Heat Transfer in Turbine Hub Cavities Adjacent to the Main Gas Path Including FE-CFD Coupled Thermal Analysis

Author(s):  
Antonio Guijarro Valencia ◽  
Jeffrey A. Dixon ◽  
Attilio Guardini ◽  
Daniel D. Coren ◽  
Daniel Eastwood

Reliable means of predicting heat transfer in cavities adjacent to the main gas path are increasingly being sought by engineers involved in the design of gas turbines. In this paper an up-dated analysis of the interim results from an extended research programme, MAGPI, sponsored by the EU and several leading gas turbine manufactures and universities, will be presented. Extensive use is made of CFD and FE modelling techniques to understand the thermo-mechanical behaviour and convective heat transfer of a turbine stator well cavity, including the interaction of cooling air supply with the main annulus gas. It is also important to establish the hot running seal clearances for a full understanding of the cooling flow distribution and heat transfer in the cavity. The objective of the study has been to provide a means of optimising the design of such cavities (see Figure 1) for maintaining a safe environment for critical parts, such as disc rims and blade fixings, whilst maximising the turbine efficiency by means of reducing the fuel burn and emissions penalties associated with the secondary airflow system. The modelling methods employed have been validated against data gathered from a dedicated two-stage turbine rig, running at engine representative conditions. Extensive measurements are available for a range of flow conditions and alternative cooling arrangements. The analysis method has been used to inform a design change which will be tested in a second test phase. Data from this test will also be used to further benchmark the analysis method. Comparisons are provided between the predictions and measurements from the original configuration, turbine stator well component temperature survey, including the use of a coupled analysis technique between FE and CFD solutions.

Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Dixon ◽  
Antonio Guijarro ◽  
Andreas Bauknecht ◽  
Daniel Coren ◽  
Nick Atkins

Reliable means of predicting heat transfer in cavities adjacent to the main gas path are increasingly being sought by engineers involved in the design of gas turbines. In this paper an interim summary of the results of a four-year research programme sponsored by the EU and several leading gas turbine manufactures and universities will be presented. Extensive use is made of CFD and FE modelling techniques to understand the thermo-mechanical behaviour of a turbine stator well cavity, including the interaction of cooling air supply with the main annulus gas (see Figure 1). The objective of the study has been to provide a means of optimising the design of such cavities for maintaining a safe environment for critical parts, such as disc rims and blade fixings, whilst maximising the turbine efficiency, and minimising the fuel burn and emissions penalties associated with the secondary airflow system. The modelling methods employed have been validated against data gathered from a dedicated two-stage turbine rig, running at engine representative conditions. Extensive measurements are available for a range of flow conditions and alternative cooling arrangements. The analysis method has been used to inform a design change which is also to be tested. Comparisons are provided between the predictions and measurements of the turbine stator well component temperature.


2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Dixon ◽  
Antonio Guijarro Valencia ◽  
Andreas Bauknecht ◽  
Daniel Coren ◽  
Nick Atkins

Reliable means of predicting heat transfer in cavities adjacent to the main gas path are increasingly being sought by engineers involved in the design of gas turbines. In this paper, an interim summary of the results of a five-year research program sponsored by the European Union (EU) and several leading gas turbine manufacturers and universities will be presented. Extensive use is made of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element (FE) modeling techniques to understand the thermo-mechanical behavior of a turbine stator well cavity, including the interaction of cooling air supply with the main annulus gas. The objective of the study has been to provide a means of optimizing the design of such cavities for maintaining a safe environment for critical parts, such as disc rims and blade fixings, while maximizing the turbine efficiency and minimizing the fuel burn and emissions penalties associated with the secondary airflow system. The modeling methods employed have been validated against data gathered from a dedicated two-stage turbine rig running at engine representative conditions. Extensive measurements are available for a range of flow conditions and alternative cooling arrangements. The analysis method has been used to inform a design change, which is also to be tested. Comparisons are provided between the predictions and measurements of the turbine stator well component temperature.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Dixon ◽  
Antonio Guijarro Valencia ◽  
Daniel Coren ◽  
Daniel Eastwood ◽  
Christopher Long

