Leading-Edge Film-Cooling Physics: Part I — Adiabatic Effectiveness

Author(s):  
William D. York ◽  
James H. Leylek

A systematic, computational methodology was employed to study film cooling on a turbine airfoil leading edge. In this paper, numerical predictions are compared with surface effectiveness measurements from a code-validation quality experiment in the open literature, and a detailed discussion of the physical mechanisms involved in leading edge film cooling is presented. The leading edge model was elliptic in shape to accurately simulate a rotor airfoil, and other geometric parameters were in the range of current design practice for aviation gas turbines. Three laterally-staggered rows of cylindrical film-cooling holes were investigated. One row of holes was centered on the stagnation line, and the other rows were located 3.5 hole-diameters downstream, mirrored about the stagnation line. All holes had an injection angle of 20° with the surface, and a 90° compound angle (radial injection). The average blowing ratio was varied from 1.0 to 2.5, and the coolant-to-mainstream density ratio was 1.8 in all simulations. Converged and grid independent solutions were obtained using a high-quality, multi-topology grid with 3.6 million cells and a fully-implicit, pressure correction-based Navier-Stokes solver. Turbulence closure was obtained with a realizable k-ε model, which has been demonstrated to be especially effective in controlling spurious production of turbulent kinetic energy in regions of rapid, irrotational strain. The predictions of laterally averaged effectiveness agreed well with the experimental data, especially at low-range blowing ratios. Highly nonuniform coolant coverage was seen to exist downstream of the second row of holes, caused mainly by interaction between the two rows of jets and by a strong vortex that reduced the spread of coolant from the downstream row. The results of the present study demonstrate that computational methods can accurately model the highly-complex film-cooling flowfield in the stagnation region.

Author(s):  
Sai Shrinivas Sreedharan ◽  
Danesh K. Tafti

Computational studies are carried out using Large Eddy Simulations (LES) to investigate the effect of coolant to mainstream blowing ratio in a leading edge region of a film cooled vane. The three row leading edge vane geometry is modeled as a symmetric semi-cylinder with a flat afterbody. One row of coolant holes is located along the stagnation line and the other two rows of coolant holes are located at ±21.3° from the stagnation line. The coolant is injected at 45° to the vane surface with 90° compound angle injection. The coolant to mainstream density ratio is set to unity and the freestream Reynolds number based on leading edge diameter is 32000. Blowing ratios (B.R.) of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 are investigated. It is found that the stagnation cooling jets penetrate much further into the mainstream, both in the normal and lateral directions, than the off-stagnation jets for all blowing ratios. Jet dilution is characterized by turbulent diffusion and entrainment. The strength of both mechanisms increases with blowing ratio. The adiabatic effectiveness in the stagnation region initially increases with blowing ratio but then generally decreases as the blowing ratio increases further. Immediately downstream of off-stagnation injection, the adiabatic effectiveness is highest at B.R. = 0.5. However, further downstream the larger mass of coolant injected at higher blowing ratios, in spite of the larger jet penetration and dilution, increases the effectiveness with blowing ratio.


Author(s):  
Satish Undapalli ◽  
James H. Leylek

Computations are performed in conjunction with code validation quality experiments found in the open literature to specifically address the usage of popular two-equation eddy viscosity models in day-to-day gas turbine applications. In such simulations many features such as pressure gradients, curvature effects are present. The present work is focused on testing a popular turbulence model to resolve film cooling on curved surfaces. A systematic computational methodology has been employed in order to minimize numerical errors and evaluate the performance of a popular turbulence model. The test cases were examined for a single row of holes, blowing rates ranging from 1 to 2.5, isolated effects of convex and concave curvature on film cooling, density ratio close to 2, and an injection angle of 35°. Key aspects of the study include: (1) extremely dense, high quality, multi-block, multi-topology grid involving over 3 million finite volumes; (2) higher order discretization; (3) turbulence model with two-layer near-wall treatment; (4) strict convergence criteria; and (5) grid independence. A fully-implicit, pressure-correction Navier-Stokes solver is used to obtain all the solutions. Results for adiabatic cooling effectiveness are compared with measurements in order to document the: (1) Range of applicability of the present modeling capability; and (2) Possible reasons for discrepancies. The data shows that the computations predicted the effects of curvature on mean flow, however effect on turbulence field is not captured. A clear set of recommendations is provided for future treatments of this class of problems.


