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Influence of Cooling Flow Rate Variation on Gas Turbine Blade Temperature

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Conference Paper · January 2008

DOI: 10.1115/GT2008-50103

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 Proceedings of ASME TURBO EXPO 2008
Gas Turbine Technical Congress & Exposition
Berlin, Germany, June 9-13, 2008

GT2008-50103

INFLUENCE OF COOLING FLOW RATE VARIATION ON GAS TURBINE BLADE TEMPERATURE

DISTRIBUTIONS

Fernando Z. Sierra Espinosa1 Je Chin Han2

Areli Uribe Portugal1 J. Kubiak1
Diganta Narzary2 Sarah Blake2
Fernando Cadena1 Hugo Lara1
Jesús Nebradt3

1Centro de Investigación en Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, CIICAp

Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, C.P. 62210,
Cuernavaca, Morelos, México
2Turbine Heat Transfer Laboratory

Mechanical Engineering Department, Texas A&M University

College Station, TX
3Comisión
Federal de Electricidad
Subdirección de Generación Termoeléctrica, Don Manuelito No. 11, Olivar de los padres, C. P. 01780,
México DF.

ABSTRACT for punctual temperatures as a reference. The results showed

Temperature and flow rate of combustion gases and the regions of possible thermal stresses concentration as a
cooling stream are essential conditions for blade integrity in gas function of cooling airflow rate variations. Additionally, the
turbines. Since the combustion products pass directly to the problem was resolved computationally in conjugate mode,
first stage of blades high thermal stresses can develop, so the considering both fluid streams external and internal plus heat
temperature field in the blade material must be controlled to conduction at the interior of the blade material. The computer
avoid damage and/or reduction of blade useful life. This paper model is used to simulate other conditions not addressed in the
discusses an investigation on the influence of cooling airflow experiment. The paper discusses the comparison of numerical
reduction on blade life. The flow rate reduction under to experimental results and discusses the methodology for
consideration may be due to malfunctions of the compressor further work.
such like deposits or partial blockage in the blade ducts. It has
been reported that air discharge from the compressor can be NOMENCLATURE
reduced up to 15% of the nominal rate due to deposits related
with impurities contained in the environment. In this work an I(T) emission intensity of TSP
evaluation of the effect of reducing the cooling airflow rate on I(T)ref emission intensity of TSP at reference
the temperature distribution on the blades surface is attempted. temperature
The flow stream that surrounds the blade together with the L blade length, m
cooling airflow in the blade interior channels were Taw local adiabatic wall temperature (K)
characterized in the laboratory. Fields of temperature on the Tc coolant temperature (K)
blade surface were obtained using the temperature sensitive Tm mainstream temperature (K)
paint technique, TSP. Thermocouple measurements were used Tw local surface temperature (K)

1 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

Rem Reynolds number of air mainstream coolant airflow to see how much it affects the metal blade
Rec Reynolds number of coolant flow temperature.
uc coolant velocity at the inlet of cooling
holes, m/s
um mainstream velocity at inlet, m/s
C blade chord, m
d effective cooling hole diameter, m
 kinematic viscosity of air, m2/s

