An Experimental and Numerical Study on the Aerothermal Characteristics of a Ribbed Transonic Squealer-Tip Turbine Blade With Purge Flow

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Arisi ◽  
J. Phillips ◽  
W. F. Ng ◽  
S. Xue ◽  
H. K. Moon ◽  
...  

Detailed heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and film cooling effectiveness (Eta) distribution on a squealer-tipped first stage rotor blade were measured using an infrared technique. The blade tip design, obtained from the Solar Turbines, Inc., gas turbine, consists of double purge hole exits and four ribs within the squealer cavity, with a bleeder exit port on the pressure side close to the trailing edge. The tests were carried out in a transient linear transonic wind tunnel facility under land-based engine representative Mach/Reynolds number. Measurements were taken at an inlet turbulent intensity of Tu = 12%, with exit Mach numbers of 0.85 (Reexit = 9.75 × 105) and 1.0 (Reexit = 1.15 × 106) with the Reynolds number based on the blade axial chord and the cascade exit velocity. The tip clearance was fixed at 1% (based on engine blade span) with a purge flow blowing ratio, BR = 1.0. At each test condition, an accompanying numerical study was performed using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations solver ansys fluent to further understand the tip flow characteristics. The results showed that the tip purge flow has a blocking effect on the leakage flow path. Furthermore, the ribs significantly altered the flow (and consequently heat transfer) characteristics within the squealer-tip cavity resulting in a significant reduction in film cooling effectiveness. This was attributed to increased coolant–leakage flow mixing due to increased recirculation within the squealer cavity. Overall, the peak HTC on the cavity floor increased with exit Mach/Reynolds number.

Author(s):  
A. Arisi ◽  
J. Phillips ◽  
W. F. Ng ◽  
S. Xue ◽  
H. K. Moon ◽  
...  

Detailed heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and film cooling effectiveness (Eta) distribution on a squealer tipped first stage rotor blade were measured using an infrared (IR) technique. The blade tip design, obtained from a Solar Turbines Inc. gas turbine, consisted of double purge hole exits and four ribs within the squealer cavity, with a bleeder exit port on the pressure side close to the trailing edge. The tests were carried out in a transient linear transonic wind tunnel facility under land-based engine representative Mach/Reynolds number. Measurements were taken at an inlet turbulent intensity of Tu = 12%, with exit Mach numbers of 0.85 (Reexit=9.75×105) and 1.0 (Reexit = 1.15×106) with the Reynolds number based on the blade axial chord and the cascade exit velocity. The tip clearance was fixed at 1% (based on engine blade span) with a purge flow blowing ratio BR = 1.0. At each test condition, an accompanying numerical study was performed using Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations solver ANSYS Fluent to further understand the tip flow characteristics. The results showed that the tip purge flow has a blocking effect on the leakage flow path. Furthermore, the ribs significantly altered the flow (and consequently heat transfer) characteristics within the squealer tip cavity resulting in a significant reduction in film cooling effectiveness. This was attributed to increased coolant-leakage flow mixing due to increased recirculation within the squealer cavity. Overall, the peak heat transfer coefficient on the cavity floor increased with exit Mach/Reynolds number.


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):  
Andrew F. Chen ◽  
Chao-Cheng Shiau ◽  
Je-Chin Han

The combined effects of inlet purge flow and the slashface leakage flow on the film cooling effectiveness of a turbine blade platform were studied using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions on the endwall were obtained and analyzed. The inlet purge flow was generated by a row of equally-spaced cylindrical injection holes inside a single-tooth generic stator-rotor seal. In addition to the traditional 90 degree (radial outward) injection for the inlet purge flow, injection at a 45 degree angle was adopted to create a circumferential/azimuthal velocity component toward the suction side of the blades, which created a swirl ratio (SR) of 0.6. Discrete cylindrical film cooling holes were arranged to achieve an improved coverage on the endwall. Backward injection was attempted by placing backward injection holes near the pressure side leading edge portion. Slashface leakage flow was simulated by equally-spaced cylindrical injection holes inside a slot. Experiments were done in a five-blade linear cascade with an average turbulence intensity of 10.5%. The inlet and exit Mach numbers were 0.26 and 0.43, respectively. The inlet and exit mainstream Reynolds numbers based on the axial chord length of the blade were 475,000 and 720,000, respectively. The coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios (MFR) were varied from 0.5%, 0.75%, to 1% for the inlet purge flow. For the endwall film cooling holes and slashface leakage flow, blowing ratios (M) of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 were examined. Coolant-to-mainstream density ratios (DR) that range from 1.0 (close to low temperature experiments) to 1.5 (intermediate DR) and 2.0 (close to engine conditions) were also examined. The results provide the gas turbine engine designers a better insight into improved film cooling hole configurations as well as various parametric effects on endwall film cooling when the inlet (swirl) purge flow and slashface leakage flow were incorporated.


