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Experimental Investigation of Initial Onset of Sand Deposition in the Turbine Section of Gas Turbines

Particle ingestion and deposition is an issue of concern for gas turbine engines operating in harsh environments. The ingested particles accelerate the deterioration of engine components and thus reduce its service life. This effect is observed to a greater extent in aircrafts/helicopters operating in particle laden environment. Understanding the effects of particle ingestion at engine representative condition leads to improved designs for turbomachinery. Experiments have been in an Aerothermal Rig facility at Virginia Tech to study particle deposition at engine representative temperatures. The Aerothermal Rig was upgraded to achieve air temperatures of up to 1100°C at the test section. The experiments are performed using Arizona Road Dust (ARD) of 20-40 μm size range. The temperature of air and particles are around 1100°C at a constant velocity of 70 m/s. The target coupon is made of Hastelloy X, a nickel-based alloy and the angle at which the particles impact the coupon varies from 30° to 80°. The experiments were performed with different amounts of total particle injected, concentration, and coupon angle to understand their effects on deposition. Similar research was carried out in the past at the same facility to study particle deposition at temperatures up to 1050°C and 70 m/s flow velocity. However, this previous research only studied how the coupon angle affects particle deposition; other parameters such as total particle input and particle concentration were not studied. It was found that particle deposition increases significantly at higher temperatures beyond 1050°C for higher coupon angle and amount of sand injected. Results from current study also show that deposition increases with increase in total sand injected, concentration, and coupon angle for a given temperature and velocity. / Master of Science

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/56595
Date28 August 2015
CreatorsPatel, Hardik Dipan
ContributorsMechanical Engineering, Ng, Wing Fai, Ekkad, Srinath, Pickrell, Gary R.
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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