INTRODUCTION
In gas turbines the integrity of the blades is one of the main
constrains of design. Especially those blades forming the first
stage, because these blades receive the gases from combustion a)
at higher pressure and temperature than the rest, located coordinate machine
downstream in subsequent stages. This has led designers to
develop new and ingenious methods for blade cooling, since
materials cannot support such extreme conditions. Appropriate blade
blade cooling allows the blade materials to relieve the thermal
stresses, although not always their concentration can be
avoided. Assuming the blade cooling is successful, it remains
that side conditions are not always considered in the design.
These can be due to operating conditions that finally produce
mal function of materials due to high concentration of thermal
stresses, or rather they reduce the number of cycles before a fail
or fracture occurs. The computation of useful life must then b)
consider side-operating conditions of the engine, which are out
of the design considerations. These can be for instance deposits
in the compressor blades, which has been probed to reduce up
to 15% the cooling airflow rate. Several techniques have been
also developed to avoid the problem, for instance by washing
the blades in the compressor as part of the maintenance
procedures of operating units. However, the problem still
remains because either monitoring air cleanness is not always cooling channels
effective, or the air conditions change suddenly due to change of cross
section area
unexpected events. Another example of deficient operation
condition is the partially blocked cooling ducts. This topic has
been addressed by a number of researchers. For instance,
Sundaram and Thole [1] studied the partially blockage of
cooling channels and its effect on blade materials and blade
useful life. Therein, the reduction of airflow rate was simulated
and experimentally studied. Regions of high temperature
concentration in the blade surface due to channel blockage were
identified. Arnal et al. [2] investigated the blade useful life
making use of finite volume and finite element modeling
through the computation of stress concentration due to thermal c)
and inertia effects. Emphasis was put to simulate the transition
from laminar to turbulent flow, as the boundary layer develops
[2]. Ogata and Yamamoto [3] investigated several methods for
life estimation of high temperature components in gas turbines.
Tension-torsion biaxial thermo-mechanical fatigue tests were
applied between 450 and 870 oC on a super alloy blade,
following Ieronymidis et al. [4]. It was found that a relationship
between strain rate and fatigue exists. That study was oriented
to the start-steady state-stop cycles performed during the
operation of the gas turbines. d)
In the present project the useful life of blades and the Fig. 1 Geometry of the blade under study: a) External
operating conditions of gas turbines are investigated. Since view; b) The blade installed in the coordinate machine; c)
these aspects can be related with the flow rate of coolant and X-ray view of the cooling channels; d) Tip blade showing
mainstream, the present paper focuses on the reduction of the cooling channels distribution and diameters, and
squealer size

2 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

 The first step was modeling the blade thermal behavior
under the external and internal flows. Furthermore, a 2-D blade
was built and used in the laboratory for measurements of
temperature distribution on its surface, due to external and
internal cooling airflows. The experimental results served to
validate the computational model. Future activities include
numerical studies of body structure leading to identify local
thermal stress concentration, considering the forces due to
rotation. The results will serve to define the influence of these
operating conditions on the useful life of blades, which will be
discussed in future works.

BLADE GEOMETRY
The blade under study belongs to the first stage of a 72
MW type D. The choice of this geometry is based on the
interests of the utility company to investigate the faults
reported. Other geometries can be studied further using the
same methodology, for instance, new designs using cooling
film. The blade was dimensioned using a coordinates machine
for external shape and X-ray for internal cooling channels.
Figure 1a shows the blade meshed externally for scanning the
surface with a tip of 0.1 mm precision, as shown in Fig. 1 b.
The construction of the geometry model involves the use of a
CAD program to make it ready for modeling in a CFD
program. Figure 1c shows the radiography of the blade. As
observed, there is not a plenum that receives and distributes the
cooling air to the cooling channels. Instead, there is a single
step that reduces the cross section area of each channel, which
is coincident with the blade root. The blade tip shown in Fig. 1d
gives the distribution and diameters of cooling channels. The
first eight holes from the leading edge have a diameter of 0.004
m, the next six, 0.003m and the last two holes have a diameter
of 0.002m. It is observed that the squealer rounds the aerofoil in
this section. The squealer thickness is 0.004 m and its depth is
0.009 m.
mainstream
Fig. 2 Main features of the low speed wind tunnel.
Thermal conductivity of Inconel, the material for real
engine blades, is around 25 W/m.K. The heat transfer
coefficient, h, although not measured/calculated, is expected to
be around five times lower than in actual turbine blades. The
thermal resistance of a conducting material compared against a
convection surface is calculated through the Biot number:
hL
Bi  (1)
k
The Biot number would therefore be lower than real engine
value by about three times. The low Biot number in our
experiments may produce a smaller temperature gradient in the
blade interior.
tailboard

EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY
A low speed wind tunnel working in suction mode,
powered by a 15 hp blower was used. The facility has been
used before for investigating film cooling effectiveness under a
variety of conditions [5, 6, 7]. New base plate and coolant
chamber were adapted to the wind tunnel used by Wright et al.
[6]. Figure 2 shows the dimensions of the wind tunnel, which
has a mainstream flow area of 0.254 m by 0.56 m. The blade mainstream
was 2D reproduced to conform a cascade arrange of five blades
plus two external located in the extremes of the wind tunnel, as test blade
shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Only the central blade of the cascade
was stainless steel constructed, while the rest were built of
aluminum. The two blades to the left and right of the central
one have squealer on the tip, but not cooling channels. The rest
of the blades have flat tips. The 2-D blade was adapted in size base plate coolant
chamber/plenum headboard
to the existing wind tunnel, scaled up 1.99 times from its
original size. It is 0.2515 m height, 0.185 m chord and the pitch
is 0.11 m. A clearance of 0.0025 m between the cascade height
and the blade exists. Head and tailboards at the leading and
trailing edges of the inner and outer blades further guide the Fig. 3 View of seven 2-D blade cascade within the wind
flow into and out of the cascade. These together with the top tunnel. The one in the center is instrumented. It is the only
cover plate are fabricated out of clear polycarbonate for optical one connected to the bottom chamber for cooling.
access. More details of wind tunnel construction can be found
elsewhere [8]. The blade under study was made of stainless
steel with heat conductivity, k, around 15 W/m K.

3 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

 Thermocouples were placed and used to obtain a temperature
reference.
Table 1 Conditions of experiments.
Test Mainstream Temperature Coolant Temperature
outlet Rem of mainstream Rec of coolant in
chamber, K
K
1 200,000 299.25 20,000 325.75
2 200,000 299.35 15,000 324.35
3 200,000 298.75 10,000 323.25
4 200,000 298.65 9,000 322.05

inlet 5 200,000 297.55 8,000 321.75

METHOD OF TEMPERATURE FIELD MEASUREMENT

Fig. 4 Wind tunnel cascade details.
Figure 4 shows a plan view of the blade cascade and the wind
tunnel. The inlet stream is modified by the cascade to the outlet
according to the turning angle of the blades, which is 107 o. The
intake of air is provided with a contraction nozzle to produce a
uniform flow on the cascade. A Pitot tube was used to produce
pressure measurements to calculate velocity. The maximum
inlet air velocity is 35 m s-1, which can be modified using a
variable frequency controller. Compared to the real conditions,
this is a low speed experiment. However, higher Mach number
experimental study has not been done yet but could be taken up
in future. Also, the low speed simulation is carried out to verify
the experimental data conducted in the low speed wind tunnel.
The boundary conditions may be suitably modified to take care
of real engine parameters further.
Coolant is supplied from a chamber attached underneath
the base plate, which receives the coolant from a pressurized air
supply. This chamber allows for uniform distribution of coolant
through each cooling channel. In coolant channels an average
value of its velocity, uc, is used. To calculate the average uc, an
effective diameter, d, is chosen. This effective diameter is
defined by the sum of all the cooling holes diameters and
dividing that sum by the total number of holes. A coolant
Reynolds number was defined based on these variables:
ud (2)
Rec  c

