Study of the Heat Transfer Effects that Internal Cooling Passages have on Gas Turbine Blades
Mentor 1
Ryoichi Amano
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
27-4-2018 1:00 PM
Description
Gas turbines have applications in jet engine propulsion and energy-generation for land-based systems. Thermal efficiency has become a crucial factor when designing a gas turbine. To increase thermal efficiency, the gas turbine blades need to be able to withstand hotter temperatures for extended periods of time. Having an optimized cooling passage system is important because it can keep the turbine blades at acceptable operating temperatures while also helping increase turbine power and fuel economy. This study utilizes a two-pass channel attached to a rotating shaft to simulate a cooling duct within a gas turbine blade. The bottom surface of the channel is heated with a constant heat flux while the air velocity and rotational speed of the shaft are varied to understand how these variables affect the heat transfer within the channel. The experimental temperature profiles were then compared to computer simulations to validate the numerical heat transfer predictions. The study found that heat transfer within the two-pass channel is affected when varying the Reynolds Number and rotational speed of the test channel. Heat transfer was significantly increased when the rotational speed of the channel increased. This increase in rotational speed caused rotational effects such as centrifugal and buoyancy forces to occur. These forces caused air turbulence which increased the heat transfer throughout the test channel. The findings will play a significant role in future research on the topic of gas turbine blade cooling and the design of gas turbine blades in the future.
Study of the Heat Transfer Effects that Internal Cooling Passages have on Gas Turbine Blades
Union Wisconsin Room
Gas turbines have applications in jet engine propulsion and energy-generation for land-based systems. Thermal efficiency has become a crucial factor when designing a gas turbine. To increase thermal efficiency, the gas turbine blades need to be able to withstand hotter temperatures for extended periods of time. Having an optimized cooling passage system is important because it can keep the turbine blades at acceptable operating temperatures while also helping increase turbine power and fuel economy. This study utilizes a two-pass channel attached to a rotating shaft to simulate a cooling duct within a gas turbine blade. The bottom surface of the channel is heated with a constant heat flux while the air velocity and rotational speed of the shaft are varied to understand how these variables affect the heat transfer within the channel. The experimental temperature profiles were then compared to computer simulations to validate the numerical heat transfer predictions. The study found that heat transfer within the two-pass channel is affected when varying the Reynolds Number and rotational speed of the test channel. Heat transfer was significantly increased when the rotational speed of the channel increased. This increase in rotational speed caused rotational effects such as centrifugal and buoyancy forces to occur. These forces caused air turbulence which increased the heat transfer throughout the test channel. The findings will play a significant role in future research on the topic of gas turbine blade cooling and the design of gas turbine blades in the future.
