is essentially offset by a simultaneous increase in the gas side film coefficient. The model is also employed to determine (inferentially) the average Stanton number reduction parameter for a series of pressure ratios varying from 1.004 to 1.3, Mach numbers ranging from 0.1 to 0.2, temperature ratios between 1.6 and 2.0, and Reynolds numbers ranging from 3.5 × 104 to 9.0 × 104. Design capabilities of the analytical model are explored for typical high temperature first stage turbine vanes and rotor blades operating at rotor inlet temperatures in excess of 1644°K.


Author(s):  
Bo-lun Zhang ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
Hui-ren Zhu ◽  
Jian-sheng Wei ◽  
Zhong-yi Fu

Film cooling performance of the double-wave trench was numerically studied to improve the film cooling characteristics. Double-wave trench was formed by changing the leading edge and trailing edge of transverse trench into cosine wave. The film cooling characteristics of transverse trench and double-wave trench were numerically studied using Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations with realizable k-ε turbulence model and enhanced wall treatment. The film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient of double-wave trench at different trench width (W = 0.8D, 1.4D, 2.1D) conditions are investigated, and the distribution of temperature field and flow field were analyzed. The results show that double-wave trench effectively improves the film cooling effectiveness and the uniformity of jet at the downstream wall of the trench. The span-wise averaged film cooling effectiveness of the double-wave trench model increases 20–63% comparing with that of the transverse trench at high blowing ratio. The anti-counter-rotating vortices which can press the film on near-wall are formed at the downstream wall of the double-wave trench. With the double-wave trench width decreasing, the film cooling effectiveness gradually reduces at the hole center-line region of the downstream trench. With the increase of the blowing ratio, the span-wise averaged heat transfer coefficient increases. The span-wise averaged heat transfer coefficient of the double-wave trench with 0.8D and 2.1D trench width is higher than that of the double-wave trench with 1.4D trench width at the high blowing ratio conditions.


Author(s):  
Vijay K. Garg

A multi-block, three-dimensional Navier-Stokes code has been used to compute heat transfer coefficient on the blade, hub and shroud for a rotating high-pressure turbine blade with 172 film-cooling holes in eight rows. Film cooling effectiveness is also computed on the adiabatic blade. Wilcox’s k-ω model is used for modeling the turbulence. Of the eight rows of holes, three are staggered on the shower-head with compound-angled holes. With so many holes on the blade it was somewhat of a challenge to get a good quality grid on and around the blade and in the tip clearance region. The final multi-block grid consists of 4784 elementary blocks which were merged into 276 super blocks. The viscous grid has over 2.2 million cells. Each hole exit, in its true oval shape, has 80 cells within it so that coolant velocity, temperature, k and ω distributions can be specified at these hole exits. It is found that for the given parameters, heat transfer coefficient on the cooled, isothermal blade is highest in the leading edge region and in the tip region. Also, the effectiveness over the cooled, adiabatic blade is the lowest in these regions. Results for an uncooled blade are also shown, providing a direct comparison with those for the cooled blade. Also, the heat transfer coefficient is much higher on the shroud as compared to that on the hub for both the cooled and the uncooled cases.


1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. V. Nirmalan ◽  
L. D. Hylton

This paper presents the effects of downstream film cooling, with and without leading edge showerhead film cooling, on turbine vane external heat transfer. Steady-state experimental measurements were made in a three-vane, linear, two-dimensional cascade. The principal independent parameters—Mach number, Reynolds number, turbulence, wall-to-gas temperature ratio, coolant-to-gas temperature ratio, and coolant-to-gas pressure ratio—were maintained over ranges consistent with actual engine conditions. The test matrix was structured to provide an assessment of the independent influence of parameters of interest, namely, exit Mach number, exit Reynolds number, coolant-to-gas temperature ratio, and coolant-to-gas pressure ratio. The vane external heat transfer data obtained in this program indicate that considerable cooling benefits can be achieved by utilizing downstream film cooling. The downstream film cooling process was shown to be a complex interaction of two competing mechanisms. The thermal dilution effect, associated with the injection of relatively cold fluid, results in a decrease in the heat transfer to the airfoil. Conversely, the turbulence augmentation, produced by the injection process, results in increased heat transfer to the airfoil. The data presented in this paper illustrate the interaction of these variables and should provide the airfoil designer and computational analyst with the information required to improve heat transfer design capabilities for film-cooled turbine airfoils.


