The Influence of Turbulence and Reynolds Number on Multiple Slot Film Cooling Over the Suction Surface

Developing robust film cooling protection on the suction surface of a vane is critical to managing the high heat loads which exist there. Suction surface film cooling often produces high levels of film cooling but can be influenced by secondary flows and some dissipation due to free-stream turbulence. Directly downstream from suction surface film cooling, heat loads are often significantly mitigated and internal cooling levels can be modest. One thermodynamically efficient way to cool the suction surface of a vane is with a counter cooling scheme. This combined internal/external cooling method moves cooling air in a direction opposite to the external flow through an internal convection array. The coolant is then discharged upstream where the high level of film cooling can offset the reduced cooling potential of the spent cooling air. The present suction surface film cooling arrangement combines a slot film cooling discharge on the near suction surface from an incremental impingement cooling method with a second from a counter cooling section. A second counter cooling section is added further downstream on the suction surface. The internal cooling plenums replicate the geometry of the cooling methods to ensure the fluid dynamics of the flow discharging from the slots are representative of the actual internal cooling geometry. These film cooling flows have been tested at blowing ratios of 0.5 and 1.0 for the initial slot and blowing ratios of 0.15 and 0.3 for the two downstream slots. The measurements have been taken at exit chord Reynolds numbers of 500,000, 1,000,000, and 2,000,000 with inlet turbulence levels ranging from 0.7% to 12.6%. Film cooling effectiveness measurements were acquired using both thermocouples and infrared thermography. The infrared thermography shows the influence of secondary flows on film cooling coverage near the suction surface endwall junction. The film cooling effectiveness results at varied blowing ratios, turbulence levels and Reynolds numbers document the impact of these major variables on suction surface slot film cooling. The results provide a consistent picture of the slot film cooling for the present three slot arrangement on the suction surface and they support the development of an advanced double wall cooling method.

The Influence of Turbulence and Reynolds Number on Slot Film Cooling Over the Downstream Pressure Surface

Pressure surface film cooling from discrete holes can often be challenging due to higher than optimum coolant to surface pressure ratios, effects of high levels of flow field turbulence, and the potential for clogging. Double wall cooling methods can be designed to collect spent cooling air and distribute the film cooling downstream through a slot. Incremental impingement is a new internal cooling method designed for cooling the leading edge region and pressure surface. Internally, incremental impingement includes high solidity pedestals to conduct heat and transmit thermal stresses due to temperature variations between cold and hot side surfaces. Subsequently, the flow is collected downstream from the last row of pedestals and discharged through a slot. Experimental and computational research from mesh slots, which have dense arrays of pedestals upstream from the discharge, and slots downstream from high solidity pedestal arrays have shown that turbulence and vorticity generated inside a film cooling plenum can have a significant impact on downstream film cooling. This impact of plenum flow disturbances is in addition to the film cooling dissipation caused by external flow field turbulence. Incremental impingement, in addition to high solidity pedestals, has impingement jets integrated behind the last row of pedestals which may cause further disruption to the film discharge and flow field interaction. The present measurements document the film cooling effectiveness distributions downstream from a slot located at 62% arc along the pressure surface of a vane. The plenum has been designed to include high solidity pedestals and impingement jets consistent with an incremental impingement geometry. Blowing ratios of 0.4, 0.7 and 1.0 have been investigated at vane exit chord Reynolds numbers of 500,000, 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 at density ratios a little over 1. These conditions have been run at 5 independent turbulence levels ranging from 0.7% to over 17%. The results provide a consistent picture of pressure surface slot film cooling downstream from incremental impingement.