Author(s):  
Qihe Huang ◽  
Jiao Wang ◽  
Lei He ◽  
Qiang Xu

A numerical study is performed to simulate the tip leakage flow and heat transfer on the first stage rotor blade tip of GE-E3 turbine, which represents a modern gas turbine blade geometry. Calculations consist of the flat blade tip without and with film cooling. For the flat tip without film cooling case, in order to investigate the effect of tip gap clearance on the leakage flow and heat transfer on the blade tip, three different tip gap clearances of 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.5% of the blade span are considered. And to assess the performance of the turbulence models in correctly predicting the blade tip heat transfer, the simulations have been performed by using four different models (the standard k-ε, the RNG k-ε, the standard k-ω and the SST models), and the comparison shows that the standard k-ω model provides the best results. All the calculations of the flat tip without film cooling have been compared and validated with the experimental data of Azad[1] and the predictions of Yang[2]. For the flat tip with film cooling case, three different blowing ratio (M = 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5) have been studied to the influence on the leakage flow in tip gap and the cooling effectiveness on the blade tip. Tip film cooling can largely reduce the overall heat transfer on the tip. And the blowing ratio M = 1.0, the cooling effect for the blade tip is the best.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Fraas ◽  
Tobias Glasenapp ◽  
Achmed Schulz ◽  
Hans-Jörg Bauer

Internal coolant passages of gas turbine vanes and blades have various orientations relative to the external hot gas flow. As a consequence, the inflow of film cooling holes varies as well. To further identify the influencing parameters of film cooling under varying inflow conditions, the present paper provides detailed experimental data. The generic study is performed in a novel test rig, which enables compliance with all relevant similarity parameters including density ratio. Film cooling effectiveness as well as heat transfer of a 10–10–10 deg laidback fan-shaped cooling hole is discussed. Data are processed and presented over 50 hole diameters downstream of the cooling hole exit. First, the parallel coolant flow setup is discussed. Subsequently, it is compared to a perpendicular coolant flow setup at a moderate coolant channel Reynolds number. For the perpendicular coolant flow, asymmetric flow separation in the diffuser occurs and leads to a reduction of film cooling effectiveness. For a higher coolant channel Reynolds number and perpendicular coolant flow, asymmetry increases and cooling effectiveness is further decreased. An increase in blowing ratio does not lead to a significant increase in cooling effectiveness. For all cases investigated, heat transfer augmentation due to film cooling is observed. Heat transfer is highest in the near-hole region and decreases further downstream. Results prove that coolant flow orientation has a severe impact on both parameters.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen P. Lynch ◽  
Karen A. Thole

Turbine blade components in an engine are typically designed with gaps between parts due to manufacturing, assembly, and operational considerations. Coolant is provided to these gaps to limit the ingestion of hot combustion gases. The interaction of the gaps, their leakage flows, and the complex vortical flow at the endwall of a turbine blade can significantly impact endwall heat transfer coefficients and the effectiveness of the leakage flow in providing localized cooling. In particular, a platform gap through the passage, representing the mating interface between adjacent blades in a wheel, has been shown to have a significant effect. Other important turbine blade features present in the engine environment are nonaxisymmetric contouring of the endwall, and an upstream rim seal with a gaspath cavity, which can reduce and increase endwall vortical flow, respectively. To understand the platform gap leakage effect in this environment, measurements of endwall heat transfer, and film cooling effectiveness were performed in a scaled blade cascade with a nonaxisymmetric contour in the passage. A rim seal with a cavity, representing the overlap interface between a stator and rotor, was included upstream of the blades and a nominal purge flowrate of 0.75% of the mainstream was supplied to the rim seal. The results indicated that the endwall heat transfer coefficients increased as the platform gap net leakage increased from 0% to 0.6% of the mainstream flowrate, but net heat flux to the endwall was reduced due to high cooling effectiveness of the leakage flow.


Author(s):  
Huitao Yang ◽  
Hamn-Ching Chen ◽  
Je-Chin Han

The blade tip is one area that experiences high heat transfer due to the strong tip leakage flow. One of the common methods is to apply film cooling on tip to reduce the heat load. To get a better film cooling, different arrangements of film holes on the plane and squealer tips have been numerically studied with the Reynolds stress turbulence model and non-equilibrium wall function. The present study investigated three types of film-hole arrangements: 1) the camber arrangement: the film cooling holes are located on the mid-camber line of tips, 2) the upstream arrangement: the film holes are located upstream of the tip leakage flow and high heat transfer region, and 3) two rows arrangement: the camber and upstream arrangements are combined under the same amount of coolant. In addition, three different blowing ratios (M = 0.5, 1 and 1.5), are evaluated for film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient. The predicted heat transfer coefficients are in good agreement with the experimental data, but the film cooling effectiveness is over predicted on the blade tips.


