No description available.

During the operation of a gas turbine, ingested contaminants present in the air form deposits on the surfaces of the turbine blades. These deposits grow over time, resulting in an increasingly rough surface. This gradual increase in roughness results in several negative consequences, among which is an increase in the rate of heat transfer to the blade which shortens blade life. This thesis presents research in which deposits were evolved on three different turbine blade coupons and their evolution was studied. A trend in roughness change over time was discovered. Also, an attempt was made to find the effect of the deposits on the heat transfer characteristics of a coupon surface. The deposits were formed using the BYU Turbine Accelerated Deposition Facility (TADF), which was used to simulate three months of deposition within a two hour test time. All three coupons underwent four cycles in the TADF: eight total hours of combustor testing—or one simulated year of deposition—with topological measurements being made on the coupon surface after every two hours (three simulated months) of testing. The data produced by the topological measurements were used with a CNC mill to machine scaled-up plastic models of the rough surfaces: four surfaces per model representing three, six, nine, and twelve simulated months of deposition. The models were placed in a wind tunnel where, following a period of thermal soaking at room temperature, they were suddenly exposed to a heated air stream. The thermal histories of the model were recorded with an infrared camera and were used to derive the heat transfer coefficient of each surface using the method developed by Shultz and Jones. The heat transfer coefficients are reported in the form of Stanton numbers to allow for the difference in thermal properties between the conditions and properties of the wind tunnel and its components and those of a real gas turbine. The Stanton numbers for the various surfaces were plotted versus the simulated gas turbine operational time. Additionally, several roughness correlations were used to predict the Stanton number for each surface, producing a probable Stanton number history for the coupon. The measured nondimensional heat transfer coefficients did not reach the magnitudes predicted by the correlations. This is most likely due to unexpected flow conditions inside the wind tunnel. Recommendations for future research are presented.

Synfuel from gasification of coal, biomass, and/or petroleum coke is an alternative to natural gas in land-based industrial gas turbines. However, carryover fine particulate in the syngas may lead to a considerable amount of deposition on turbine blades, which reduces component life and system performance. Deposition experiments on film-cooled turbine components were performed in an accelerated test facility to examine the nature of flyash deposits near film cooling holes. Experimental results indicate that deposition capture efficiency decreased with increased blowing ratio. Shaped holes exhibited more span-wise coverage than cylindrical holes and effectively reduced deposition. The TBC layer increased surface temperature, resulting in increased deposition. Coupons with close hole spacing exhibited a more uniform low temperature region downstream and less deposition. Capture efficiencies for small particles were lower than for large particles, especially at low blowing ratios. The trench increased cooling effectiveness downstream, but did not reduce overall collection efficiency of particulates because the trench also acted as a particulate collector. In the numerical computations using a CFD code (FLUENT), the standard k-ω turbulence model and RANS were employed to compute flow field and heat transfer. A Lagrangian particle method was utilized to predict the ash particulate transport. User-defined subroutines were developed to describe and predict particle deposition rates on the turbine blade surface. Small particles had a greater tendency to stick to the surface. As the surface temperature rose above the transition temperature, large particles dominated the excessive deposition due to the high delivery rate. Backside impingement of coolant improved the overall cooling effectiveness. Experiments and CFD modeling results suggest that clean coolant dominated the initial deposition process by blowing off the particles and preventing particles from impacting on the surface. Initial deposits formed between coolant channels. Subsequent deposition occurred on top of initial deposits, due to increasing deposit surface temperature, which led to the formation of distinct ridges between coolant paths.

No description available.