Author(s):  
G. Barigozzi ◽  
A. Perdichizzi ◽  
L. Abba ◽  
L. Pestelli

Abstract The present paper reports on an experimental investigation on the aerodynamic and heat transfer performance of different platform cooling schemes: two based on cylindrical and shaped holes and one featuring a slot located upstream of the leading edge plane simulating the combustor to stator interface gap. Tests were run on a 6-vane cascade operated at an isentropic cascade exit Mach number of 0.4 and a significant inlet turbulence intensity level of about 9%. The cooling schemes were first tested to quantify their impact on secondary flows and related losses for variable injection conditions. Heat transfer performance was then assessed through adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient measurements. The Net Heat Flux Reduction parameter was then computed to critically assess the cooling schemes. When compared with the cylindrical hole scheme, shaped holes outperform for all tested injection rates, while the slot alone is able to thermally protect only the front of the passage. Discrete holes are required to cool the platform region along the whole pressure side and the suction side leading edge region.


2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason E. Albert ◽  
David G. Bogard

A significant challenge of utilizing coal-derived synthetic fuels for gas turbine engines is mitigating the adverse effects of fuel-born contaminant deposits on film cooled turbine surfaces. A new experimental technique has been developed that simulates the key physical, but not the chemical, aspects of coal ash deposition on film cooled turbine airfoil leading edges in order to better understand the interaction between film cooling and deposition and to produce improved film cooling designs. In this large-scale wind tunnel facility, the depositing contaminants were modeled with atomized molten wax droplets sized to match the Stokes numbers of coal ash particles in the engine conditions. The sticking mechanism of the molten contaminants to the turbine surfaces was modeled by ensuring the wax droplets remained somewhat molten when they arrived at the cooled model surface. The airfoil model and wax deposits had thermal conductivities such that they matched the Biot numbers of clean and fouled turbine airfoils at engine conditions. The behavior of the deposit growth was controlled by adjusting the mainstream, coolant, and wax solidification temperatures. Simulated deposits were created for a range of test durations, film cooling blowing ratios, and controlling temperatures. Inspection of the resulting deposits revealed aspects of the flow field that augment and suppress deposition. Deposit thickness was found to increase in time until an equilibrium thickness was attained. Blowing ratio and the difference between mainstream and wax solidification temperatures strongly affected characteristics of the deposits. Model surface temperatures greatly reduced under the deposits as they developed.


Author(s):  
Rui-dong Wang ◽  
Cun-liang Liu ◽  
Hai-yong Liu ◽  
Hui-ren Zhu ◽  
Qi-ling Guo ◽  
...  

Heat transfer of the counter-inclined cylindrical and laid-back holes with and without impingement on the turbine vane leading edge model are investigated in this paper. To obtain the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient, transient temperature measurement technique on complete surface based on double thermochromic liquid crystals is used in this research. A semi-cylinder model is used to model the vane leading edge which is arranged with two rows of holes. Four test models are measured under four blowing ratios including cylindrical film holes with and without impingement tube structure, laid-back film holes with and without impingement tube structure. This is the second part of a two-part paper, the first part paper GT2018-76061 focuses on film cooling effectiveness and this study will focus on heat transfer. Contours of surface heat transfer coefficient and laterally averaged result are presented in this paper. The result shows that the heat transfer coefficient on the surface of the leading edge is enhanced with the increase of blowing ratio for same structure. The shape of the high heat transfer coefficient region gradually inclines to span-wise direction as the blowing ratio increases. Heat transfer coefficient in the region where the jet core flows through is relatively lower, while in the jet edge region the heat transfer coefficient is relatively higher. Compared with cylindrical hole, laid-back holes give higher heat transfer coefficient. Meanwhile, the introduction of impingement also makes heat transfer coefficient higher compared with cross flow air intake. It is found that the heat transfer of the combination of laid-back hole and impingement tube can be very high under large blowing ratio which should get attention in the design process.


