Investigation of a Rotor Blade With Tip Cooling Subject to a Nonuniform Temperature Profile

2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harika S. Kahveci
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Profile ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Pressure Side ◽  
Engine Operation ◽  
Pressure Losses ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Temperature Levels

Abstract One of the challenges in the design of a high-pressure turbine blade is that a considerable amount of cooling is required so that the blade can survive high temperature levels during engine operation. Another challenge is that the addition of cooling should not adversely affect blade aerodynamic performance. The typical flat tips used in designs have evolved into squealer form that implements rims on the tip, which has been reported in several studies to achieve better heat transfer characteristics as well as to decrease pressure losses at the tip. This paper demonstrates a numerical study focusing on a squealer turbine blade tip that is operating in a turbine environment matching the typical design ratios of pressure, temperature, and coolant blowing. The blades rotate at a realistic rpm and are subjected to a turbine rotor inlet temperature profile that has a nonuniform shape. For comparison, a uniform profile is also considered as it is typically used in computational studies for simplicity. The effect of tip cooling is investigated by implementing seven holes on the tip near the blade pressure side. Results confirm that the temperature profile nonuniformity and the addition of cooling are the drivers for loss generation, and they further increase losses when combined. Temperature profile migration is not pronounced with a uniform profile but shows distinct features with a nonuniform profile for which hot gas migration toward the blade pressure side is observed. The blade tip also receives higher coolant coverage when subject to the nonuniform profile.

Investigation of a Rotor Blade With Tip Cooling Subject to a Nonuniform Temperature Profile

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harika S. Kahveci
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Temperature Profile ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Pressure Side ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Engine Operation ◽  
Pressure Losses ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
The Impact

Abstract One of the challenges in the design of a high-pressure turbine blade is that a considerable amount of cooling is required so that the blade can survive high temperature levels during engine operation. Another challenge is that the addition of cooling should not adversely affect blade aerodynamic performance. Besides, the tip region of a blade is exposed to further complexities due to tip leakage flow that is known to affect flow features and to cause additional pressure losses. The typical flat tips used in designs have evolved into squealer form that implements rims on the tip, which has been reported in several studies to achieve better heat transfer characteristics as well as to decrease pressure losses at the tip. This paper demonstrates a numerical study focusing on a squealer turbine blade tip that is operating in a turbine environment matching the typical design ratios of pressure, temperature and coolant blowing. The blades rotate at a realistic rpm and are subjected to a turbine rotor inlet temperature profile that has a nonuniform shape. For comparison, a uniform profile is also considered as it is typically used in computational studies for simplicity. The model used in the simulations is the tip section of the GE-E3 first stage blade. Two different configurations with and without cooling are considered using the same tip geometry. The cooled blade tip has seven holes on the tip floor lined up near the blade pressure side. The paper demonstrates the impact of the temperature profile nonuniformity and the addition of cooling on the complex blade tip flow field and heat transfer. Results confirm that these boundary conditions are the drivers for loss generation, and they further increase losses when combined. Temperature profile migration is not pronounced with a uniform profile, but shows distinct features with a nonuniform profile for which hot gas migration toward the blade pressure side is clearly observed. The blade tip also receives higher coolant coverage when subject to the nonuniform profile.

scholarly journals Effects of Tip Clearance Gap and Exit Mach Number on Turbine Blade Tip and Near-Tip Heat Transfer

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Anto ◽  
S. Xue ◽  
W. F. Ng ◽  
L. J. Zhang ◽  
H. K. Moon
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Mach Number ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Pressure Side ◽  
Engine Blade ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Exit Mach Number