This paper summarises the work of a 5-year research programme into the heat transfer within cavities adjacent to the main annulus of a gas turbine. The work has been a collaboration between several gas turbine manufacturers, also involving a number of universities working together. The principal objective of the study has been to develop and validate computer modelling methods of the cooling flow distribution and heat transfer management, in the environs of multi-stage turbine disc rims and blade fixings, with a view to maintaining component and sub-system integrity, whilst achieving optimum engine performance and minimising emissions. A fully coupled analysis capability has been developed using combinations of commercially available and in-house computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element (FE) thermo-mechanical modelling codes. The main objective of the methodology is to help decide on optimum cooling configurations for disc temperature, stress and life considerations. The new capability also gives us an effective means of validating the method by direct use of disc temperature measurements, where otherwise, additional and difficult to obtain parameters, such as reliable heat flux measurements, would be considered necessary for validation of the use of CFD for convective heat transfer. A two-stage turbine test rig has been developed and improved to provide good quality thermal boundary condition data with which to validate the analysis methods. A cooling flow optimisation study has also been performed to support a re-design of the turbine stator well cavity, to maximise the effectiveness of cooling air supplied to the disc rim region. The benefits of this design change have also been demonstrated on the rig. A brief description of the test rig facility will be provided together with some insights into the successful completion of the test programme. Comparisons will be provided of disc rim cooling performance, for a range of cooling flows and geometry configurations. The new elements of this work are the presentation of additional test data and validation of the automatically coupled analysis method applied to a partially cooled stator well cavity, (i.e. including some local gas ingestion); also the extension of the cavity cooling design optimisation study to other new geometries.


Author(s):  
Julien Pohl ◽  
Harvey Thompson ◽  
Antonio Guijarro Valencia ◽  
Gregorio López Juste ◽  
Vincenzo Fico ◽  
...  

In the most evolved designs, it is common practice to expose engine components to main annulus air temperatures exceeding the thermal material limit in order to increase the overall performance and to minimise the engine specific fuel consumption (SFC). To prevent overheating of the materials and thus the reduction of the component life, an internal flow system is required to cool the critical engine parts and to protect them. This paper shows a practical application and extension of the methodology developed during the five year research programme MAGPI. Extensive use was made of FEA (solids) and CFD (fluid) modelling techniques to understand the thermo-mechanical behaviour of a dedicated turbine stator well cavity rig, due to the interaction of cooling air supply with the main annulus. Previous work based on the same rig showed difficulties in matching predictions to thermocouple measurements near the rim seal gap. In this investigation, two different types of turbine stator well geometries were analysed, where further use was made of existing measurements of hot running seal clearances in the rig. The structural deflections were applied to the existing models to evaluate the impact in flow interactions and heat transfer. Additionally to the already evaluated test cases without net ingestion, cases simulating engine deterioration with net ingestion were validated against the available test data, also taking into account cold and hot running seal clearances. 3D CFD simulations were conducted using the commercial solver FLUENT coupled to the in-house FEA tool SC03 to validate against available test data of the dedicated rig.


2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Dixon ◽  
Antonio Guijarro Valencia ◽  
Daniel Coren ◽  
Daniel Eastwood ◽  
Christopher Long

This paper summarizes the work of a five year research program into the heat transfer within cavities adjacent to the main annulus of a gas turbine. The work has been a collaboration between several gas turbine manufacturers, also involving a number of universities working together. The principal objective of the study has been to develop and validate computer modeling methods of the cooling flow distribution and heat transfer management, in the environs of multistage turbine disk rims and blade fixings, with a view to maintaining component and subsystem integrity, while achieving optimum engine performance and minimizing emissions. A fully coupled analysis capability has been developed using combinations of commercially available and in-house computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element (FE) thermomechanical modeling codes. The main objective of the methodology is to help decide on optimum cooling configurations for disk temperature, stress, and life considerations. The new capability also gives us an effective means of validating the method by direct use of disk temperature measurements, where otherwise, additional and difficult to obtain parameters, such as reliable heat flux measurements, would be considered necessary for validation of the use of CFD for convective heat transfer. A two-stage turbine test rig has been developed and improved to provide good quality thermal boundary condition data with which to validate the analysis methods. A cooling flow optimization study has also been performed to support a redesign of the turbine stator well cavity to maximize the effectiveness of cooling air supplied to the disk rim region. The benefits of this design change have also been demonstrated on the rig. A brief description of the test rig facility will be provided together with some insights into the successful completion of the test program. Comparisons will be provided of disk rim cooling performance for a range of cooling flows and geometry configurations. The new elements of this work are the presentation of additional test data and validation of the automatically coupled analysis method applied to a partially cooled stator well cavity (i.e., including some local gas ingestion) and also the extension of the cavity cooling design optimization study to other new geometries.


Author(s):  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Riccardo Da Soghe ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
Stefano Zecchi

