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Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J: Thermal Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 34118

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Prof. Dr. Bruno Facchini

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Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale (DIEF), Università degli Studi di Firenze, Florence, Italy
Interests: gas turbines and other thermal engines; study of complex energy systems and combustion problems; heat transfer and cooling systems in gas turbine

Dr. Alessio Picchi

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Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale (DIEF), Università degli Studi di Firenze, THT Lab coordinator, Florence, Italy
Interests: gas turbines; heat transfer; advanced experimental techniques

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last decades the progress of gas turbine design achieved significant advancements both concerning lighter and more efficient aero-engines and land based energy production systems, thanks also to the constant improvement of heat transfer technologies and prediction capabilities. Nowadays, novel experiemental techniques open new opportunities and challenges on collecting high resolution and high accuracy data with well-defined boundary conditions at relevant engine working parameters. On the other hand, the research on numerical method continuously grow dragged by computing power; CFD is now facing with high fidelity simulations, multiphysichs and multiscale problems, tuning of low order turbulence models, and fluid/solid coupling in conjugate simulations. In addition, the new manufacturing processes offer us new opportunities on design novel cooling architectures and, as a consequence, requiring further in-depth investigations.

In this special issue, I would have the pleasure to collect your outstanding works, related to Gas Turbine cooling Systems, on:

Novel internal and external heat transfer technologies
Experimental methodologies for heat transfer investigation
HiFi CFD and validation of numerical models in heat transfer
Validation of Conjugate CFD simulations
Experimental and numerical investigations on relevant heat transfer issues

Prof. Dr. Bruno Facchini
Dr. Alessio Picchi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Heat transfer
Blade cooling
Film cooling
Conjugate heat transfer
CFD
Experimental methods

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Published Papers (12 papers)

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21 pages, 10472 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation of Micro Cooling Units on Impingement Jet Array Flow Pressure Loss and Heat Transfer Characteristics

by Zhong Ren, Xiaoyu Yang, Xunfeng Lu, Xueying Li and Jing Ren

Energies 2021, 14(16), 4757; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164757 - 5 Aug 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2189

Abstract

With the development in additive manufacturing, the use of surface treatments for gas turbine design applications has greatly expanded. An experimental investigation of the pressure loss and heat transfer characteristics within impingement jet arrays with arrays of target surface micro cooling units is presented. The discharge coefficient and Nusselt number are measured and determined for an evaluation of the pressure loss of the flow system and heat transfer level, respectively. Considered are effects of impingement jet Reynolds number ranging from 1000 to 15,000 and micro cooling units (square pin fin) height (h) with associated values of 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.2, and 0.4 D, where D is the impingement hole diameter. Presented are variations of Nusselt number, and Nusselt number ratio, discharge coefficient, discharge coefficient ratio, discharge coefficient correlation. Depending upon the micro cooling unit height, discharge coefficient ratios slightly decrease with height, and the ratio values generally remain unit value (1.0). When Re_j = 1000 and 2500 for several cooling units height values, discharge coefficient ratios show the pressure loss decreases about 2–18% and 3–6%, respectively, when compared to the data of a baseline smooth target surface plate. The observed phenomenon is due to the effects of flow blockage of micro cooing units, local flow separation, and near-wall viscous sublayer reattachment. Results also show that heat transfer levels increase 20–300% for some of the tested toughened target surface plates when compared to smooth target surface plates. The heat transfer level enhancement is because of an increase in thermal transport and near-wall mixing, as well as the increased wetted area. In addition, micro cooling units elements break the viscous sublayer and cause greater turbulence intensity when compared to the smooth target surface. Overall, results demonstrate that the target surface micro cooling units do not result in a visible increment in pressure loss and reduce pressure loss of the flow system for some of the tested patterns. Moreover, results show the significant ability of micro cooling units to enhance the surface heat transfer capability of impingement cooling relative to smooth target surfaces. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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17 pages, 6889 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fully Coupled Large Eddy Simulation of Conjugate Heat Transfer in a Ribbed Channel with a 0.1 Blockage Ratio

by Joon Ahn, Jeong Chul Song and Joon Sik Lee

Energies 2021, 14(8), 2096; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082096 - 9 Apr 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2472