Natural gas has grown in popularity as a fuel for power generation gas turbines. However, changes in fuel composition are a topic of concern since fuel variability can have a great impact on the reliability and performance of the burner design. In particular, autoignition of the premixed fuel and air prior to entering the main burner is a potential concern when using exotic fuel blends. To obtain much-needed data in this area, autoignition experiments for a wide range of likely fuel blends containing CH4 mixed with combinations of C2H6, C3H8, C4H10, C5H12, and H2 were performed in a high-pressure shock tube. However, testing every possible fuel blend combination and interaction was not feasible within a reasonable time and cost. Therefore, to predict the surface response over the complete mixture domain, a special experimental design was developed to significantly reduce the amount of 'trials' needed from 243 to only 41 using the Box-Behnkin factorial design methodology. Kinetics modeling was used to obtain numerical results for this matrix of fuel blends, setting the conditions at a temperature of 800 K and pressure of 17 atm. A further and successful attempt was made to reduce the 41-test matrix to a 21-test matrix. This was done using special mixture experimental techniques. The kinetics model was used to compare the smaller matrix to the expected results of the larger one. The new 21-test matrix produced a numerical correlation that agreed well with the results from the 41-test matrix, indicating that the smaller matrix would provide the same statistical information as the larger one with acceptable precision. iii After the experimental matrix was developed using the design of experiments approach, the physical experiments were performed in the shock tube. Long test times were created by "tailoring" the shock tube using a novel driver gas mixture, obtaining test times of 10 millisecond or more, which made experiments at low temperatures possible. Large discrepancies were found between the predicted results by numerical models and the actual experimental results. The main conclusion from the experiments is that the methane-based mixtures in this study enter a regime with a negative temperature coefficient when plotted in Arhennius form. This means that these mixtures are far more likely to ignite under conditions frequently encountered in a premixer, potentially creating hazardous situations. The experimental results were correlated as a function of the different species. It was found that the effect of higher-order hydrocarbon addition to methane is not as profound as seen at higher temperatures (>1100 K). However, the ignition delay time could still be reduced by a factor two or more. It is therefore evident that potential autoignition could occur within the premixer, given the conditions as stated in this study.

Laboratory experiments on components of complex systems such as gas turbines require many conditions to be met. Requirements to be met in order to simulate real world conditions include inlet flow conditions such as velocity profile, Reynold's number, and temperature. The methodology to be introduced designs a velocity profile generating screen to match real world conditions through the use of perforated plates. The velocity profile generating screen is an array of jets arranged in a manner to produce sections of different solidities, a ratio of area that obstructs fluid flow compared to that of the total area. In an effort to better understand the interaction between perforated plate sections of different solidities, a collection of experimental data sets is presented to characterize the plates. This includes identification of fluid flow regions with characterization of the flow dynamics, though the analysis of velocity and turbulence decay. The aim of this characterization is to determine how the perforated plate's solidity affects the velocity development downstream and the location at which the velocity profile being produced can be considered complete.

The effects of an industrial gas turbine’s Exhaust Collector Box (ECB) geometry on static pressure recovery and total pressure loss were investigated in this study experimentally and computationally. This study aims to further understand how exit boundary conditions affect the performance of a diffuser system as well as the accuracy of industry standard computational models. A design of experiments approach was taken using a Box-Behnken design method for investigating three geometric parameters of the ECB. In this investigation, the exhaust diffuser remained constant through each test, with only the ECB being varied. A system performance analysis was conducted for each geometry using the total pressure loss and static pressure recovery from the diffuser inlet to the ECB exit. Velocity and total pressure profiles obtained with a hotwire anemometer and Kiel probe at the exit of the diffuser and at the exit of the ECB are also presented in this study. A total of 13 different ECB geometries are investigated at a Reynolds number of 60,000. Results obtained from these experimental tests are used to investigate the accuracy of a 3-dimensional RANS with realizable k-ε turbulence model from the commercial software package Star-CCM+. The study confirms the existence of strong counter-rotating helical vortices within the ECB which significantly affect the flow within the diffuser. Evidence of a strong recirculation zone within the ECB was found to force separation within the exhaust diffuser which imposed a circumferentially asymmetric pressure field at the inlet of the diffuser. Increasing the ECB width proved to decrease the magnitude of this effect, increasing the diffuser protrusion reduced this effect to a lesser degree. The combined effect of increasing the ECB Length and Width increased the expansion area ratio, proving to increase the system pressure recovery iv by as much as 19% over the nominal case. Additionally, the realizable k-ε turbulence model was able to accurately rank all 13 cases in order by performance; however the predicted magnitudes of the pressure recovery and total pressure loss were poor for the cases with strong vortices. For the large volume cases with weak vortices, the CFD was able to accurately represent the total pressure loss of the system within 5%.