This study focuses on local heat transfer characteristics on the tip and near-tip regions of a turbine blade with a flat tip, tested under transonic conditions in a stationary, 2-D linear cascade with high freestream turbulence. The experiments were conducted at the Virginia Tech transonic blow-down wind tunnel facility. The effects of tip clearance and exit Mach number on heat transfer distribution were investigated on the tip surface using a transient infrared thermography technique. In addition, thin film gages were used to study similar effects in heat transfer on the near-tip regions at 94% height based on engine blade span of the pressure and suction sides. Surface oil flow visualizations on the blade tip region were carried-out to shed some light on the leakage flow structure. Experiments were performed at three exit Mach numbers of 0.7, 0.85, and 1.05 for two different tip clearances of 0.9% and 1.8% based on turbine blade span. The exit Mach numbers tested correspond to exit Reynolds numbers of 7.6 × 105, 9.0 × 105, and 1.1 × 106 based on blade true chord. The tests were performed with a high freestream turbulence intensity of 12% at the cascade inlet. Results at 0.85 exit Mach showed that an increase in the tip gap clearance from 0.9% to 1.8% translates into a 3% increase in the average heat transfer coefficients on the blade tip surface. At 0.9% tip clearance, an increase in exit Mach number from 0.85 to 1.05 led to a 39% increase in average heat transfer on the tip. High heat transfer was observed on the blade tip surface near the leading edge, and an increase in the tip clearance gap and exit Mach number augmented this near-leading edge tip heat transfer. At 94% of engine blade height on the suction side near the tip, a peak in heat transfer was observed in all test cases at s/C = 0.66, due to the onset of a downstream leakage vortex, originating from the pressure side. An increase in both the tip gap and exit Mach number resulted in an increase, followed by a decrease in the near-tip suction side heat transfer. On the near-tip pressure side, a slight increase in heat transfer was observed with increased tip gap and exit Mach number. In general, the suction side heat transfer is greater than the pressure side heat transfer, as a result of the suction side leakage vortices.

Numerical Study of Heat Transfer and Cooling Effectiveness on a Flat-Tip Turbine Blade

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qihe Huang ◽  
Jiao Wang ◽  
Lei He ◽  
Qiang Xu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Film Cooling ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Cooling Effectiveness ◽  
Blowing Ratio ◽  
Flow And Heat Transfer ◽  
Blade Tip

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.

Numerical Analysis of Fluid Flow in an Internal Turbine Blade Cooling Passage

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc L. Babich ◽  
Song-Lin Yang ◽  
Donna J. Michalek ◽  
Oner Arici
Keyword(s):  
Turbine Blade ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Internal Cooling ◽  
Grid Turbulence ◽  
Turbine Blade Cooling ◽  
Blade Cooling ◽  
Cooling Passage

The need to develop ultra-high efficiency turbines demands the exploration of methods which will improve the thermal efficiency and the specific thrust of the engine. One means of achieving these goals is to increase the turbine inlet temperature. In order to accomplish this, further advances in turbine blade cooling technology will have to be realized. A technique which has only recently been used in the analysis of turbine blade cooling is computational fluid dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to present a numerical study of the flowfield inside of the internal cooling passage of a radial turbine blade. The passage is modeled as two-dimensional and non-rotating. The flowfield solutions are obtained using a pseudo-compressible formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations. The spatial discretization is performed using a symmetric second-order accurate TVD (Total Variational Diminishing) scheme. Calculations are performed on a multi-block-structured grid. Turbulence is modeled using a modified κ-ω model. In the absence of experimental data, results appear to be realistic based on common experiences with fluid mechanics.

Numerical Study of Heat Transfer in Novel Wavy Trailing Edge Design for Gas Turbine Airfoils

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarwesh Parbat ◽  
Li Yang ◽  
Minking Chyu ◽  
Sin Chien Siw ◽  
Ching-Pang Lee
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Protective Film ◽  
Pressure Side ◽  
Trailing Edge