Abstract

Large eddy simulations are performed to analyze the conjugate heat transfer of turbulent flow in a ribbed channel with a heat-conducting solid wall. An immersed boundary method (IBM) is used to determine the effect of heat transfer in the solid region on that in the fluid region in a unitary computational domain. To satisfy the continuity of the heat flux at the solid–fluid interface, effective conductivity is introduced. By applying the IBM, it is possible to fully couple the convection on the fluid side and the conduction inside the solid and use a dynamic subgrid scale model in a Cartesian grid. The blockage ratio (e/H) is set at 0.1, which is typical for gas turbine blades. Through conjugate heat transfer analysis, it is confirmed that the heat transfer peak in front of the rib occurs because of the impinging of the reattached flow and not the influence of the thermal boundary condition. When the rib turbulator acts as a fin, its efficiency and effectiveness are predicted to be 98.9% and 8.32, respectively. When considering conjugate heat transfer, the total heat transfer rate is reduced by 3% compared with that of the isothermal wall. The typical Biot number at the internal cooling passage of a gas turbine is <0.1, and the use of the rib height as the characteristic length better represents the heat transfer of the rib. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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19 pages, 7928 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Large Eddy Simulation of Film Cooling with Forward Expansion Hole: Comparative Study with LES and RANS Simulations

by Seung Il Baek, Jaiyoung Ryu and Joon Ahn

Energies 2021, 14(8), 2063; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082063 - 8 Apr 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2537

Abstract

The forward expansion hole improves the film cooling effectiveness by reducing the penetration of the coolant jet into the main flow compared to the cylindrical holes. In addition, compound angles improve the film cooling effectiveness by promoting the lateral spreading of the coolant on a wall. Evidently, the combination of a compound angle and shaped hole further improves the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. The film cooling flow with a shaped hole with 15° forward expansion, a 35° inclination angle, and 0° and 30° compound angles at 0.5 and 1.0 blowing ratios was numerically simulated with Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations. The results of the time-averaged film cooling effectiveness, temperature, velocity, and root-mean-square (rms) values of the fluctuating velocity and temperature profiles were compared with the experimental data by Lee et al. (2002) to verify how the LES improves the results compared to those of the RANS. For the forward expansion hole, the velocity and temperature fluctuations in the LES contours are smaller than those of the cylindrical hole; thus, the turbulence and mixing intensity of the forward expansion hole are weaker and lower than those of the cylindrical hole, respectively. This leads to the higher film cooling effectiveness of the forward expansion hole. By contrast, the RANS contours do not exhibit velocity or temperature fluctuations well. These results are discussed in detail in this paper. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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17 pages, 8453 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimizing the Geometric Parameters of a Straight-Through Labyrinth Seal to Minimize the Leakage Flow Rate and the Discharge Coefficient

by Seung Il Baek and Joon Ahn

Energies 2021, 14(3), 705; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14030705 - 29 Jan 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3487

Abstract

A straight-through labyrinth seal is one of the most popular non-contacting annular seals through which energy dissipation by turbulence viscosity interaction is achieved with a series of teeth and cavities. The geometric parameters of the straight-through labyrinth seal, such as clearance, tooth width, tooth height, cavity width, and tooth inclination angle, affect its performance. The space for installing a labyrinth seal in turbomachinery is limited, and so it is important to optimize its geometry for a fixed axial length in order to minimize the leakage flow rate and the discharge coefficient. The objective of the current study is to understand the effects of changing the geometric parameters of the seal on the leakage flow rate and the discharge coefficient, and to determine the optimized geometry for a fixed axial length. When the whole axial length is fixed, the most effective way to decrease the discharge coefficient is to reduce the cavity width by increasing the number of cavities. However, if the number of cavities is too high, the beneficial effect of more cavities can be reversed. The results of this study will help turbomachinery manufacturers to design a more efficient labyrinth seal. Numerical simulations of leakage flow for the straight-through labyrinth seal were carried out using Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) models, and the results for their discharge coefficients and pressure distributions were compared to previously published experimental data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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26 pages, 16793 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Combined Experimental and Numerical Characterization of the Flowfield and Heat Transfer around a Multiperforated Plate with Compound Angle Injection

