Film Cooling Experiments With Flow Introduced Upstream of a First Stage Nozzle Guide Vane Through Slots of Various Geometries

Author(s):  
Rohit A. Oke ◽  
Terrence W. Simon

This paper describes the advantages of introducing film cooling flow through the endwall upstream of the first stage nozzle guide vane. To perform these studies, a linear cascade is built. It consists of three vanes and two endwalls that form two passages. One endwall is flat and the other is contoured from upstream of the leading edge, continuing through the passage. The approach flow is of high turbulence and large length scale, representative of the engine combustor exit flow. Film cooling flow is introduced through two successive rows of slots, a single row of slots and slots that have particular area distributions in the pitchwise direction. Measurements are taken by heating the film cooling flow slightly above the main flow temperature and recording temperature distributions in the film cooling flow-main flow mixing zone at various axial planes. The single and double slot injection cases represent base-line injection geometries. They show that at lower ratios of coolant to main flow momentum fluxes, film cooling flow migrates toward the suction side due to secondary flow. At higher ratios, the pressure side endwall region is cooled more effectively. Observations are drawn by comparing the baseline injection cases with cases of different geometries for which slots are blocked partially to re-distribute mass and momentum injection rates of the emerging flow. The downstream evolutions of temperature contours are discussed. The idea is to utilize secondary flows to control pitchwise coolant distributions.

Author(s):  
Mahmood H. Alqefl ◽  
Kedar P. Nawathe ◽  
Pingting Chen ◽  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Yong W. Kim ◽  
...  

Abstract The first stage turbine of a modern gas turbine is subjected to high thermal loads which lead to a need for aggressive cooling schemes to protect its components from melting. Endwalls are particularly challenging to cool due to the complex system of secondary flows near them that wash the protective film coolants into the mainstream. This paper shows that without including combustor cooling, the complex secondary flow physics are not representative of modern engines. Aggressive injection of all cooling flows upstream of the passage is expected to interact and change passage aerodynamics and, subsequently, mixing and transport of coolants. This study describes, experimentally, the aero-thermal interaction of cooling flows near the endwall of a first stage nozzle guide vane passage. The test section involves an engine-representative combustor-turbine interface geometry, combustor coolant flow and endwall film cooling flow injected upstream of a linear cascade. The approach flow conditions represent flow exiting a cooled, low-NOx combustor. This first part of this two-part study aims to understand the complex aerodynamics near the endwall through detailed measurements of passage three-dimensional velocity fields with and without endwall film cooling. The aerodynamic measurements reveal a dominant vortex in the passage, named here as the Impingement Vortex, that opposes the passage vortex formed at the airfoil leading edge plane. This Impingement Vortex completely changes our description of flow over a modern film cooled endwall.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-54
Author(s):  
Mahmood H. Alqefl ◽  
Kedar P. Nawathe ◽  
Pingting Chen ◽  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Yong W. Kim ◽  
...  

Abstract The first stage turbine of a modern gas turbine is subjected to high thermal loads which lead to a need for aggressive cooling schemes to protect its components from melting. Endwalls are particularly challenging to cool due to the complex system of secondary flows near them that wash the protective film coolants into the mainstream. This paper shows that without including combustor cooling, the complex secondary flow physics are not representative of modern engines. Aggressive injection of all cooling flows upstream of the passage is expected to interact and change passage aerodynamics and, subsequently, mixing and transport of coolants. This study describes, experimentally, the aero-thermal interaction of cooling flows near the endwall of a first stage nozzle guide vane passage. The test section involves an engine-representative combustor-turbine interface geometry, combustor coolant flow and endwall film cooling flow injected upstream of a linear cascade. The approach flow conditions represent flow exiting a cooled, low-NOx combustor. This first part of this two-part study aims to understand the complex aerodynamics near the endwall through detailed measurements of passage three-dimensional velocity fields with and without endwall film cooling. The aerodynamic measurements reveal a dominant vortex in the passage, named here as the Impingement Vortex, that opposes the passage vortex formed at the airfoil leading edge plane. This Impingement Vortex completely changes our description of flow over a modern film cooled endwall.


Author(s):  
Sean Jenkins ◽  
Krishnakumar Varadarajam ◽  
David G. Bogard

This paper presents the combined effects of high turbulence and film cooling on the dispersion of a simulated hot streak as it passes over a scaled-up nozzle guide vane. Experimental data demonstrates a considerable decay in the strength of a hot streak due to turbulence effects alone. Film cooling further reduces the peak temperature values resulting in a reduction of the peak temperature in the hot streak on the order of 75% relative to the upstream peak temperature in the hot streak. Comparisons are made between high turbulence (Tu = 20%) and moderate turbulence (Tu = 3.5%) as well as between different blowing conditions for the suction side, showerhead, and pressure side film cooling holes on a simulated nozzle guide vane.