Author(s):  
C. A. Martin ◽  
K. A. Thole

This paper presents a blind CFD benchmark of a simulated leading edge for a turbine airfoil. The geometry studied was relevant for current designs with two rows of staggered film-cooling holes located at the stagnation location (θ = 0°) and at θ = 25°. Both rows of cooling holes were blowing in the same direction which was 90° relative to the streamwise direction and had an injection angle with respect to the surface of 20°. Realistic engine conditions were simulated including a density ratio of DR = 1.8 and an average blowing ratio of M = 2 for both rows of cooling holes. This blind benchmark coincided with an experimental study that took place in a wind tunnel simulation of a quarter cylinder followed by a flat afterbody. At the stagnation region, the CFD calculation overpredicted the adiabatic effectiveness because the model failed to predict a small separation region that was measured in the experiments. Good agreement was achieved, however, between the CFD predictions and the experimentally measured values of the laterally averaged adiabatic effectiveness downstream of the stagnation location. The coolant pathlines showed that flow passed from the first row of holes over the second row of cooling holes indicating a waste of the coolant.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. York ◽  
James H. Leylek

A proven computational methodology was applied to investigate film cooling from diffused holes on the simulated leading edge of a turbine airfoil. The short film-hole diffuser section was conical in shape with a shallow half-angle, and was joined to a plenum by a cylindrical metering section. The diffusion resulted in a film-hole breakout area of 2.5 times that of a cylindrical hole. In the present paper, predictions of adiabatic effectiveness for the cases with diffused holes are compared to results for standard cylindrical holes, and performance is analyzed in the context of extensive flowfield data. The leading edge surface was elliptic in shape to accurately model a turbine airfoil. The geometry consisted of one row of holes centered on the stagnation line, and two additional rows located 3.5 hole (metering section) diameters downstream on either side of the stagnation line. Film holes in the downstream rows were centered laterally between holes in the stagnation row. All holes were angled at 20 deg with the leading edge surface, and were turned 90 deg with respect to the streamwise direction (radial injection). The average blowing ratio was varied from 1.0 to 2.5, and the coolant-to-mainstream density ratio was equal to 1.8. The steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations were solved with a pressure-correction algorithm on an unstructured, multi-block grid containing 4.6 million finite-volumes. A realizable k-ε turbulence model was employed to close the equations. Convergence and grid-independence was verified using strict criteria. Based on the laterally averaged effectiveness over the leading edge, the diffused holes showed a marked advantage over standard holes through the range of blowing ratios. However, ingestion of hot crossflow and thermal diffusion into the second row of film holes was observed to cause significant, and potentially detrimental, heating of the film-hole walls.


Author(s):  
William D. York ◽  
James H. Leylek

A proven computational methodology was applied to investigate film cooling from diffused holes on the simulated leading edge of a turbine airfoil. The short film-hole diffuser section was conical in shape with a shallow half-angle, and was joined to a plenum by a cylindrical metering section. The diffusion resulted in a film-hole breakout area of 2.5 times that of a cylindrical hole. In the present paper, predictions of adiabatic effectiveness for the cases with diffused holes are compared to results for standard cylindrical holes, and performance is analyzed in the context of extensive flowfield data. The leading edge surface was elliptic in shape to accurately model a turbine airfoil. The geometry consisted of one row of holes centered on the stagnation line, and two additional rows located 3.5 hole (metering section) diameters downstream on either side of the stagnation line. Film holes in the downstream rows were centered laterally between holes in the stagnation row. All holes were angled at 20° with the leading edge surface, and were turned 90° with respect to the streamwise direction (radial injection). The average blowing ratio was varied from 1.0 to 2.5, and the coolant-to-mainstream density ratio was equal to 1.8. The steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations were solved with a pressure-correction algorithm on an unstructured, multi-block grid containing 4.6 million finite-volumes. A realizable k-ε turbulence model was employed to close the equations. Convergence and grid-independence was verified using strict criteria. Based on the laterally averaged effectiveness over the leading edge, the diffused holes showed a marked advantage over standard holes through the range of blowing ratios. However, ingestion of hot crossflow and thermal diffusion into the second row of film holes was observed to cause significant, and potentially detrimental, heating of the film-hole walls.


Author(s):  
Mingjie Zhang ◽  
Nian Wang ◽  
Andrew F. Chen ◽  
Je-Chin Han

This paper presents the turbine blade leading edge model film cooling effectiveness with shaped holes, using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) mass transfer analogy method. The effects of leading edge profile, coolant to mainstream density ratio and blowing ratio are studied. Computational simulations are performed using the realizable k-ε turbulence model. Effectiveness obtained by CFD simulations are compared with experiments. Three leading edge profiles, including one semi-cylinder and two semi-elliptical cylinders with an after body, are investigated. The ratios of major to minor axis of two semi-elliptical cylinders are 1.5 and 2.0, respectively. The leading edge has three rows of shaped holes. For the semi-cylinder model, shaped holes are located at 0 degrees (stagnation line) and ± 30 degrees. Row spacing between cooling holes and the distance between impingement plate and stagnation line are the same for three leading edge models. The coolant to mainstream density ratio varies from 1.0 to 1.5 and 2.0, and the blowing ratio varies from 0.5 to 1.0 and 1.5. Mainstream Reynolds number is about 100,900 based on the diameter of the leading edge cylinder, and the mainstream turbulence intensity is about 7%. The results provide an understanding of the effects of leading edge profile and on turbine blade leading edge region film cooling with shaped-hole designs.