In the design of mechanical components, numerical simulations and experimental methods are commonly used for design creation (or modification) and design optimization. However, a major challenge of using simulation and experimental methods is that they are timeconsuming and often cost-prohibitive for the designer. In addition, the simultaneous interactions between aerodynamic, thermodynamic and mechanical integrity objectives for a particular component or set of components are difficult to accurately characterize, even with the existing simulation tools and experimental methods. The current research and practice of using numerical simulations and experimental methods do little to address the simultaneous “satisficing” of multiple and often conflicting design objectives that influence the performance and geometry of a component. This is particularly the case for gas turbine systems that involve a large number of complex components with complicated geometries. Numerous experimental and numerical studies have demonstrated success in generating effective designs for mechanical components; however, their focus has been primarily on optimizing a single design objective based on a limited set of design variables and associated values. In this research, a multiobjective design optimization framework to solve a set of userspecified design objective functions for mechanical components is proposed. The framework integrates a numerical simulation and a nature-inspired optimization procedure that iteratively perturbs a set of design variables eventually converging to a set of tradeoff design solutions. In this research, a gas turbine engine system is used as the test application for the proposed framework. More specifically, the optimization of the gas turbine blade internal cooling channel configuration is performed. This test application is quite relevant as gas turbine engines serve a iv critical role in the design of the next-generation power generation facilities around the world. Furthermore, turbine blades require better cooling techniques to increase their cooling effectiveness to cope with the increase in engine operating temperatures extending the useful life of the blades. The performance of the proposed framework is evaluated via a computational study, where a set of common, real-world design objectives and a set of design variables that directly influence the set of objectives are considered. Specifically, three objectives are considered in this study: (1) cooling channel heat transfer coefficient, which measures the rate of heat transfer and the goal is to maximize this value; (2) cooling channel air pressure drop, where the goal is to minimize this value; and (3) cooling channel geometry, specifically the cooling channel cavity area, where the goal is to maximize this value. These objectives, which are conflicting, directly influence the cooling effectiveness of a gas turbine blade and the material usage in its design. The computational results show the proposed optimization framework is able to generate, evaluate and identify thousands of competitive tradeoff designs in a fraction of the time that it would take designers using the traditional simulation tools and experimental methods commonly used for mechanical component design generation. This is a significant step beyond the current research and applications of design optimization to gas turbine blades, specifically, and to mechanical components, in general.