where  is the kinematic viscosity of air. Also, a Reynolds
number was defined for inlet conditions of mainstream into the
low velocity wind tunnel as:
u C
Rem  m (3)
 Fig. 5 Experimental set up for temperature measurement
C is the blade chord length of the blade and um is the inlet
velocity. A mainstream Rem = 2x105 based on um = 20 m s-1 and
air properties at 27 oC was the faster test.
Coolant Reynolds number of 10x103 representing 0.7% of
the mainstream airflow were considered in the tests. From this
value reductions of up to 15% were tested. Also increments of
Rec to 15 and 20x103 were investigated, as indicated in Table 1.
Other tests considering reductions of Rem as well will be
conducted and reported by separate. As in previous
experiments, the coolant is the heat source while the
mainstream remains at laboratory temperature [5, 6, 7]. The
coolant airflow was passed through a set of in-series heaters to
increase its temperature to the level reported in Table 1.
Temperature distributions on the blade surface were
obtained using the temperature sensitive paint method, TSP.
This method allows changes in temperature of the surface to be
detected, based on the thermal quenching phenomenon. In TSP
a source of excitation is used to promote luminescence
molecules emission of a photon (light) by the paint material
(polymer binder) at a higher wavelength than the excitation
source (520 nm). Fig. 5 shows the set up used in this work to
calibrate TSP at room temperature, which is used as a reference
condition for temperature estimation at other conditions listed
in Table 1. The alignment of the camera was normal or very
close to normal to the measurement surface. Just in case an
angle between the viewing source and the surface would be not
normal, the emission (radiance) received would still be the
same as from normal viewing because of Lambert’s cosine law.
The intensity of this emission is function of temperature such
that it is lower at a higher temperature. Further details of TSP
can be found in [9].
during calibration.
The instrumented stainless steel blade was first coated with
UniCoat TSP from Innovative Scientific Solutions Inc. A
thermocouple was used during the calibration for record of test
section at room temperature. The curve of calibration obtained
is shown in Fig. 6. In addition, a black image is recorded for
elimination of optical noise. A CCD camera (coupled charged
device) receives the emitted light from the coated surface to be
studied and transforms pixels information from intensity to
temperature following the relationship:
 I (T )  I b 
Tf  (4)
 I (T )ref  I b 

4 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

where T is temperature, I(T)ref is the reference emission
intensity and Ib is the noise intensity (black image). Therefore, leading edge
the equipment was oriented towards the blade as shown in Fig. leading edge suction side
7. In the next section the results are presented and discussed. A pressure side
brief description of temperature fields is first given followed by
a comparison against numerical results obtained with the
program Fluent [10].

trailing edge
suction side

Fig. 8 Measurement regions on test blade.

Fig. 6 Emission of light as a function temperature during
calibration as indicated by points, and calibration curve at
Tref = 296.5 K.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 8 shows the geometry of the cross section of the blade
indicating the regions investigated: leading edge suction side;
leading edge pressure side; and trailing edge suction side. A
picture of the blade cascade within the wind tunnel is shown in
Fig. 9. The picture shows what the camera captures with strobe
illumination. The first plane a-b-c-d corresponds to the suction
side of the leading edge of the test blade. Similar views are
shown in Fig. 10 for the pressure side of the leading and the
trailing edge suction side. The results will be discussed
following the order of Fig. 10.

TSP coated test blade

Fig. 9 Blade cascade with central instrumented blade

indicated through limits a-b-c-d.

strobe
excitation light

Fig. 7 Experimental set up for temperature measurement i ii iii

installed in the wind tunnel and focused on the blade
cascade (only one position as shown). Fig. 10 The test blade surface: i) the leading edge
suction side; ii) Trailing edge suction side; iii) leading edge
pressure side.

5 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

 Sample results of metal temperature distribution are shown
in Figures 11, 12 and 13. As observed, the temperature
distribution indicates higher temperature level in the region
close to the base of the blade. This effect seems to be related
with the design of these particular coolant channels, which have
a single way to take out the heat. Other designs consider two- 319.26
passage with a U bend to increase the cooling effectiveness 317.04
[11]. Also the number of cooling channels affects the cooling 314.82
effectiveness since the thickness of solid material in-between 312.59
the channels reduces [2]. The single way cooling channels at 310.37
hand have one reduction of cross section as observed in Fig. 1c, 308.15
to increase the velocity of coolant and probably its turbulent 305.93
intensity. The change of cross section takes place in the blade’s 303.71
surface exposed to the combustion hot gases. This design 301.48
probably helps to produce a better heat exchange from the 299.26
dynamics point of view, but the reduction of surface area still i ii iii 297.04
remains as the critical drawback to enhance heat exchange. The
results for different coolant rate observed in Figs. 11i, 12i and Fig. 13 Effect of coolant Rec variation on temperature
13 i, with a 20% reduction of coolant flow rate indicates distribution of leading edge pressure side, with mainstream
temperature distribution independency with respect to coolant Re fixed to Rem = 2x105: i) Rec = 9x103; ii) Rec = 10x103; iii)
Reynolds number. Rec = 20x103. Temperature scale is K.