by Emmanuel Laroche, David Donjat and Philippe Reulet

Energies 2021, 14(3), 613; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14030613 - 26 Jan 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1802

Abstract

The aerodynamic and thermal behaviour of multiperforated zones in combustors is essential to the development of future combustion chambers. Detailed databases are therefore crucial for the validation of RANS/LES solvers, but also regarding the derivation of heat transfer correlations used in 0D/1D in-house codes developed by engine manufacturers. In the framework of FP7 EU SOPRANO Program, the test-rig used in a previous study is modified to be compatible with anisothermal conditions. The plate studied is a 12:1 model with a

90^{\circ}

compound angle injection. A heating system is used to generate a moderate temperature gradient of about 20 K between the secondary hot flow and the main cold flow. The aerodynamic field is acquired by a PIV 2D-3C (Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry) system. The surface heat transfer coefficient is derived based on surface temperature distribution acquisitions. Several heating power levels are tested, which allows evaluating the convective heat transfer coefficient and reference temperature through a linear regression. Measurements are conducted on both sides of the plate, which also gives access to those quantities on the injection/suction sides. From a numerical point of view, the configuration is studied using the unstructured ONERA in-house CEDRE solver with an advanced Reynolds Stress Model. A systematic comparison is presented between the experimental and numerical database. Due to the high blowing ratio, the film protection is low in the first rows, with a convective heat transfer coefficient enhancement around three, and freestream cold air brought close to the wall by vortices created at injection. After four rows, the film is building up, leading gradually to a better insulation of the wall. The comparison with the numerical simulation exhibits a qualitative agreement on the main flow structures. However, the mixing between the jets, the film and the freestream is underestimated by the calculation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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16 pages, 11666 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effects of Hole Arrangement and Density Ratio on the Heat Transfer Coefficient Augmentation of Fan-Shaped Film Cooling Holes

by Young Seo Kim, Jin Young Jeong, Jae Su Kwak and Heeyoon Chung

Energies 2021, 14(1), 186; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14010186 - 1 Jan 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2341

Abstract

An experimental study was performed to investigate the effects of the arrangement of fan-shaped film cooling holes and density ratio (DR) on heat transfer coefficient augmentation. Both single- and multi-row fan-shaped film cooling holes were considered. For the multi-row fan-shaped holes, the heat transfer coefficient was measured at DRs of 1 and 2, and both staggered and inline arrangements of holes were considered. For the single-row fan-shaped holes, DR = 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 and M = 1.0 and 2.0 conditions were tested. The mainstream velocity was 20 m/s, and the turbulence intensity and boundary layer thickness were 3.6% and 6 mm, respectively. The heat transfer coefficient was measured using the one-dimensional transient infrared thermography method. The results show that an increased heat transfer coefficient augmentation is observed between film cooling holes for the case with a smaller hole pitch and higher blowing ratio. For the given fan-shaped hole parameters, the effects of the row-to-row distance and hole arrangement are not significant. In addition, as the velocity difference between the mainstream and coolant increases, the heat transfer coefficient ratio increases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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18 pages, 5367 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Determination of the Heat Transfer Coefficient of Real Cooled Geometry Using Linear Regression Method

by Asif Ali, Lorenzo Cocchi, Alessio Picchi and Bruno Facchini

Energies 2021, 14(1), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14010180 - 31 Dec 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2820