Ignition and oxidation characteristics of CO/H2, H2/O2 and CO/H2/CH4/CO2/Ar fuel blends in air were studied using both experimental and computer simulation methods. Shock-tube experiments were conducted behind reflected shock waves at intermediate temperatures (825 < T < 1400 K) for a wide range of pressures (1 < P < 45 atm). Results of this study provide the first undiluted fuel-air ignition delay time experiments to cover such a wide range of syngas mixture compositions over the stated temperature range. Emission in the form of chemiluminescence from the hydroxyl radical (OH*) transition near 307 nm and the pressure behind the reflected shock wave were used to monitor reaction progress from which ignition delay times were determined. In addition to the experimental analysis, chemical kinetics calculations were completed to compare several chemical kinetics mechanisms to the new experimental results. Overall, the models were in good agreement with the shock-tube data, especially at higher temperatures and lower pressures, yet there were some differences between the models at higher pressures and the lowest temperatures, in some cases by as much as a factor of five. In order to discern additional information from the chemical kinetics mechanisms regarding their response to a wide range of experimental conditions, ignition delay time and reaction rate sensitivity analyses were completed at higher and lower temperatures and higher and lower pressures. These two sensitivity analyses allow for the identification of the key reactions responsible for ignition. The results of the sensitivity analysis indicate that the ignition-enhancing reaction H + O2 = O + OH and hydrogen oxidation kinetics in general were most important regardless of mixture composition, temperature or pressure. However, lower-temperature, higher-pressure ignition delay time results indicate additional influence from HO2- and CO- containing reactions, particularly the well-known H + O + M = HO2 + M reaction and also the CO + O + M = CO2 + M and CO + HO2 = CO2 + OH reactions. Differences in the rates of the CO-related reactions are shown to be the cause of some of the discrepancies amongst the various models at elevated pressures. However, the deviation between the models and the experimental data at the lowest temperatures could not be entirely explained by discrepancies in the current rates of the reactions contained within the mechanisms. Additional calculations were therefore performed to gain further understanding regarding the opposing ignition behavior for calculated and measured ignition delay time results. Impurities, friction induced ionization, static charge accumulation, boundary layer effects, wall reaction effects, and revised chemical kinetics were all considered to be possible mechanisms for the model and measured data disparity. For the case of wall-reaction effects, additional shock-tube experiments were conducted. For the remaining effects listed above, only detailed calculations were conducted. Results from this preliminary anomaly study are at this time inconclusive, but likely avenues for future study were identified. Additional kinetics calculations showed that the large difference between the experimental data and the chemical kinetics models predictions at low temperatures can be explained by at least one missing reaction relevant to low-temperature and high-pressure experimental conditions involving the formation of H2O2, although further study beyond the scope of this thesis is required to prove this hypothesis both theoretically and experimentally.

