By

Yash K. Menon

 Thermal efficiency of a gas turbine can be improved by.....

1. Increasing the pressure ratio in the Compressor and....
2. The turbine inlet temperature.
Thus high pressure and temperature is maintained inside
the combustion chamber.
This leads to high thermal stresses on the walls of
combustion chamber which is not desirable.

So in order to increase the life of the walls of combustion

chamber Cooling is necessary.

1. Film cooling

2. Multi-hole walls

3. Transpiration

 The most common way to

protect the walls of
combustion chamber.
Number of slots are provided
on the wall of CC.
The slots are placed in
intervals about 4-8 cm apart
along the axial depth

2. Multi-hole walls
A very effective way to lower the
temperature of wall.
The effectiveness is due to the increase in
convection inside the holes.
The convection heat transfer process
depends on the heat transfer coefficient, the
surface inside the holes and the air flow
temperature.
Geometry and placing of the holes also
plays an important role in determining the
air velocity through the hole.

2. Multi-hole walls contd

Studies performed in France show a decrease in wall temperature from 640 K to 440 K.
This decrease occurs along a 50 mm long multi-hole zone.

3. Transpiration
The best way to do this is by
constructing the liner wall from a
porous material.
The pores provide a very large area
over witch heat transfer can occur.
They also provide the inner surface
with a uniform film of cooling air.
There are not many porous materials
available on the market.
The researches lead to the
development of mulitlaminate sheets.

 Transply, a structure developed by Rolls-Royce, is such a sheet.

Transply consists of high temperature alloy sheets brazed together
containing channels that allow the air to flow through the liner wall.

The air first cools the material and then a thin film on the inside wall. Tests
show that this material can withstand temperatures up to 1173 K.

 So far we have seen the various methods of cooling of walls of combustion

chamber.
Out of 3 methods discussed, the best method of cooling is the use of
perforated metal sheets for construction of combustion chamber walls.
But these metal sheets are very expensive hence overall cost of gas turbine
engine increases.
So second best method is to make use of multi hole walls, which is giving
best cooling effect at reasonable cost.

In all modern aircraft engines multi-hole walls are used for constructing
combustion chamber.