Author(s):  
Huitao Yang ◽  
Hamn-Ching Chen ◽  
Je-Chin Han

Numerical simulations were performed to predict the effect of cavity purge flow on the rotating blade platform in a 1-1/2 turbine stage using a Reynolds stress turbulence model together with a non-equilibrium wall function. Simulations were carried out with a sliding mesh for the rotor under three rotating speeds (2000, 2550 and 3000 rpm) and three purge-to-mainstream mass flow ratios (0.5%, 1% and 1.5%) to investigate the effects of rotating speed and coolant purging rate on the rotating blade platform film cooling. The adiabatic film cooling effectiveness was evaluated using the adiabatic wall temperatures with and without coolant purging to examine the true effect of coolant protection. The film cooling effectiveness increases with increasing coolant purging flow ratio from 0.5% to 1.5% of mainstream. Higher rotating speed also enhances film cooling effectiveness for the range of rotating speed considered. The predicted laterally averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness is in good agreement with the corresponding experiment data except for the platform leading edge region. However, the detailed effectiveness distribution on the platform is not well predicted by this study. In addition, the detailed instantaneous film cooling effectiveness and the associated heat transfer coefficients for four different time phases are also reported.


Author(s):  
Renzo La Rosa ◽  
Jaideep Pandit ◽  
Wing Ng ◽  
Brett Barker

Abstract Heat transfer experiments were done on a flat plate to study the effect of internal counter-flow backside cooling on adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient. In addition, the effects of density ratio (DR), blowing ratio (BR), diagonal length over diameter (L/D) ratio, and Reynolds number were studied using this new configuration. The results are compared to a conventional plenum fed case. Data were collected up to X/D = 23 where X = 0 at the holes, an S/D = 1.65 and L/D = 1 and 2. Testing was done at low L/D ratios since short holes are normally found in double wall cooling applications in turbine components. A DR of 2 was used in order to simulate engine-like conditions and this was compared to a DR of 0.92 since relevant research is done at similar low DR. The BR range of 0.5 to 1.5 was chosen to simulate turbine conditions as well. In addition, previous research shows that peak effectiveness is found within this range. Infrared (IR) thermography was used to capture temperature contours on the surface of interest and the images were calibrated using a thermocouple and data analyzed through MATLAB software. A heated secondary fluid was used as ‘coolant’ in the present study. A steady state heat transfer model was used to perform the data reduction procedure. Results show that backside cooling configuration has a higher adiabatic film cooling effectiveness when compared to plenum fed configurations at the same conditions. In addition, the trend for effectiveness with varying BR is reversed when compared with traditional plenum fed cases. Yarn flow visualization tests show that flow exiting the holes in the backside cooling configuration is significantly different when compared to flow exiting the plenum fed holes. We hypothesize that backside cooling configuration has flow exiting the holes in various directions, including laterally, and behaving similar to slot film cooling, explaining the differences in trends. Increasing DR at constant BR shows an increase in adiabatic effectiveness and HTC in both backside cooling and plenum fed configurations due to the decreased momentum of the coolant, making film attachment to the surface more probable. The effects of L/D ratio in this study were negligible since both ratios used were small. This shows that the coolant flow is still underdeveloped at both L/D ratios. The study also showed that increasing turbulence through increasing Reynolds number decreased adiabatic effectiveness.


Author(s):  
H. Yang ◽  
Z. Gao ◽  
H. C. Chen ◽  
J. C. Han ◽  
M. T. Schobeiri

Numerical simulations were performed to predict the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient distributions on a rotating blade platform with stator-rotor purge flow and downstream discrete film-hole flows in a 1-1/2 turbine stage using a Reynolds stress turbulence model together with a non-equilibrium wall function. Simulations were carried out with sliding mesh for the rotor under three rotating speeds (2000, 2550, and 3000 rpm) to investigate the effects of rotation and stator-rotor interaction on the rotor blade platform purge flow cooling and discrete-hole film cooling and heat transfer. The adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficients were calculated using the adiabatic wall temperatures with and without coolant to examine the true coolant protection excluding the effect of turbine work process. The stator-rotor interaction strongly impacts the purge slot film cooling and heat transfer at the platform leading portion, while only slightly affects the downstream discrete-hole film cooling near the platform trailing portion. In addition, the effect of turbine work process on the film cooling effectiveness and the associated heat transfer coefficients have been reported.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document