319.26
319.26
317.04
317.04
314.82
314.82
312.59
312.59
310.37
310.37
308.15
308.15
305.93
305.93
303.71
303.71
301.48
301.48
299.26
299.26
297.04
i ii iii 297.04 i ii iii
Fig. 14 Effect of coolant Rec variation on temperature
Fig. 11 Effect of coolant Rec variation on temperature
distribution of leading edge suction side, with mainstream
distribution of leading edge suction side, with mainstream
Re fixed to Rem = 2x105: i) Rec = 10x103; ii) Rec = 15x103; iii)
Re fixed to Rem = 2x105: i) Rec = 8x103; ii) Rec = 9x103; iii)
Rec = 20x103. Temperature scale is K.
Rec = 10x103. Temperature scale is K.

319.26
317.04 319.26
314.82 317.04
312.59 314.82
310.37 312.59
308.15 310.37
305.93 308.15
303.71 305.93
301.48 303.71
299.26 301.48
i ii iii 297.04 299.26
i ii iii 297.04
Fig. 12 Effect of coolant Rec variation on temperature
distribution of trailing edge suction side, with mainstream Fig. 15 Effect of coolant Rec variation on temperature
Re fixed to Rem = 2x105: i) Rec = 8x103; ii) Rec = 9x103; iii) distribution of trailing edge suction side, with mainstream
Rec = 10x103. Temperature scale is K. Re fixed to Rem = 2x105: i) Rec = 10x103; ii) Rec = 15x103; iii)
Rec = 20x103. Temperature scale is K.

6 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

 modeling was to reproduce for the experimental conditions in
order to validate the model. Navier-Stokes equations were
solved with coupled conductive and convective temperature
equations in a Fluent finite volume approach, based on the use
of Reynolds stress model (RSM) for the effects of turbulence
319.26 [12]. The mass, momentum and energy equations are:
317.04  u j
314.82 0 (5)
312.59 x j
310.37
  