The improvement of the aerodynamic efficiency of gas turbine components is becoming more and more difficult to achieve. Nevertheless there are still some devices that could be improved to enhance engine performance. Further investigations on the internal air cooling systems, for instance, may lead to a reduction of cavities cooling air with a direct beneficial effect on engine performance. At the same time, further investigations on heat transfer mechanisms within turbine cavities may help to optimize cooling air flows saving engine life duration. This paper presents some CFD preliminary studies conducted on an two-stage axial turbine rig developed in a research programme on internal air systems funded by EU, named the Main Annulus Gas Path Interactions (MAGPI). Each turbine stage consists of 39 vanes and 78 rotating blades and the modelled domain includes both the main gas path of the two turbine stages and the second stator well. Pre experimental tests CFD computations were planned in order to point out the reliability of numerical models in the description of the flow patterns in the main annulus and in the cavities. Several computational meshes were considered with steady and unsteady approaches in order to assess the sensitivity to computational approach regarding the evaluation of the interactions between main annulus and disk cavities flows. Results were obtained for several cavities cooling air mass-flow rates and data were further analyzed to investigate the influence of the sealing flow inside the main annulus. MAGPI project is a 4 years Specific-Targeted-Research-Project (2007–2011) and its consortium includes six universities and nine gas turbines manufacturing companies. The project is focused on the analysis of interactions between primary and secondary air systems achieving a novel approach as these systems have, up to now, only been considered separately. In particular one of the tasks of the project will focus on heat transfer phenomena and delivering experimental data which will be used to validate the advanced design tools used by industries (CFD codes and correlative formulations).


Author(s):  
Peter D. Smout ◽  
John W. Chew ◽  
Peter R. N. Childs

The Internal Cooling Air Systems for Gas Turbines (ICAS-GT) research programme, sponsored by the European Commission, ran from January 1998 to December 2000, and was undertaken by a consortium of ten gas turbine manufacturing companies and four universities. Research was concentrated in five discrete but related areas of the air system including turbine rim seals, rotating cavity flow and heat transfer, and turbine pre-swirl system effectiveness. In each case, experiments were conducted to extend the database of pressure, temperature, flow and heat transfer measurements to engine representative non-dimensional conditions. The data was used to develop correlations, and to validate CFD and FE calculation methods, for internal fluid flow and heat transfer. This paper summarises the outcome of the project by presenting a sample of experimental results from each technical work package. Examples of the associated CFD calculations are included to illustrate the progress made in developing validated tools for predicting rotating cavity flow and heat transfer over an engine representative range of flow conditions.


Author(s):  
Emile Le Grivès ◽  
J.-J. Nicolas ◽  
Jeanne Génot

Heat transfer and aerodynamic processes within coolant ducts and film emission holes of high temperature gas turbine components have been investigated at ONERA by means of specially devised test rigs affording an adequate similitude of geometrical or aerothermal parameters. Results obtained in tests at steady or transient thermal regime are reported for several points of interest concerning internal coolant circuits: • Heat transfer through multihole parts of turbine airfoils • Aerodynamics of flows within perforated ducts, with special attention to coolant mass flow distribution, to pressure losses and heat transfer coefficients in small or scaled up turbine blade models • Heat transfer over a perforated wall, with mass transfer of the coolant flow through holes of various patterns and pitch-to-diameter ratio. Experimental data are discussed in regard to desired accuracy for the analysis of heat transfer in air-cooled gas turbines, except for the effects of rotation.


Author(s):  
Antonio Guijarro Valencia ◽  
Jeffrey A. Dixon ◽  
Riccardo Da Soghe ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
Peter E. J. Smith ◽  
...  

Reliable means of predicting ingestion in cavities adjacent to the main gas path are increasingly being sought by engineers involved in the design of gas turbines. In this paper, analysis is to be presented that results from an extended research programme, MAGPI, sponsored by the EU and several leading gas turbine manufactures and universities. Extensive use is made of CFD modelling techniques to understand the aerodynamic behaviour of a turbine stator well cavity, focusing on the interaction of cooling air supply with the main annulus gas. The objective of the study has been to benchmark a number of CFD codes and numerical techniques covering RANS and URANS calculations with different turbulence models in order to assess the suitability of the standard settings used in the industry for calculating the mechanics of the flow travelling between cavities in a turbine through the main gas path. The modelling methods employed have been compared making use of experimental data gathered from a dedicated two-stage turbine rig, running at engine representative conditions. Extensive measurements are available for a range of flow conditions and alternative cooling arrangements. The limitations of the numerical methods in calculating the interaction of the cooling flow egress and the main stream gas, and subsequent ingestion into downstream cavities in the engine (i.e. re-ingestion), have been exposed. This has been done without losing sight of the validation of the CFD for its use for predicting heat transfer, which was the main objective of the partners of the MAGPI Work-Package 1 consortium.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Dixon ◽  
Ivan L. Brunton ◽  
Timothy J. Scanlon ◽  
Grzegorz Wojciechowski ◽  
Vassilis Stefanis ◽  
...  

CFD methods are increasingly being used in gas turbine secondary flow system analysis and design to establish flow distribution and convective heat transfer in internal cavities. A key area of concern is the complex flows adjacent to turbine disc rims, where undesirable levels of hot annulus gas would be ingested were it not for the cooling air supplied to limit its effects on disc rim and blade fixing temperature levels. This paper presents results from a study to investigate the practicality of applying this method to the flow distribution and heat transfer in the disc rim sealing cavity between two adjacent turbine stages, referred to here as a turbine stator well. Also described is the test facility designed to validate the CFD analysis and some preliminary results from comparisons of 3D flow solutions, with measured test data.


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