Abstract The strive to achieve increasingly higher efficiencies in gas turbine power generation has led to a continued rise in the turbine inlet temperature. As a result, novel cooling approaches for gas turbine blades are necessary to maintain them within the material’s thermal mechanical performance envelope. Various internal and external cooling technologies are used in different parts of the blade airfoil to provide the desired levels of cooling. Among the different regions of the blade profile, the trailing edge (TE) presents additional cooling challenges due to the thin cross section and high thermal loads. In this study, a new wavy geometry for the TE has been proposed and analyzed using steady state numerical simulations. The wavy TE structure resembled a sinusoidal wave running along the span of the blade. The troughs on both pressure side and suction side contained the coolant exit slots. As a result, consecutive coolant exit slots provided an alternating discharge between the suction side and the pressure side of the blade. Steady state conjugate heat transfer simulations were carried out using CFX solver for four coolant to mainstream mass flow ratios of 0.45%, 1%, 1.5% and 3%. The temperature distribution and film cooling effectiveness in the TE region were compared to two conventional geometries, pressure side cutback and centerline ejection which are widely used in vanes and blades for both land-based and aviation gas turbine engines. Unstructured mesh was generated for both fluid and solid domains and interfaces were defined between the two domains. For turbulence closer, SST-kω model was used. The wall y+ was maintained < 1 by using inflation layers at all the solid fluid interfaces. The numerical results depicted that the alternating discharge from the wavy TE was able to form protective film coverage on both the pressure and suction side of the blade. As a result, significant reduction in the TE metal was observed which was up to 14% lower in volume averaged temperature in the TE region when compared to the two baseline conventional configurations.

Time-Averaged and Time-Accurate Aero-Dynamics for the Recessed Tip Cavity of a High-Pressure Turbine Blade and the Outer Stationary Shroud: Comparison of Computational and Experimental Results

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian R. Green ◽  
John W. Barter ◽  
Charles W. Haldeman ◽  
Michael G. Dunn
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Single Stage ◽  
Cfd Modeling ◽  
Blade Surface ◽  
High Pressure Turbine ◽  
Pressure Transducers ◽  
Blade Tip

The unsteady aero-dynamics of a single-stage high-pressure turbine blade operating at design corrected conditions has been the subject of a thorough study involving detailed measurements and computations. The experimental configuration consisted of a single-stage high-pressure turbine and the adjacent, downstream, low-pressure turbine nozzle row. All three blade-rows were instrumented at three spanwise locations with flush-mounted, high frequency response pressure transducers. The rotor was also instrumented with the same transducers on the blade tip and platform and the stationary shroud was instrumented with pressure transducers at specific locations above the rotating blade. Predictions of the time-dependent flow field around the rotor were obtained using MSU-TURBO, a 3D, non-linear, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Using an isolated blade-row unsteady analysis method, the unsteady surface pressure for the high-pressure turbine rotor due to the upstream high-pressure turbine nozzle was calculated. The predicted unsteady pressure on the rotor surface was compared to the measurements at selected spanwise locations on the blade, in the recessed cavity, and on the shroud. The rig and computational models included a flat and recessed blade tip geometry and were used for the comparisons presented in the paper. Comparisons of the measured and predicted static pressure loading on the blade surface show excellent correlation from both a time-average and time-accurate standpoint. This paper concentrates on the tip and shroud comparisons between the experiments and the predictions and these results also show good correlation with the time-resolved data. These data comparisons provide confidence in the CFD modeling and its ability to capture unsteady flow physics on the blade surface, in the flat and recessed tip regions of the blade, and on the stationary shroud.

Effect of Squealer Geometry Arrangement on a Gas Turbine Blade Tip Heat Transfer

2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gm Salam Azad ◽  
Je-Chin Han ◽  
Ronald S. Bunker ◽  
C. Pang Lee
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Pressure Side ◽  
Gas Turbine Blade ◽  
Blade Tip

This study investigates the effect of a squealer tip geometry arrangement on heat transfer coefficient and static pressure distributions on a gas turbine blade tip in a five-bladed stationary linear cascade. A transient liquid crystal technique is used to obtain detailed heat transfer coefficient distribution. The test blade is a linear model of a tip section of the GE E3 high-pressure turbine first stage rotor blade. Six tip geometry cases are studied: (1) squealer on pressure side, (2) squealer on mid camber line, (3) squealer on suction side, (4) squealer on pressure and suction sides, (5) squealer on pressure side plus mid camber line, and (6) squealer on suction side plus mid camber line. The flow condition during the blowdown tests corresponds to an overall pressure ratio of 1.32 and exit Reynolds number based on axial chord of 1.1×106. Results show that squealer geometry arrangement can change the leakage flow and results in different heat transfer coefficients to the blade tip. A squealer on suction side provides a better benefit compared to that on pressure side or mid camber line. A squealer on mid camber line performs better than that on a pressure side.