308.15
305.93 x j
  uiu j   
x j
p ij 
x j
 ij (6)
303.71
 2 
301.48
  E  p  u j  keff T  ij ui (7)
299.26
x j xi x j x j
i ii iii 297.04
Where , uj and xi are the density, the velocity vector and
Fig. 16 Effect of coolant Rec variation on temperature the position vector, respectively. In equations 6 and 7 p is the
distribution of leading edge pressure side, with mainstream pressure and E represents the energy, which is defined as a
Re fixed to Rem = 2x105: i) Rec = 10x103; ii) Rec = 15x103; iii) function of the enthalpy h:
Rec = 20x103. Temperature scale is K.
p u2
A general observation in the whole set of figures 11-13 is Eh  (8)
that cooling effect is better in the base of the blade compared  2
with the rest of the blade body. Therefore, a poor cooling effect keff is the effective conductivity that takes into account a
in the region close to the tip blade may be expected according turbulent thermal conductivity according to the turbulence
to the temperature distribution observed. Also, the previous model RSM that represents the viscous stress term, ij. A
statement applies for all different regions of the blade: leading Reynolds stress tensor, u;iu;j is solved in the RSM, which does
pressure-suction and especially for the trailing edge suction
side, where very low temperatures are observed. not consider any turbulent viscosity, details are given in [10].
The reader can get a deep understanding of Reynolds Averaged
Another effect of varying coolant flow rate emerges from Navier-Stokes, RANS approach in the specialized literature, in
figures 11, 12 and 13. As the coolant Reynolds number Rec [12] for instance. The boundary conditions used in the coupled
increases it produces differences of higher limit of temperature, solution convective-conductive conjugate method are given in
which can be observed in the temperature bar code: 310.4 K in Table 2. Sequence of test number is the same as in Table 1. The
the suction leading edge, Fig. 11iii; 307 K in the trailing suction whole domain includes the coolant channels, solid blade and
edge, Fig. 12iii; and 319.3 K in the pressure leading edge, Fig. mainstream flow with proper pressure and temperature inlets.
13iii. This result indicates that poor cooling is expected with The choice of compressible flow required defining a pressure
reduced coolant flow rates, especially in the trailing suction for inlet condition, based on the computation of Mach number.
edge, and the suction leading edge of the blade. Other The same applies for the mainstream. Periodic boundaries were
percentages of mainstream reduction will be addressed in a applied to the spanwise walls parallel to both, the pressure-
future paper. suction blade walls. The mesh size used is 1.5x106 hexahedral
cells. This kind of mesh accelerates convergence compared to
Increased coolant Reynolds numbers were investigated; the
an unstructured one, despite the much more effort required to
results are shown in Figs. 14, 15 and 16. These results confirm
built it due to complexity of curvature of walls.
the findings discussed above: poor temperature distribution in
the tip of the blade, mainly in the trailing suction side;
improvement of distribution with increased coolant Reynolds Table 2 Boundary conditions for simulations.
number, especially in the leading edge suction side; and the Test Mainstream Coolant
worst distribution of temperature for reduced/increased Re
number of coolant in the trailing edge suction side. This last Inlet Outlet Inlet Inlet Inlet
result may be less dramatic than it appears because the pressure, pressure temperature, pressure, temperature
temperature of hot gases is definitively higher in the leading Pa Pa K Pa K
edge pressure side than in the trailing edge suction side.
However, an evaluation of poor temperature distribution 1 101469.1 101325 300 106340.6 325.75
against the low level of temperature is still recommended. 2 101469.1 101325 300 104129.1 324.35
3 101469.1 101325 300 102565.6 323.3
NUMERICAL MODELING 4 101469.1 101325 300 102325.2 322.0
The computation of temperature distribution was conducted
5 101469.1 101325 300 102119.4 321.8
using a computer model shown in Figs. 17a and 17b. A steady
state conjugate solution was obtained to solve for heat As observed in Fig. 17b, complex currents are produced in the
conduction in the blade material and convection in the coolant leading edge pressure side produced by the Rem = 2x105
channels and the mainstream flows. The first purpose of the condition. These currents can help to explain the distribution of

7 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

temperature in the upper part of the blade compared with the
basis part. A high turbulence flow commonly enhances the heat
transfer. By comparing the results in Fig. 14 against the
corresponding in Fig. 18 it is observed that a qualitative
agreement exists between numerical and experimental results.
Coolant heats over the blade surface mainly in the region close
to the base. Poor temperature distribution is observed in the
blade as the coolant Rec number is reduced. Similar temperature
distributions are observed with coolant Rec increments, as
shown in Figs. 19i, 19ii and 19iii.

i ii iii
L
mainstream Fig. 19 Numerical results of effect of coolant Rec variation
on temperature distribution of leading edge suction side,
with mainstream Re fixed to Rem = 2x105: i) Rec = 10x103; ii)
Rec = 15x103; iii) Rec = 20x103. Temperature scale is K.
a b 0.2 L
Fig. 17 3-dimensional view of computational model of the
test blade, where mainstream current lines, colored by
velocity. 0.4 L

