Study On Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of a New-Proposed Alternating Elliptical U-Channel in the Mid-Chord Region of Gas Turbine Blade

Author(s):  
Kun Xiao ◽  
Juan He ◽  
Zhenping Feng

Abstract This paper proposed an alternating elliptical U-bend cooling channel which can be applied in the mid-chord region of gas turbine blade and manufactured by precision casting, based on the optimal flow field structure deduced from the Field Synergy Principle, and investigated the flow and heat transfer characteristics in this alternating elliptical U-bend cooling channel thoroughly. Numerical simulations were performed by using 3D steady solver of Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) with the standard k-e turbulence model. The influence of alternating of cross section on heat transfer and pressure drop of the channel was studied by comparing with the smooth elliptical U-bend channel. On this basis, the effect of aspect ratio (length ratio of the major axis to the minor axis) and alternating angle were further investigated. The results showed that, in the first pass of the alternating elliptical U-bend channel, for different Re, four or eight longitudinal vortices were generated. In the second pass, the alternating elliptical channel restrained the flow separation to a certain extent and a double-vortex structure was formed. The average Nusselt number of the alternating elliptical U-bend channel was significantly higher than that of the straight channel, but the pressure loss only increased slightly. With the increase of aspect ratio, the thermal performance of the channel increased, and when the alternating angle is between 40° and 90°, the thermal performance nearly kept constant and also the best.

Author(s):  
Ken-ichi Funazaki ◽  
Hikaru Odagiri ◽  
Takeshi Horiuchi ◽  
Masahide Kazari

Accurate temperature prediction of turbine blades for gas turbine is very important to assure the life-span of the blade under a hostile hot gas environment and intense centrifugal force. Therefore, there have been a number of studies carried out to clarify the cooling performance of serpentine cooling channel inside a turbine blade for gas turbine, however, it remains to be quite difficult to make an accurate numerical prediction of the performance. Apart from the effects of disk rotation as well as large temperature gradient near the wall, such a poor predictability can be attributed to the complicated vortical motions caused by the rib-roughened cooling channel whose cross-sectional shape varies along the channel and by the existence of u-bends. Furthermore, since the cooling channel inside a real turbine blade usually has a curved or S-shaped inlet, which may induce flow separation as well as swirl developed in the inlet, it can be imagined that the flow and heat transfer inside the cooling channel is likely to become much more complicated than that with a straight inlet. Despite this situation, only few studies are made in order to examine the flow and heat transfer characteristics inside the cooling channel with s-shaped inlet. Accordingly, this study aims at detailed experimental and numerical investigations on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of a realistic serpentine rib-roughened cooling channel with an s-shaped inlet, which is modeled from an actual HP turbine blade for gas turbine. This study employs a transient TLC (Thermochromic Liquid Crystal) technique to measure the heat transfer characteristics, along with the flow visualization on the inner surface of the channel using oil mixed with titanium powder. Note that a special focus in this flow visualization is placed on the area of s-shaped inlet. As for the flow measurement, 2D-PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) method is used to understand time-dependent vortical structures of the flow field that can have significant impacts on the heat transfer. RANS-based numerical simulation is also executed to predict the heat transfer distribution on the inner surface of the cooling channel.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Farah Nazifa Nourin ◽  
Ryoichi S. Amano

Abstract The study presents the investigation on heat transfer distribution along a gas turbine blade internal cooling channel. Six different cases were considered in this study, using the smooth surface channel as a baseline. Three different dimples depth-to-diameter ratios with 0.1, 0.25, and 0.50 were considered. Different combinations of partial spherical and leaf dimples were also studied with the Reynolds numbers of 6,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, and 50,000. In addition to the experimental investigation, the numerical study was conducted using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to validate the data. It was found that the highest depth-to-diameter ratio showed the highest heat transfer rate. However, there is a penalty for increased pressure drop. The highest pressure drop affects the overall thermal performance of the cooling channel. The results showed that the leaf dimpled surface is the best cooling channel based on the highest Reynolds number's heat transfer enhancement and friction factor. However, at the lowest Reynolds number, partial spherical dimples with a 0.25 depth to diameter ratio showed the highest thermal performance.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (01) ◽  
pp. 1350008 ◽  
Author(s):  
NAE-HYUN KIM ◽  
KANG-JONG LEE ◽  
JI-CHAO HAN ◽  
BYUNG-NAM CHOI

Experiments were conducted on sine wave fin-and-tube heat exchangers having oval tubes of 0.6 aspect ratio. Twelve samples having different fin pitches and tube rows were tested. Eight herringbone wave fin-and-tube heat exchangers having round tubes were also tested. For round tube samples, the effect of tube row on j factor is not prominent. For oval tube samples, however, the highest j factor is observed for two row configuration, whereas the lowest one is observed for one row configuration. Possible reasoning is provided considering the flow and heat transfer characteristics of sine wave channel combined with connecting oval tubes. The friction factor decreases as number of tube row increases. Comparison with round tube samples reveals that airside performance of oval fin-and-tube heat exchangers is generally superior except for one-row configuration.


Author(s):  
Domenico Borello ◽  
Giovanni Delibra ◽  
Cosimo Bianchini ◽  
Antonio Andreini

Internal cooling of gas turbine blade represents a challenging task involving several different phenomena as, among others, highly three-dimensional unsteady fluid flow, efficient heat transfer and structural design. This paper focuses on the analysis of the turbulent flow and heat transfer inside a typical wedge–shaped trailing edge cooling duct of a gas turbine blade. In the configuration under scrutiny the coolant flows inside the duct in radial direction and it leaves the blade through the trailing edge after a 90 deg turning. At first an analysis of the flow and thermal fields in stationary conditions was carried out. Then the effects of rotational motion were investigated for a rotation number of 0.275. The rotation axis here considered is normal to the inflow and outflow bulk velocity, representing schematically a highly loaded blade configuration. The work aimed to i) analyse the dynamic of the vortical structures under the influence of strong body forces and the constraints induced by the internal geometry and ii) to study the impact of such motions on the mechanisms of heat removal. The final aim was to verify the design of the equipment and to detect the possible presence of regions subjected to high thermal loads. The analysis is carried out using the well assessed open source code OpenFOAM written in C++ and widely validated by several scientists and researchers around the world. The unsteadiness of the flow inside the trailing edge required to adopt models that accurately reconstructed the flow field. As the computational costs associated to LES (especially in the near wall regions) largely exceed the available resources, we chose for the simulation the SAS model of Menter, that was validated in a series of benchmark and industrially relevant test cases and allowed to reconstruct a part of the turbulence spectra through a scale-adaptive mechanism. Assessment of the obtained results with steady-state k-ω SST computations and available experimental results was carried out. The present analysis demonstrated that a strong unsteadiness develops inside the trailing edge and that the rotation generated strong secondary motions that enhanced the dynamic of heat removal, leading to a less severe temperature distribution on the heated surface w.r.t the non rotating case.


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