This study is an investigation of the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient of a two-dimensional turbine rotor blade in a linear transonic cascade. Experiments were performed in Virginia Tech's Transonic Cascade Wind Tunnel with an exit Mach number 0f 1.2 and an exit Reynolds numbers of 5x106 to simulate real engine flow conditions. The freestream and coolant flows were maintained at a total temperature ratio of 2(+,-)0.4 and a total pressure ratio of 1.04. The freestream turbulence was approximately 1%. There are six rows of staggered, discrete cooling holes on and near the leading edge of the blade in a showerhead configuration. Cooled air was used as the coolant. Experiments were performed with and without film cooling on the surface of the blade. The heat transfer coefficient was found to increase with the addition of film cooling an average of 14% overall and to a maximum of 26% at the first gauge location. The average film cooling effectiveness along the chord-wise direction of the blade is 25%. Trends were found in both the uncooled and the film-cooled experiments that suggest either a transition from a laminar to a turbulent film regime or the existence of three-dimensionality in the flow-field over the gauges. / Master of Science

An experimental and numerical investigation was conducted to determine the film cooling effectiveness of a normal slot and angled slot under realistic engine Mach number conditions. Freestream Mach numbers of 0.65 and 1.3 were tested. For the normal slot, hot gas ingestion into the slot was observed at low blowing ratios (M < 0.25). At high blowing ratios (M > 0.6) the cooling film was observed to "lift off" from the surface. For the 30o angled slot, the data was found to collapse using the blowing ratio as a scaling parameter (x/Ms). Results from the current experiment were compared with the subsonic data published to confirm this test procedure. For the angled slot, at the supersonic freestream Mach number, the current experiment shows that at the same x/Ms, the film cooling effectiveness increases by as much as 25% as compared to the subsonic case. The results of the experiment also show that at the same x/Ms, the film cooling effectiveness of the angled slot is considerably higher than that of the normal slot, at both subsonic and supersonic Mach numbers. The flow physics for the slot tests considered here are also described with computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations in the subsonic and supersonic regimes. / Master of Science

The effects of using an insert Heat Flux Microsensor (HFM) versus an HFM deposited directly on a turbine blade to measure heat flux in a transonic cascade are investigated. The HFM is a thin-film sensor, 6.35 mm (0.250") in diameter (for an insert gage, including the housing) which measures heat flux and surface temperature. The thermal time response of both gages was modeled using a 1-D, finite difference technique and a 2-D, finite element solver. The transient response of the directly deposited gage was also tested against insert gages using an unsteady shock wave in a bench test setup and using a laser of known output. The effects of physical gage offset from the blade surface were also investigated. The physical offset of an insert HFM near the stagnation point on the suction side of a turbine blade was intentionally varied and the average heat transfer coefficient measured. Turbulence grids were used to study how offset affects the heat transfer coefficient with freestream turbulence added to the flow. The time constant of the directly deposited gage was measured to be 856 ms compared to less than 30 ms for the insert gages. Model results predict less than 20 ms for both gages and rule out the anodization layer (used for electrical isolation of the directly deposited gage from the blade) as the cause for the directly deposited gage's much slower time response. Offsets of ± 0.254 mm (0.010") at the gage location with an estimated boundary layer thickness of 0.10 mm (0.004") produced a higher average heat transfer coefficient than the 0.000" offset case. Using an insert HFM resulted in a higher average heat transfer coefficient than using the directly deposited gage and reduced the effects of freestream turbulence. To accurately measure heat transfer coefficients and the effects of freestream turbulence, the disruption of the flow caused by a gage must be minimized. Depositing a gage directly on the blade minimizes the effects of offset, but the cause of the slow time response must first be resolved if high speed data is to be taken. / Master of Science

No description available.

The high turbine inlet temperature of modern gas turbines poses a challenge to the material used in the turbine blading of the primary stages. Mechanical failure mechanisms are more pronounced at these high temperatures, setting the lifetime of the blade. It is therefore crucial to obtain accurate local metal temperature predictions of the turbine blade. Accurately predicting the external heat transfer coefficient (HTC) distribution of the blade is therefore of uttermost importance. At present time, Siemens Energy uses the boundary layer code TEXSTAN for this purpose. The limitations coupled to such codes however make them less applicable for the complex flow physics involved in the hot gas path of turbine blading. The thesis therefore aims at introducing CFD for calculating the external HTC. This includes conducting an extensive literature study to find and validate a suitable methodology. The literature study was centered around RANS modeling, reviewing how the calculation of the HTC has evolved and the performance of some common turbulence and transition models. From the literature study, the SST k − ω model in conjunction with the γ − Reθ transition model, the v2 − f model and the Lag EB k − ε model were chosen for the investigation of a suitable methodology. The validation of the methodology was based on the extensively studied LS89 vane linear cascade of the von Karman Institute. In total 13 test cases of the cascade were chosen to represent a wide range of flow conditions. Both a periodic model and a model of the entire LS89 cascade were tested but there were great uncertainties whether or not the correct flow conditions were achieved with the model of the entire cascade. It was therefore abandoned and a periodic model was used instead. The decay of turbulence intensity is not known in the LS89 cascade. This made the case difficult to model since the turbulence boundary conditions then were incomplete. Two approaches were attempted to handle this deficiency, where one was ultimately found invalid. It was recognized that the Steelant-Dick postulation could be used in order to find a turbulent length scale which when specified at the inlet, lead to fairly good agreement with data of the HTC. The validation showed that the SST γ − Reθ model performs relatively well on the suction side and in transition onset predictions but worse on the pressure side for certain flow conditions. The v2 − f model performed better on the pressure side and on a small portion of the suction side. Literature emphasized the importance of obtaining proper turbulence characteristics around the vane for accurate HTC-predictions. It was found that the results of the validation step could be closely coupled to this statement and that further work is needed regarding this. Further research must also be done on the Steelant-Dick postulation to validate it as a reliable method in prescribing the inlet length scale.