2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinaldo A. Gomes ◽  
Reinhard Niehuis

Film cooling experiments were run at the high speed cascade wind tunnel of the University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich. The investigations were carried out with a linear cascade of highly loaded turbine blades. The main objectives of the tests were to assess the film cooling effectiveness and the heat transfer in zones with main flow separation. Therefore, the blades were designed to force the flow to detach on the pressure side shortly downstream of the leading edge and reattach at about half of the axial chord. In this zone, film cooling rows are placed among others for a reduction of the size of the separation bubble. The analyzed region on the blade is critical due to the high heat transfer present at the leading edge and at the reattachment line after the main flow separation. Film cooling can contribute to a reduction of the size of the separation bubble reducing aerodynamic losses, however, in general, it increases heat transfer due to turbulent mixing. The reduction of the size of the separation bubble might also be twofold, since it acts like a thermal insulator on the blade and reducing the size of the bubble might lead to a stronger heating of the blade. Film cooling should, therefore, take both into account: first, a proper protection of the surface and second, reducing aerodynamic losses, diminishing the extension of the main flow separation. While experimental results of the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness were shown in previous publications, the local heat transfer is analyzed in this paper. Emphasis is also placed upon analyzing, in detail, the flow separation process. Furthermore, the tests comprise the analysis of the effect of different outlet Mach and Reynolds numbers and film cooling. In part two of this paper, the overall film cooling effectiveness is addressed. Local heat transfer is still difficult to predict with modern numerical tools and this is especially true for complex flows with flow separation. Some numerical results with the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and large eddy simulation (LES) show the capability of a commercial solver in predicting the heat transfer.


Author(s):  
Cuong Q. Nguyen ◽  
Perry L. Johnson ◽  
Bryan C. Bernier ◽  
Son H. Ho ◽  
Jayanta S. Kapat

Data from conical-shaped film cooling holes is extremely sparse in open literature, especially the cooling uniformity characteristic, an important criterion for evaluating any film cooling design. The authors will compare the performance of conical-shaped holes to cylindrical-shaped holes. Cylindrical-shaped holes are often considered a baseline in terms of film cooling effectiveness and cooling uniformity coefficient. The authors will study two coupons with conical-shaped holes, which have 3° and 6° diffusion angles, named CON3 and CON6 respectively. A conjugate heat transfer computational fluid dynamics model and an experimental wind tunnel will be used to study these coupons. The three configurations: cylindrical baseline, CON3, and CON6, have a single row of holes with an inlet metering diameter of 3mm, length-to-nominal diameter of 4.3, and an injection angle of 30°. In this study, the authors will also take into account the heat transfer into the coolant flow from the coolant channel. In other words, coolant temperature at the exit of the coolant hole will be different than that measured at the inlet, and the conjugate heat transfer model will be used to correct for this difference. For the numerical model, the realizable k-ε turbulent model will be applied with a second order of discretization and enhanced wall treatment to provide the highest accuracy available. Grid independent studies for both cylindrical-shaped film cooling holes and conical-shaped holes will be performed and the results will be compared to data in open literature as well as in-house experimental data. Results show that conical-shaped holes considerably outperform cylindrical-shaped holes in film cooling effectiveness at all blowing ratios. In terms of cooling uniformity, conical-shaped holes perform better than cylindrical-shaped holes for low and mid-range blowing ratios, but not at higher levels.


Author(s):  
Sumanta Acharya ◽  
Huitao Yang ◽  
Srinath V. Ekkad ◽  
Chander Prakash ◽  
Ron Bunker

Numerical simulations of flow and heat transfer are presented for a GE-E3 turbine blade with a film-cooled tip. Results are presented for both a flat tip and a squealer tip. Straight-through coolant holes are considered, and the calculation domain includes the flow development in the coolant delivery tubes. Results are presented with three different tip gaps representing 1%, 1.5% and 2.5% of blade span, a blowing ratio (ratio of coolant-jet-exit velocity to average passage flow velocity) of 1, and an inlet turbulence intensity of 6.1%. On a flat tip, film coolant injection is shown to lower the local pressure ratio and alters the nature of the leakage vortex. High film cooling effectiveness and low heat transfer coefficients are obtained along the coolant trajectory; these values increase slightly with increasing tip clearances. For a squealer tip, the flow inside the squealer cavity exhibits streamwise directed flow, which alters the trajectory of the coolant jets and reduces their effectiveness.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document