Liquid Crystal Thermography and Its Application to the Study of Convective Heat Transfer

1975 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 442-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Cooper ◽  
R. J. Field ◽  
J. F. Meyer

A thermographic technique is presented that allows visual determination of both qualitative and quantitative heat transfer and fluid flow information to be obtained on heated objects placed in forced convection environments. The technique employs cholesteric liquid crystals as the temperature sensing agent. The liquid crystals indicate temperature by exhibiting brilliant changes in color over discrete, reproducible temperature ranges. The technique has been used to quickly and easily obtain information on the variation of the Nusselt number on a right circular cylinder placed in a crossflow of air. In addition to yielding precise quantitative heat transfer information, the liquid crystal thermographic technique afforded the opportunity to visually observe the effects of flow separation, the separation bubble region, the turbulent boundary layer, and the turbulent wake on the surface temperature of the heated cylinder. The experimental results obtained using the liquid crystal thermographic technique are in close agreement with results obtained by other investigators who have used standard measuring techniques.

Author(s):  
Robert J. Boyle ◽  
Louis M. Russell

Local Stanton numbers were experimentally determined for the endwall surface of a turbine vane passage. A six vane linear cascade having vanes with an axial chord of 13.81 cm was used. Results were obtained for Reynolds numbers based on inlet velocity and axial chord between 73,000 and 495,000. The test section was connected to a low pressure exhaust system. Ambient air was drawn into the test section, inlet velocity was controlled up to a maximum of 59.4 m/sec. The effect of the inlet boundary layer thickness on the endwall heat transfer was determined for a range of test section flow rates. The liquid crystal measurement technique was used to measure heat transfer. Endwall heat transfer was determined by applying electrical power to a foil heater attached to the cascade endwall. The temperature at which the liquid crystal exhibited a specific color was known from a calibration test. Lines showing this specific color were isotherms, and because of uniform heat generation they were also lines of nearly constant heat transfer. Endwall static pressures were measured, along with surveys of total pressure and flow angles at the inlet and exit of the cascade.


Author(s):  
Cengiz Camci ◽  
Boris Glezer

The liquid crystal thermography can be successfully used in both transient and steady-state heat transfer experiments with excellent spatial resolution and good accuracy. Although most of the past liquid crystal based heat transfer studies are reported in the stationary frame, measurements from the rotating frame of turbomachinery systems exist The main objective of the present investigation is to determine the influence of rotation on the color calibration of encapsulated liquid crystals sprayed on the flat surface of a rotating aluminum disk. The investigation is performed for a rotational speed range from 0 rpm to 7500 rpm using three different liquid crystal coatings displaying red at 30, 35 and 45° C, under stationary conditions. An immediate observation from the present study is that the color response of liquid crystals is strongly modified by the centrifugal acceleration of the rotating environment. It is consistently and repeatedly observed that the hue versus temperature curve is continuously shifted toward lower temperatures by increasing rotational speed. The relative shift of the display temperature of the green can be as high as 7°C at 7500 rpm when compared to the temperature of the green observed under stationary conditions. The present study shows that relative shift of the liquid crystal color has a well-defined functional dependency to rotational speed. The shift is linearly proportional to the centrifugal acceleration. It is interesting to note that the individual shift curves of the green for all three liquid crystal coatings collapse into a single curve when they are normalized with respect to their own stationary green values. When the color attribute is selected as “intensity” instead of “hue”, very similar shifts of the temperature corresponding to the intensity maximum value appearing around green is observed. An interpretation of the observed color shift is made from a thermodynamics energy balance point of view.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. von Wolfersdorf ◽  
R. Hoecker ◽  
T. Sattelmayer

A transient heat transfer technique using a heating foil and liquid crystals is described. The basic idea is a step-heating technique, eliminating the local heat flux and the surface temperature during the data reduction. Nonuniformities in the heating pattern are allowed and calibration of the liquid crystals is no longer necessary. They are used as an indicator of an isotherm only. The heat transfer coefficient is deduced from two time measurements. The laminar and turbulent boundary layer flows over a flat plate were tested to verify the applicability and accuracy of the method.


2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Guo ◽  
C. C. Lai ◽  
T. V. Jones ◽  
M. L. G. Oldfield ◽  
G. D. Lock ◽  
...  

The influence of surface roughness on heat transfer coefficient and cooling effectiveness for a fully film cooled three-dimensional nozzle guide vane (NGV) has been measured in a transonic annular cascade using wide band liquid crystal and direct heat flux gages (DHFGs). The liquid crystal methods were used for rough surface measurements and the DHFGs were used for the smooth surfaces. The measurements have been made at engine representative Mach and Reynolds numbers and inlet free-stream turbulence intensity. The aerodynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of the coolant flow have been modeled to represent engine conditions by using a heavy “foreign gas” (30.2 percent SF6 and 69.8 percent Ar by weight). Two cooling geometries (cylindrical and fan-shaped holes) have been tested. The strategies of obtaining accurate heat transfer data using a variety of transient heat transfer measurement techniques under the extreme conditions of transonic flow and high heat transfer coefficient are presented. The surfaces of interest are coated with wide-band thermochromic liquid crystals, which cover the range of NGV surface temperature variation encountered in the test. The liquid crystal has a natural peak-to-peak roughness height of 25 μm creating a transitionally rough surface on the NGV. The time variation of color is processed to give distributions of both heat transfer coefficient and film cooling effectiveness over the NGV surface. The NGV was first instrumented with the DHFGs and smooth surface tests preformed. Subsequently the surface was coated with liquid crystals for the rough surface tests. The DHFGs were then employed as the means of calibrating the liquid crystal layer. The roughness of 25 μm, which is the typical order of roughness for the in-service turbine blades and vanes, increases the heat transfer coefficient by up to 50 percent over the smooth surface level. The film cooling effectiveness is influenced less by the roughness. [S0889-504X(00)00804-7]


2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Terzis ◽  
Christoforos Skourides ◽  
Peter Ott ◽  
Jens von Wolfersdorf ◽  
Bernhard Weigand

Integrally cast turbine airfoils with wall-integrated cooling cavities are greatly applicable in modern turbines providing enhanced heat exchange capabilities compared to conventional cooling passages. In such arrangements, narrow impingement channels can be formed where the generated crossflow is an important design parameter for the achievement of the desired cooling efficiency. In this study, a regulation of the generated crossflow for a narrow impingement channel consisting of a single row of five inline jets is obtained by varying the width of the channel in the streamwise direction. A divergent impingement channel is therefore investigated and compared to a uniform channel of the same open area ratio. Flow field and wall heat transfer experiments are carried out at engine representative Reynolds numbers using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and liquid crystal thermography (LCT). The PIV measurements are taken at planes normal to the target wall along the centerline for each individual jet, providing quantitative flow visualization of jet and crossflow interactions. The heat transfer distributions on the target plate of the channels are evaluated with transient techniques and a multilayer of liquid crystals (LCs). Effects of channel divergence are investigated combining both the heat transfer and flow field measurements. The applicability of existing heat transfer correlations for uniform jet arrays to divergent geometries is also discussed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document