Numerical Study of the Flow Past a Turbine Blade Tip: Effect of Relative Motion Between Blade and Shroud

2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumanta Acharya ◽  
Louis Moreaux
Keyword(s):  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Relative Motion ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Static Case ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Geometric Effects ◽  
Blade Tips

Turbine blade tips are often the most susceptible to material failure due to the high-speed leakage flow and associated large thermal loadings. In this paper, the effect of the blade rotation and relative motion between the blade tip and shroud is studied numerically. Three different simulations have been undertaken: (1) a static case where the blade and the shroud are stationary (used as the reference case) (2) a linearly moving blade (or shroud) and (3) a rotating blade. Comparisons between cases 1 and 2 identify the effects of relative motion, while comparison between cases 2 and 3 delineate the effects of rotational Coriolis and centrifugal forces. Geometric effects were also studied through different combinations of tip gaps and squealer depths with the relative motion and rotational effects included. The calculations were done using a commercial flow solver, Fluent, using a block body-fitted mesh, Reynolds-averaged transport equations and a turbulence model. Results confirm the significant effects of the relative motion between the blade tip and shroud, and indicate that the assumption of pressure-driven leakage flows for blade tips is inappropriate. While rotational forces also play a role, the magnitude of their effects are relatively small compared to the relative motion effects. Geometric effects are also important with the lower tip clearance reducing leakage flow and allowing the tip coolant to migrate towards the SS with relative motion.

Transonic Passage Turbine Blade Tip Clearance With Scalloped Shroud: Part III — Heat Transfer in Engine Configuration

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Casey Wilkins ◽  
Gregory M. Feldman ◽  
Wayne S. Strasser ◽  
James H. Leylek
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Viscous Sublayer ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Constant Wall Heat Flux ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Large Scale Land

This work presents a numerical study that was done to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of a transonic turbine blade with a scalloped shroud operating at realistic engine conditions typical of those found in a large scale, land-based gas turbine. The geometry under investigation was an infinite, linear cascade composed of the same blade and shroud design used in an experimental test rig by the research sponsor. This simulation was run for varying nominal tip clearances of 20, 80, and 5.08 mm. For each of these clearances, the simulation was run with and without the scrubbing effects of the outer casing, resulting in a total of six cases that could be used to determine the influence of tip clearance and relative casing motion on heat transfer. A high quality grid (ranging from approximately 10–12 million finite volumes depending on tip clearance) with y+ for first layer cells at or below 1.0 everywhere was used to resolve the flow down to the viscous sublayer. The “realizable” k-ε turbulence model was used for all cases. A constant wall heat flux was imposed on all the surrounding surfaces to obtain heat transfer data. Results produced include a full map of heat transfer coefficients for the suction and pressure surfaces of the blade as well as the tip, shroud, and outer casing for every case. Physical mechanisms responsible for the final heat transfer outcome for all six cases are documented.

Turbine Blade Tip Clearance Measurement Utilizing Borescope Photography

1978 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Chandler ◽  
A. R. Finkelstein
Keyword(s):  
Fiber Optics ◽  
Dimensional Analysis ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Test Procedure ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Blade Tip Clearance

In this paper, a technique is presented for the detrmination of turbine rotor bade tip-to-stationary shroud clearance requirements utilizing fiber optics. To accomplish these tip clearance determinations, special rub pins were installed in the turbine shrouds, or tip-shoes, of a 10,000-hp engine. A test procedure was created based upon a transient dimensional analysis, and a cooled borescope and camera were developed. The clearances are presented from a series of successive engine tests.

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