0.6 L

0.8 L

i ii iii

Fig. 20 Effect of coolant Rec variation on metal temperature

base-tip; fixed Rem = 2x105: i) Rec = 8x103; ii) Rec = 9x103;
iii) Rec = 10x103. Temperature scale is K.
0.2 L
i ii iii
Fig. 18 Numerical results of effect of coolant Rec variation
on temperature distribution of leading edge suction side, 0.4 L
with mainstream Re fixed to Rem = 2x105: i) Rec = 8x103; ii)
Rec = 9x103; iii) Rec = 10x103. Temperature scale is K.
The maximum predicted temperature in the leading edge 0.6 L
suction side is 31.4 for Rec = 10x103; 33.4 for Rec = 15x103;
and 36.4 for Rec = 20x103. Distribution of temperature inside
0.8 L
the blade material supports these figures, which is shown in
Fig. 20 for the cases i) Rec = 8x103; ii) Rec = 9x103; iii) Rec =
10x103. As heat enters through the coolant flow rate, it diffuses i ii iii
in the solid structure of blade reaching the surface, where
convection caused by the mainstream removes the heat. A
similar picture of the blade cross section, under real operating Fig. 21 Effect of coolant Rec variation on temperature
conditions, will reveal the regions of the blade where thermal distribution blade, with mainstream Re fixed to Rem =
stress concentration occurs, which is important for designers to 2x105: i) Rec = 10x103; ii) Rec = 15x103; iii) Rec = 20x103.
compute useful life of these components. Temperature scale is K.

8 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

 The predicted temperature distribution on the blade
material for conditions of Fig. 19 is shown in Fig. 21. These
results indicate that thermal concentration occurs in the trailing
edge of the blade.
A comparison of numerical results against experimental
measurements of blade temperature is shown in Fig. 22. This
figure presents spanwise linear average temperatures for
distance from the root to the blade tip, L, normalized by the
blade chord, C.
325
Leading edge suction side
3 3
Remain 200x10 ; Recooling 10x10 ;
320 3 3
Remain 200x10 ; Recooling 1.5x10 ;
3 3
Remain 200x10 ; Recooling 20x10 ;
315
Temperature (K)
310
305
300
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
L/C
Fig. 22 A comparison of numerical to experimental results.
The temperature distribution from the root to the blade tip
is predicted with smooth decay. The prediction shows tw
inflexion points along the blade, one close to the root and one
in the upper section close to the tip. The numerical prediction
follow the experimental results from the middle length up to
L/C = 1.1. The lack of concordance in the region of the root can
be explained on the basis that the simulation considered the
blade section exposed to the mainstream only, not the
connection to the cooling flow chamber shown in Fig. 3, nor
the base plate shown in the same figure. Existence of a base
plate may produce conduction from the blade root that is not
observed in the numerical prediction. A difference of two
degree is observed as a general discrepancy between numerical
and experimental results in the middle of the blade length.
Despite these counter backs, performance of the numerical
model is acceptable. Additional results will be reported in a
future paper.
CONCLUSIONS
Temperature distributions in the surface of one blade of the
first stage of a gas turbine were obtained and analyzed. The
results show a clear dependence of temperature distribution,
related to the cooling effectiveness, on the coolant flow rate in
the cooling channels. Variations of Reynolds number of coolant
flow included in this study simulated assumed up to 20%
coolant flow rate reduction. Poor distribution of temperature
occurs in the leading edge suction and pressure side. However
the worst temperature distribution was found in the trailing
edge suction side of the blade. The results indicate that this
region of the blade may be subjected to thermal stress
concentration. The results obtained for increased Reynolds
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number of coolant flow were similar; they confirm that the
trailing suction region of the blade is seriously affected by poor
temperature distribution. The conjugate numerical simulation of
the mainstream flow, the coolant flow and the conduction of
heat in the solid material of the blade showed good agreement
with experimental results for the conditions experimentally
examined. The computational model will be used to estimate
thermal coefficients of realistic conditions of turbine operation,
which cannot be realized in the laboratory due to excessive
cost. The results from numerical simulation may be used to
calculate mechanical and thermal stress concentration, which
can be useful for estimation of blade life.
Experimental
Experimental ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Experimental Grant CFE-2004-C01-6 from the Comisión Federal de
Electricidad through the Council for Science and Technology
CONACYT is deeply appreciated.
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