Film cooling is a technique whereby air from the compressor stage of a gas turbine engine is diverted for cooling purposes to parts, such as the turbine stage, that operate at very high temperatures. Cooling arrangements include impingement jets, finned, ribbed and turbulated channels, and rows of film cooling holes, all of which over the years have become progressively more complex. This costly, but necessary complexity is a result of the industry's push to run engines at increasingly higher turbine inlet temperatures. Higher temperatures mean higher efficiency, but they also mean that the turbine first stage operates hundreds of degrees Kelvin above the melting point of the metal core of the vanes and blades. Existing cooling technology and materials make it possible to protect these parts and allow them to function for extended periods of time--but this comes at a price: the compressed air that is used for cooling represents a considerable penalty in overall turbine efficiency. The aim of current cooling research is threefold: to improve the protection of components from extreme fluxes in order to extend the life of the parts; to increase the inlet turbine operating temperature; and to reduce the amount of air that is diverted from the compressor for cooling. Current film cooling schemes consist of forcing air through carefully machined holes on a part and ejecting it at an angle with the intent of cooling that part by blanketing the surface downstream of the point of ejection. The last major development in the field has been the use of expanded hole exits, which reduce coolant momentum and allow for greater surface coverage. Researchers and designers are continuously looking for novel geometries and arrangements that would increase the level of protection or maintain it while using less coolant. It was found that the performance of fan-shaped holes inside trenches is actually diminished by the presence of the trench. It is obvious, since the fan diffuses the flow, reducing the momentum of the coolant; the addition of the trench further slows the flow down. This, in turn, leads to the quicker ingestion of the main flow by the jets resulting in lower effectiveness. The next part of the study consisted of systematically increasing the depth of the trench for the fan-shaped holes. The purpose of this was to quantify the effect of the trench on the film cooling effectiveness. It was found that the presence of the trench significantly reduces the film effectiveness, especially for the deeper cases. At the higher blowing ratios, the overall performance of the fans collapses to the same value signifying insensitivity to the blowing ratio. A recent study suggests that having a compound angle could reduce the protective effect of the film due to the elevated interaction between the non-co-flowing coolant jet and the mainstream. Although it has been suggested that a non-symmetric lateral diffusion could mitigate the ill effects of having a compound angle, little has been understood on the effect this non-symmetry has on film cooling effectiveness. The last part of this study investigates the effect of non-symmetric lateral diffusion on film cooling effectiveness by systematically varying one side of a fan-shaped hole. For this part of the study, one of the lateral angles of diffusion of a fan-shaped hole was changed from 5° to 13°, while the other side was kept at 7°. It was found that a lower angle of diffusion hurts performance, while a larger diffusion angle improves it. However, the more significant result was that the jet seemed to be slightly turning. This dissertation investigates such novel methods which one day may include combinations of cylindrical and fan-shaped holes embedded inside trenches, conical holes, or even rows of asymmetric fan-shaped holes. The review of current literature reveals that very few investigations have been done on film cooling effectiveness for uniformly diffusing conical holes. They have been treated as a sort of side novelty since industrial partners often say they are hard to manufacture. To extend our understanding of effectiveness of conical holes, the present study investigates the effect of increasing diffusion angle, as well as the effect of adding a cylindrical entrance length to a conical hole. The measurements were made in the form of film cooling effectiveness and the technique used was temperature sensitive paint. Eight different conical geometries were tested in the form of coupons with rows of holes. The geometry of the holes changed from pure cylindrical holes, a 0° cylindrical baseline, to an 8° pure cone. The coupons were tested in a closed loop wind tunnel at blowing ratios varying from 0.5 to 1.5, and the coolant employed was nitrogen gas. Results indicate that the larger conical holes do, in fact offer appropriate protection and that the holes with the higher expansion angles perform similar to fan-shaped baseline holes, even at the higher blower ratios. The study was also extended to two other plates in which the conical hole was preceded by a cylindrical entry length. The performance of the conical holes improves as a result of the entry length and this is seen at the higher blowing ratios in the form of a delay in the onset of jet detachment. The results of this study show that conical expanding holes are a viable geometry and that their manufacturing can be made easier with a cylindrical entry length, at the same time improving the performance of these holes. This suggests that the jets actually have two regions: one region with reduced momentum, ideal for protecting a large area downstream of the point of injection; and another region with more integrity which could withstand more aggressive main flow conditions. A further study should be conducted for this geometry at compound angles with the main flow to test this theory. The studies conducted show that the temperature sensitive paint technique can be used to study the performance of film cooling holes for various geometries. The studies also show the film cooling performance of novel geometries and explain why, in some cases, such new arrangements are desirable, and in others, how they can hurt performance. The studies also point in the direction of further investigations in order to advance cooling technology to more effective applications and reduced coolant consumption, the main goal of applied turbine cooling research. Trench cooling consists of having film cooling holes embedded inside a gap, commonly called a trench. The walls of this gap are commonly vertical with respect to the direction of the main flow and are directly in the path of the coolant. The coolant hits the downstream trench wall which forces it to spread laterally, resulting in more even film coverage downstream than that of regular holes flush with the surface. Recent literature has focused on the effect that trenching has on cylindrical cooling holes only. While the results indicate that trenches are an exciting, promising new geometry derived from the refurbishing process of thermal barrier ceramic coatings, not all the parameters affecting film cooling have been investigated relating to trenched holes. For example, nothing has been said about how far apart holes inside the trench will need to be placed for them to stop interacting. Nothing has been said about shaped holes inside a trench, either. This dissertation explores the extent to which trenching is useful by expanding the PI/D from 4 to 12 for rows of round and fan holes. In addition the effect that trenching has on fan-shaped holes is studied by systematically increasing the trench depth. Values of local, laterally-averaged and spatially-averaged film cooling effectiveness are reported. It is found that placing the cylinders inside the trench and doubling the distance between the holes provides better performance than the cylindrical, non-trenched baseline, especially at the higher blowing ratios, M > 1.0. At these higher coolant flow rates, the regular cylindrical jets show detachment, while those in the trench do not. They, in fact perform very well. The importance of this finding implies that the number of holes, and coolant, can be cut in half while still improving performance over regular holes. The trenched cylindrical holes did not, however, perform like the fan shaped holes.