Author(s):  
Hans Reiss ◽  
Albin Bölcs

Film cooling and heat transfer measurements were carried out on a cooled nozzle guide vane in a linear cascade, using a transient liquid crystal technique. Three flow conditions were realized: the nominal operating condition of the vane with an exit Reynolds number of 1.47e6, as well as two lower flow conditions: Re2L = 1.0e6 and 7.5e5. The vane model was equipped with a single row of inclined round film cooling holes with compound angle orientation on the suction side. Blowing ratios ranging form 0.3 to 1.5 were covered, all using foreign gas injection (CO2) yielding an engine-representative density ratio of 1.6. Two distinct states of the incoming boundary layer onto the injection station were compared, an undisturbed laminar boundary layer as it forms naturally on the suction side, and a fully turbulent boundary layer which was triggered with a trip wire upstream of injection. The aerodynamic flow field is characterized in terms of profile Mach number distribution, and the associated heat transfer coefficients around the uncooled airfoil are presented. Both detailed and spanwise averaged results of film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficients are shown on the suction side, which indicate considerable influence of the state of the incoming boundary layer on the performance of a film cooling row. The influence of the mainstream flow condition on the film cooling behavior at constant blowing ratio is discussed for three chosen injection regimes.


Author(s):  
A. A. Thrift ◽  
K. A. Thole ◽  
S. Hada

Heat transfer is a critical factor in the durability of gas turbine components, particularly in the first vane. An axisymmetric contour is sometimes used to contract the cross sectional area from the combustor to the first stage vane in the turbine. Such contouring can lead to significant changes in the endwall flows thereby altering the heat transfer. This paper investigates the effect of axisymmetric contouring on endwall heat transfer of a nozzle guide vane. Heat transfer measurements are performed on the endwalls of a planar and contoured passage whereby one endwall is modified with a linear slope in the case of the contoured passage. Included in this study is upstream leakage flow issuing from a slot normal to the inlet axis. Each of the endwalls within the contoured passage presents a unique flowfield. For the contoured passage, the flat endwall is subject to an increased acceleration through the area contraction while the contoured endwall includes both increased acceleration and a turning of streamlines due to the slope. Results indicate heat transfer is reduced on both endwalls of the contoured passage relative to the planar passage. In the case of all endwalls, increasing leakage mass flow rate leads to an increase in heat transfer near the suction side of the vane leading edge.


Author(s):  
Mahmood H. Alqefl ◽  
Kedar P. Nawathe ◽  
Pingting Chen ◽  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Yong W. Kim ◽  
...  

Abstract Flow over gas turbine endwalls is complex and highly three-dimensional. As boundaries for modern engine designs are pushed, this already-complex flow is affected by aggressive application of film cooling flows that actively interact. This two-part study describes, experimentally, the aero-thermal interaction of cooling flows near the endwall of a first stage nozzle guide vane passage. The approach flow conditions represent flow exiting a low-NOx combustor. The test section includes geometric and cooling details of a combustor-turbine interface in addition to endwall film cooling flows injected upstream of the passage. The first part of this study describes in detail, the passage aerodynamics as affected by injection of cooling flows. It reveals a system of secondary flows, including the newly-discovered Impingement Vortex, which redefines our understanding of the aerodynamics of flow in a modern, film-cooled, first-stage vane row. The second part investigates, through thermal measurements, the distribution, mixing and disruption of cooling flows over the endwall. Measurements are made with and without active endwall film cooling. Descriptions are made through adiabatic surface effectiveness measurements and correlations with in-passage velocity (presented in part one) and thermal fields. Results show that the newly-discovered impingement vortex has a positive effect on coolant distribution through passage vortex suppression and by carrying the coolant to hard-to-cool regions in the passage, including the pressure surface near the endwall.


2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmood H. Alqefl ◽  
Kedar P. Nawathe ◽  
Pingting Chen ◽  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Yong W. Kim ◽  
...  

