Unsteady CFD Analysis of Turbulent Flow and Heat Transfer in a Gas Turbine Blade Trailing Edge Subjected to Rotation

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.

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Luo ◽  
Zhiqi Zhao ◽  
Xiaoxu Kan ◽  
Dandan Qiu ◽  
Songtao Wang ◽  
...  

This paper numerically investigated the impact of the holes and their location on the flow and tip internal heat transfer in a U-bend channel (aspect ratio = 1:2), which is applicable to the cooling passage with dirt purge holes in the mid-chord region of a typical gas turbine blade. Six different tip ejection configurations are calculated at Reynolds numbers from 25,000 to 200,000. The detailed three-dimensional flow and heat transfer over the tip wall are presented, and the overall thermal performances are evaluated. The topological methodology, which is first applied to the flow analysis in an internal cooling passage of the blade, is used to explore the mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement on the tip wall. This study concludes that the production of the counter-rotating vortex pair in the bend region provides a strong shear force and then increases the local heat transfer. The side-mounted single hole and center-mounted double holes can further enhance tip heat transfer, which is attributed to the enhanced shear effect and disturbed low-energy fluid. The overall thermal performance of the optimum hole location is a factor of 1.13 higher than that of the smooth tip. However, if double holes are placed on the upstream of a tip wall, the tip surface cannot be well protected. The results of this study are useful for understanding the mechanism of heat transfer enhancement in a realistic gas turbine blade and for efficient designing of blade tips for engine service.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Srivatsan Madhavan ◽  
Prashant Singh ◽  
Srinath V. Ekkad

Abstract Detailed heat transfer measurements using transient liquid crystal thermography were performed on a novel cooling design covering the mid-chord and trailing edge region of a typical gas turbine blade under rotation. The test section comprised of two channels with aspect ratio (AR) of 2:1 and 4:1, where the coolant was fed into the AR = 2:1 channel. Rib turbulators with a pitch-to-rib height ratio (p/e) of 10 and rib height-to-channel hydraulic diameter ratio (e/Dh) of 0.075 were placed in the AR = 2:1 channel at 60° relative to flow direction. The coolant after entering this section was routed to the AR = 4:1 section through a set of crossover jets. The 4:1 section had a realistic trapezoidal shape that mimics the trailing edge of an actual gas turbine blade. The pin fins were arranged in a staggered array with a center-to-center spacing of 2.5 times pin diameter. The trailing edge section consisted of radial and cutback exit holes for flow exit. Experiments were performed for Reynolds number of 20,000 at Rotation numbers (Ro) of 0, 0.1 and 0.14. The channel averaged heat transfer coefficient on trailing side was ~28% (AR = 2:1) and ~7.6% (AR = 4:1) higher than the leading side for Ro = 0.1. It is shown that the combination of crossover jets and pin-fins can be an effective method for cooling wedge shaped trailing edge channels over axial cooling flow designs.


Author(s):  
F. Bassi ◽  
S. Rebay ◽  
M. Savini

The aim of this work is to assess the accuracy of a “quasi-3d” Navier-Stokes solver equipped with the k-ω turbulence model in the computation of a film-cooled gas turbine blade under a variety of flow conditions. The “quasi-3d” formulation was chosen as a cheap approach to investigate a large number of test conditions for a nozzle of complex geometry (around 400 cooling holes) which would require a large computational effort for a truly 3d simulation. The developed code has been used to investigate the influence of various cooling geometries and blowing conditions (mass flow rate and/or density ratios) on the aerodynamic behaviour of the cascade (in terms of loading, losses and flow angles) and their impact on the mixing process downstream of the trailing edge. The investigated nozzle is an advanced design turbine vane working in high subsonic regime. It is characterized by a marked endwall contouring at the casing and by the presence of 12 rows of holes (including a trailing edge row of slots) so as to obtain full-coverage film-cooling of the solid surfaces. This vane has been extensively tested in the Politecnico di Milano Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (formerly C.N.P.M.) blowdown transonic wind tunnel and a great amount of data are therefore available for validation purposes. The uselfulness of the proposed approach is fully analyzed and discussed throughout the paper and it is shown that the relation between the cascade performance and the variation of the investigated parameters is correctly described. In addition we address and discuss which ejection boundary conditions and which loss definitions are best suited for a meaningful comparison with the experimental measurements. In conclusion, in the case considered the developed code seems to be a valuable tool to determine the impact of film-cooling on the aerodynamic performance of a 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):  
Y. Mick ◽  
B. Wörz ◽  
E. Findeisen ◽  
P. Jeschke ◽  
V. Caspary

This paper presents a study of the temperature distribution of a convection cooled gas turbine blade under realistic operating temperature conditions using experimental and numerical methods. The analysis is performed experimentally in a linear cascade with exhaust gas from a kerosene combustor. Detailed information at different operating points is taken from the experiments for which conjugate heat transfer (CHT) simulations with ANSYS CFX are carried out. By comparing the experimental and numerical results, the required complexity of the simulations is defined. The subject of this study is a gas turbine rotor blade equipped with a state-of-the-art internal convection cooling system. The test rig enables the examination of the blade at temperatures up to 1300K. The temperature distribution of the blade is measured using thermocouples. The calculations are carried out using the SST turbulence model, the Gamma Theta transition model and the discrete transfer radiation model. The influence of hot gas properties and radiation effects are analysed at three different operating points. This paper gives a quantitative overview of the impact of the mentioned parameters on temperature level and distribution as well as thermal stresses in a convection cooled blade under realistic engine temperature conditions.


Author(s):  
S. Kathiravan ◽  
Roberto De Prosperis ◽  
Alessandro Ciani

Due to recent advancements made in computational technology, CFD tools are capable of accurately capturing complex physical phenomenon. The proposed novel CFD methodology improves the prediction reliability and capability of Gas Turbine Blade heat transfer and secondary flow behaviour. This paper discusses a robust CFD based methodology to validate the complex gas turbine blade cooling design using detailed 3D flow & conjugate heat transfer analysis. Both primary and secondary flow domains along with blade metal are considered in one single integrated CFD model. This will capture the coupled heat transfer and tip vortices mixing effects and hence accurately predict the secondary cooling flow. The secondary flow path geometry consists of serpentine passages with turbulator features in the flow path to improve the effective heat transfer. Several sensitivity studies were performed using the above model to understand the impact of turbulator fillets, tip hole coating thickness, domain interface and suitably accounted for in the full scale simulation. The numerical simulation results were extensively validated with GE industrial Frame5 gas turbine prototype test thermocouple data and thermal profiles (span-wise) obtained from metallographic images. This novel method gives a thorough understanding of flow-thermal physics involved in serpentine cooling and helps to optimize effective cooling flow usage.


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