Author(s):  
Ross Johnson ◽  
Jonathan Maikell ◽  
David Bogard ◽  
Justin Piggush ◽  
Atul Kohli ◽  
...  

When a turbine blade passes through wakes from upstream vanes it is subjected to an oscillation of the direction of the approach flow resulting in the oscillation of the position of the stagnation line on the leading edge of the blade. In this study an experimental facility was developed that induced a similar oscillation of the stagnation line position on a simulated turbine blade leading edge. The overall effectiveness was evaluated at various blowing ratios and stagnation line oscillation frequencies. The location of the stagnation line on the leading edge was oscillated to simulate a change in angle of attack between α = ± 5° at a range of frequencies from 2 to 20 Hz. These frequencies were chosen based on matching a range of Strouhal numbers typically seen in an engine due to oscillations caused by passing wakes. The blowing ratio was varied between M = 1, M = 2, and M = 3. These experiments were carried out at a density ratio of DR = 1.5 and mainstream turbulence levels of Tu ≈ 6%. The leading edge model was made of high conductivity epoxy in order to match the Biot number of an actual engine airfoil. Results of these tests showed that the film cooling performance with an oscillating stagnation line was degraded by as much as 25% compared to the performance of a steady flow with the stagnation line aligned with the row of holes at the leading edge.


Author(s):  
Pingfan He ◽  
Dragos Licu ◽  
Martha Salcudean ◽  
Ian S. Gartshore

The effect of varying coolant density on film cooling effectiveness for a turbine blade-model was numerically investigated and compared with experimental data. This model had a semi-circular leading edge with four rows of laterally-inclined film cooling orifices positioned symmetrically about the stagnation line. A curvilinear coordinate-based CFD code was developed and used for the numerical investigation. The code used a domain segmentation strategy in conjunction with general curvilinear grids to model the complex blade configuration. A multigrid method was used to accelerate the convergence rate. The time-averaged, variable-density, Navier-Stokes equations together with the energy or scalar equation were solved. Turbulence closure was attained by the standard k–ε model with a near-wall k model. Either air or CO2 was used as coolant in three cases of injection through single rows and alternatively staggered double raws of holes. Two different blowing rates were investigated in each case and compared with experimental data. The experimental results were obtained using a wind tunnel model, and the mass/heat analogy was used to determine the film cooling effectiveness. The higher density of the carbon dioxide coolant (approximately 1.5 times the density of air) in the isothermal mass injection experiments, was used to simulate the effects of injection of a colder air in the corresponding adiabatic heat transfer situation. Good agreement between calculated and measured film cooling effectiveness was found for low blowing ratio M ≤ 0.5 and the effect of density was not significant. At higher blowing ratio M > 1 the calculations consistently overpredict the measured values of film cooling effectiveness.


Author(s):  
Mingjie Zhang ◽  
Nian Wang ◽  
Andrew F. Chen ◽  
Je-Chin Han

This paper presents the turbine blade leading edge model film cooling effectiveness with shaped holes, using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) mass transfer analogy method. The effects of leading edge profile, coolant to mainstream density ratio, and blowing ratio are studied. Computational simulations are performed using the realizable k–ɛ (RKE) turbulence model. Effectiveness obtained by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations is compared with experiments. Three leading edge profiles, including one semicylinder and two semi-elliptical cylinders with an after body, are investigated. The ratios of major to minor axis of two semi-elliptical cylinders are 1.5 and 2.0, respectively. The leading edge has three rows of shaped holes. For the semicylinder model, shaped holes are located at 0 deg (stagnation line) and ±30 deg. Row spacing between cooling holes and the distance between impingement plate and stagnation line are the same for three leading edge models. The coolant to mainstream density ratio varies from 1.0 to 1.5 and 2.0, and the blowing ratio varies from 0.5 to 1.0 and 1.5. Mainstream Reynolds number is about 100,000 based on the diameter of the leading edge cylinder, and the mainstream turbulence intensity is about 7%. The results provide an understanding of the effects of leading edge profile on turbine blade leading edge region film cooling with shaped hole designs.


Author(s):  
P. Adami ◽  
F. Martelli ◽  
K. S. Chana ◽  
F. Montomoli

Film-cooling is commonly used in modern gas turbines to increase inlet temperatures without compromising the mechanical strength of the hot components. The main objective of the study reported here is the critical evaluation of the capability of CFD, to predict film-cooling on three-dimensional engine realistic turbine aerofoil geometries. To achieve this aim two different film-cooling systems for NGV aerofoils are predicted and compared against experiments. The application concerns the following turbine vanes: • the AGTB-B1 blade investigated by the “Institut fur Strahlantriebe of the Universitat der Bundeswehr Munchen (Germany)”; • the MT1 HP NGV investigated by QinetiQ (ex DERA, UK). In the first test case the application mainly focuses on the interaction between the main flow and the coolant jets on the leading edge of the cooled aerofoil. In the second case, vane heat transfer rate is predicted with the film-cooling system made of six rows of cylindrical holes in single and staggered configuration.


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