Effects of Pin-Fin Shapes on Mesh-Fed Slot Film Cooling for a Flat-Plate Model

Experimental and numerical research is performed to illustrate the effects of pin-fin shapes on mesh-fed slot film cooling performance on a flat-plate model. Three types of pin-fin shapes (such as circular, elliptical, and drop-shaped) with the same cross-sectional area are taken into consideration. The results show that a pair of counter rotating vortices is still generated for the mesh-fed slot film cooling scheme due to the strong “jetting” effect of coolant flow at the slot outlet. As the coolant jet ejecting from mesh-fed slot is capable of establishing more uniform film layer over the protected surface, the kidney vortices are illustrated to have weakly detrimental role on the film cooling performance. By the shaping of pin fins, the uniformity of coolant flow exiting mesh-fed slot is improved in comparison to the baseline case of circular shape, especially for the elliptical-shape pin-fin array. Therefore, the jetting effect of coolant flow is alleviated for the elliptical and drop-shaped pin-fin meshes when compared to the circular pin-fin mesh. In general, the pin-fin shape has nearly no influence on cooling effectiveness immediately downstream the film cooling-hole outlet. However, beyond x/s = 5, the elliptical and drop-shaped pin fins are demonstrated to be advantageous over the circular pin fins.

Investigation on the Effect of Different Lands on Trailing Edge Slot Film Cooling

Trailing edge slot film cooling is a widely used method for protecting the trailing edge of turbine blades from hot gas impingement. The structures that separate the slots, known as “lands,” come in a variety of configurations. This paper presents the effects of the trailing edge with different lands on the film cooling performance. Experimental studies are conducted on the film cooling effectiveness and Nusselt number with different lands. Four trailing edge configurations, including the straight lands, the beveling lands, the fillet lands and the tapered lands are considered under four blowing ratios (0.5, 0.7, 1.0 and 1.5). The Reynolds numbers of mainstream is fixed as 375,000. Film cooling effectiveness and Nusselt number performances are measured by transient liquid crystal measurement technique. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation with realizable k-ε turbulence model and enhanced wall functions are performed using a commercial code Fluent. In each case, the slot height is kept constant. It is shown that the beveling lands, the fillet lands and the tapered lands have higher cooling effectiveness and lower Nusselt number compared with the straight lands. Under higher blowing ratios, the trailing edges of all four lands have higher cooling effectiveness and higher Nusselt number.

Aerodynamic Measurements and Analysis in a First Stage Nozzle Guide Vane Passage With Combustor Liner Cooling, Slot Film Cooling and Endwall Contouring

Endwalls impose a challenge to cool because of the complex system of secondary flows and separation lines disrupting surface film coolant coverage. The interaction of film cooling flows with secondary flow structures is coupled. The momentum exchange of the film coolant with the mainstream affect the formation the secondary flows, which in turn affect the coolant coverage. Therefore, to develop better endwall cooling schemes, a good understanding of passage aerodynamics as affected by interactions with coolant flows is required. This study presents experimental and computational results for cascade representing the first stage nozzle guide vane of a high-pressure gas turbine. The cascade is subsonic, linear, and stationary with an axisymmetrically-contoured endwall. Two cooling flows are simulated; upstream combustor liner coolant-in the form of an aero-thermal profile simulated in the approach flow and endwall slot film cooling, which is injected immediately upstream of the passage inlet. The experiment is run with engine representative combustor exit flow turbulence intensity and integral length scales, with high turbine passage exit Reynolds number of 1.61 × 106. Measurements are performed with various slot film cooling mass flow rate to mainstream flow rate ratios (MFR). Aerodynamic effects are documented with five-hole probe measurements at the exit plane. Varying the slot film cooling MFR results in minimal effects on total pressure loss for the range tested. Vorticity distributions show a very thin, yet intense, cross-pitch flow on the contoured endwall side. Coolant distribution fields that were previously presented for the same cascade are discussed in context of the aerodynamic measurements. A coolant vorticity parameter presenting the advective mixing of the coolant due to secondary flow vorticity is introduced. This parameter gives developers a new prospective on aerodynamic-thermal performance associated with cooled turbine endwall. The numerical study is conducted for the same test section geometry and is run under the same conditions. The applicability of using RANS turbulence closure models for simulating this type of flow is discussed. The effects of including the combustor coolant in the approach flow is also briefly discussed in context of the numerical results.