Abstract

The scope of this work was to develop a technique based on the regression method and apply it on a real cooled geometry for measuring its internal heat transfer distribution. The proposed methodology is based upon an already available literature approach. For implementation of the methodology, the geometry is initially heated to a known steady temperature, followed by thermal transient, induced by injection of ambient air to its internal cooling system. During the thermal transient, external surface temperature of the geometry is recorded with the help of infrared camera. Then, a numerical procedure based upon a series of transient finite element analyses of the geometry is applied by using the obtained experimental data. The total test duration is divided into time steps, during which the heat flux on the internal surface is iteratively updated to target the measured external surface temperature. The final procured heat flux and internal surface temperature data of each time step is used to find the convective heat transfer coefficient via linear regression. This methodology is successfully implemented on three geometries: a circular duct, a blade with U-bend internal channel, and a cooled high pressure vane of real engine, with the help of a test rig developed at the University of Florence, Italy. The results are compared with the ones retrieved with similar approach available in the open literature, and the pros and cons of both methodologies are discussed in detail for each geometry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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17 pages, 12931 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Study of Heat Transfer on the Internal Surfaces of a Double-Wall Structure with Pin Fin Array

by Wei Zhang, Huiren Zhu and Guangchao Li

Energies 2020, 13(24), 6573; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13246573 - 13 Dec 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2267

Abstract

The double-wall structure is one of the most effective cooling techniques used in many engineering applications, such as turbine vane/blade, heat exchangers, etc. Heat transfer on the internal surfaces of a double-wall structure was studied at impinging Reynolds numbers ranging from 1 × 10⁴ to 6 × 10⁴ using the transient thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) technique. The two-dimensional distributions of Nusselt numbers and their averaged values were obtained on the impingement surface, target surface and the pin fin surface. The Nusselt number correlations on the surfaces mentioned above were determined as a function of Reynolds number. The results show that the second peak values of the Nusselt number distribution appear on the target surface at all Reynolds numbers studied in this paper for a short distance of the target surface to impingement surface. This phenomenon becomes significant with the further increase of the Reynolds number. The difference between the Nusselt number at the second peak and the stagnation point decreases with the increasing Reynolds number. The maximal Nusselt number regions on the impingement surface appear at the left and right sides of the pin fins between the two impingement holes. The Nusselt numbers of the pin fin surfaces are highly dependent on their various locations in the double-wall structures. The contributions of the impingement surface, pin fin surface and target surface to the overall heat transfer rate are analyzed. The target surface contributed the largest amount of heat transfer rate with a value of about 62%. The heat transfer contribution is from 18% to 21% for the impingement surface and 16% to 18% for the pin fin surfaces within the studied Reynolds numbers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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18 pages, 10224 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on the Hybrid Cooling of the Flame Tube in a Small Triple-Swirler Combustor

by Jingyu Zhang, Yuqi Sun, Ji Li and Xiaomin He

Energies 2020, 13(21), 5554; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13215554 - 23 Oct 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3209

Abstract

An experimental and numerical investigation is conducted to study the influence of different cooling schemes on the wall temperature of the flame tube in a small triple-swirler combustor in this paper. Two different cooling structures are adopted: the impingement-film and inclined multi-hole cooling structure (Scheme B, C), and the inclined multi-hole control group (Scheme A). The impact of parameters including inlet temperature (373–423 K), inlet Mach number (Ma) (0.12–0.18), and fuel–air ratio (FAR) (0.02–0.03) are discussed. The results show that the wall temperature of the flame tube rises with the increase in inlet temperature; as the inlet Mach number increases, the wall temperature (Scheme B, C) of the primary zone goes up and is distributed more uniformly; as FAR rises, the wall temperature in Scheme C is nearly unchanged, while it is increased in Scheme A and B. For the range of parameters considered in this study, the lowest wall temperature and the best cooling effect are observed in Scheme C. The experiment conducted on the impingement-film and inclined multi-hole structure shows a better cooling effect than that conducted on the traditional inclined multi-hole structure. Compared with the row number of multi-inclined holes, the diameter of jet hole has a more significant influence on the cooling effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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15 pages, 7864 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unsteady Flow Field Characterization of Effusion Cooling Systems with Swirling Main Flow: Comparison Between Cylindrical and Shaped Holes

by Tommaso Lenzi, Alessio Picchi, Tommaso Bacci, Antonio Andreini and Bruno Facchini

