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The heat transfer and friction augmentation in the fully developed portion of a 2:1 aspect ratio rectangular channel with orthogonal ribs at channel Reynolds numbers of 20,000, 30,000, and 40,000 is studied both experimentally and computationally. Ribs are applied to the two opposite wide walls. The rib aspect ratio is varied systematically at 1, 3, and 5, with a constant rib height and constant rib pitch (rib-pitch-to-rib-height ratio of 10). The purpose of the study is to extend the knowledge of the performance of rectangular channels with ribs to include high aspect ratio ribs. The experimental investigation is performed using transient Thermochromic Liquid Crystals technique to measure the distribution of the local Nusselt numbers on the ribbed walls. Overall channel pressure drop and friction factor augmentation is also obtained with the experimental setup. A numerical simulation is also performed by solving the 3-D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations using the realizable-k-Greek lowercase letter episilon] turbulence model for closure. Flow visualization is obtained from the computational results as well as numerical predictions of local distributions of Nusselt numbers and overal channel pressure drop. Results indicate that with increasing rib width, the heat transfer augmentation of the ribbed walls decreases with a corresponding reduction in channel pressure drop.

The cooling systems in a gas turbine are especially important as the turbine blades and vanes are exposed to extreme temperatures. The relatively cool air is extracted from the compressors and fed to the turbines to cool the turbine blades. The manufacturing of these blades and channels used to cool is especially complicated using conventional manufacturing techniques. Additive Manufacturing (AM) gives the designer much more freedom to design core components. The AM technique currently explored is the Selective Laser Melting process (SLM). The surface area is exposed to the cooling airflow by using lattice structures which can be manufactured at relative ease using AM. This thesis will provide some insights into using AM parts for the cooling, by analyzing the pressure drop that could be expected from superalloys that are manufactured using AM. The surface roughness is an inherent property of the AM components therefore it would be interesting to analyze a turbulent flow through AM channels (CM247LC and INCONEL 939). The thesis deals with turbulent flows as the airflow used for cooling in the gas turbine is most likely turbulent.  The friction factor (Darcy–Weisbach friction factor) is used to relate the impact of the surface roughness to the pressure drop. The results from the previous experiments are contrasted as the flow in the previous experiments was assumed to be fully developed but in reality, it was not. And the accuracy of the previous results to the actual fully developed flow will shed some light on the feasibility of the flow analysis techniques used in the previous experiments. It is found that the previous experimental results for the CM247LC TPs have good agreement with current experimental results but INCONEL 939 exhibits significant deviation. The possible reasons for the deviations are directly linked to the assumptions made to calculate the minor losses. The Test Pieces (TP) analyzed in this thesis have varying length to diameter (L/D) ratios and the impact of the variation of different L/D ratios is analyzed along with varying pressure ratios. Where the flow resistance increases with an increase in L/D and pressure ratio. The technique to accommodate the compressibility of the airflow is also explored in this thesis. Finally, reasons for the manifestation of anomalies are discussed. The probability of the compressibility effects of the airflow on the anomalies was found to be quite high, and concluding remarks are provided.