Abstract Modern gas turbines are subjected to very high thermal loading. This leads to a need for aggressive cooling to protect components from damage. Endwalls are particularly challenging to cool due to a complex system of secondary flows near them that wash and disrupt the protective coolant films. This highly three-dimensional flow not only affects but is also affected by the momentum of film cooling flows, whether injected just upstream of the passage to intentionally cool the endwall or as combustor cooling flows injected further upstream in the engine. This complex interaction between the different cooling flows and passage aerodynamics has been recently studied in a first stage nozzle guide vane. The present paper presents a detailed study on the sensitivity of aero-thermal interactions to endwall film cooling mass flow to mainstream flow ratio. The test section represents a first stage nozzle guide vane with a contoured endwall and endwall film cooling injected just upstream of it. The test section also includes an engine-representative combustor–turbine interface geometry with combustor cooling flows injected at a constant rate. The approach flow conditions represent flow exiting a low-NOx combustor. Adiabatic surface thermal measurements and in-passage velocity and thermal field measurements are presented and discussed. The results show the dynamics of passage vortex suppression and the increase of impingement vortex strength as MFR changes. The effects of these changes of secondary flows on coolant distribution are presented.


Author(s):  
W. F. Colban ◽  
K. A. Thole ◽  
G. Zess

Improved durability of gas turbine engines is an objective for both military and commercial aeroengines as well as for power generation engines. One region susceptible to degradation in an engine is the junction between the combustor and first vane given that the main gas path temperatures at this location are the highest. The platform at this junction is quite complex in that secondary flow effects, such as the leading edge vortex, are dominant. Past computational studies have shown that the total pressure profile exiting the combustor dictates the development of the secondary flows that are formed. This study examines the effect of varying the combustor liner film-cooling and junction slot flows on the adiabatic wall temperatures measured on the platform of the first vane. The experiments were performed using large-scale models of a combustor and nozzle guide vane in a wind tunnel facility. The results show that varying the coolant injection from the upstream combustor liner leads to differing total pressure profiles entering the turbine vane passage. Endwall adiabatic effectiveness measurements indicate that the coolant does not exit the upstream combustor slot uniformly but instead accumulates along the suction side of the vane and endwall. Increasing the liner cooling continued to reduce endwall temperatures, which was not found to be true with increasing the film-cooling from the liner.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Mahmood H. Alqefl ◽  
Kedar P. Nawathe ◽  
Pingting Chen ◽  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Yong Kim ◽  
...  

Abstract Flow over gas turbine endwalls is complex and highly three-dimensional. As boundaries for modern engine designs are pushed, this already-complex flow is affected by aggressive application of film cooling flows that actively interact. This two-part study describes, experimentally, the aero-thermal interaction of cooling flows near the endwall of a first stage nozzle guide vane passage. The approach flow conditions represent flow exiting a low-NOx combustor. The test section includes geometric and cooling details of a combustor-turbine interface in addition to endwall film cooling flows injected upstream of the passage. The first part of this study describes in detail, the passage aerodynamics as affected by injection of cooling flows. It reveals a system of secondary flows, including the newly-discovered Impingement Vortex, which redefines our understanding of the aerodynamics of flow in a modern, film-cooled, first-stage vane row. The second part investigates, through thermal measurements, the distribution, mixing and disruption of cooling flows over the endwall. Measurements are made with and without active endwall film cooling. Descriptions are made through adiabatic surface effectiveness measurements and correlations with in-passage velocity (presented in part one) and thermal fields. Results show that the newly-discovered impingement vortex has a positive effect on coolant distribution through passage vortex suppression and by carrying the coolant to hard-to-cool regions in the passage, including the pressure surface near the endwall.


Author(s):  
Ranjan Saha ◽  
Jens Fridh ◽  
Torsten Fransson ◽  
Boris I. Mamaev ◽  
Mats Annerfeldt

An experimental study on a film cooled nozzle guide vane has been conducted in a transonic annular sector to observe the influence of suction and pressure side film cooling on aerodynamic performance. The investigated vane is a typical high pressure gas turbine vane, geometrically similar to a real engine component, operated at an exit reference Mach number of 0.89. The aerodynamic results using a five hole miniature probe are quantified and compared with the baseline case which is uncooled. Results lead to a conclusion that the aerodynamic loss is influenced substantially with the change of the cooling flow rate regardless the positions of the cooling rows. The aerodynamic loss is very sensitive to the blowing ratio and a value of blowing ratio higher than one leads to a considerable higher loss penalty. The suction side film cooling has larger influence on the aerodynamic loss compared to the pressure side film cooling. Pitch-averaged exit flow angles around midspan remain unaffected at moderate blowing ratio. The secondary loss decreases (greater decrease in the tip region compared to the hub region) with inserting cooling air for all cases compared to the uncooled case.


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