Energies 2020, 13(19), 4993; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13194993 - 23 Sep 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2384

Abstract

The presence of injectors with strongly swirled flows, used to promote flame stability in the combustion chambers of gas turbines, influences the behaviour of the effusion cooling jets and consequently of the liner’s cooling capabilities. For this reason, unsteady behaviour of the jets in the presence of swirling flow requires a characterization by means of experimental flow field analyses. The experimental setup of this work consists of a non-reactive single-sector linear combustor test rig, scaled up with respect to the real engine geometry to increase spatial resolution and to reduce the frequencies of the unsteadiness. It is equipped with a radial swirler and multi-perforated effusion plates to simulate the liner cooling system. Two effusion plates were tested and compared: with cylindrical and with laid-back fan-shaped 7-7-7 holes in staggered arrangement. Time resolved Particle Image Velocimetry has been carried out: the unsteady characteristics of the jets, promoted by the intermittent interactions with the turbulent mainstream, have been investigated as their vortex structures and turbulent decay. The results demonstrate how an unsteady analysis is necessary to provide a complete characterization of the coolant behaviour and of its turbulent mixing with mainflow, which affect, in turn, the film cooling capability and liner’s lifetime. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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21 pages, 6179 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Validation of the Transient Liquid Crystal Thermography Technique for Heat Transfer Measurements on a Rotating Cooling Passage

by Andrea Lorenzon and Luca Casarsa

Energies 2020, 13(18), 4759; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13184759 - 11 Sep 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2502

Abstract

The transient liquid crystal thermography can be a suitable tool to study heat-transfer performances on internal cooling schemes of gas turbine blades. One of the hot topics related to this methodology is about the level of reliability of the heat-transfer assessments in rotating tests where the fluid experiences time-dependent rotating effects. The present study contribution aims to experimentally validate by cross-comparison of the outcomes obtained by employing the transient technique with those from the steady-state liquid crystal thermography in which the rotational effects occur as time-stable by definition. Heat-transfer measurements have been conducted on a rib-roughened square cross-section channel, with an inlet Reynolds number equal to 20,000 and rotation number up to 0.2. Special attention has been paid to the definition of the more reliable calibration strategy for liquid crystals that are employed in the transient thermography and to the proper estimation of the heat losses in the post-processing of the steady-state experimental data. The results show great accordance between the indications provided by the two techniques both in static and rotating conditions, demonstrating the possibility to exploit the advantages of the transient liquid crystal thermography for the investigation of heat transfer into rotating cooling channels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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Review

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26 pages, 12277 KiB

Open AccessReview

Detailed Heat Transfer Measurements for Rotating Turbulent Flows in Gas Turbine Systems

by Srinath V. Ekkad and Prashant Singh

Energies 2021, 14(1), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14010039 - 23 Dec 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4391

Abstract

Detailed understanding of hot gas path flow and heat transfer characteristics in gas turbine systems is imperative in order to design cooling strategies to meet the stringent requirements in terms of coolant usage to maintain critical components below a certain temperature. To this end, extensive research has been carried out over the past four decades on advanced thermal diagnostic methods to accurately measure heat transfer quantities such as Nusselt number and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. The need to capture local heat transfer characteristics of these complex flow systems drives the development of measurement techniques and the experimental test facilities to support such measurements. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art thermal diagnostic efforts pertaining to heat transfer measurements in rotating gas turbine blade internal and external cooling and rotor-stator disc cavity, all under rotating environments. The major investigation efforts have been identified for each of the above three categories and representative experimental results have been presented and discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Turbine Cooling Systems Design and Analysis)

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