Film-Cooling Effectiveness on a Rotating Blade Platform

Abstract

Film cooling effectiveness measurements under rotation were performed on the rotor blade platform using a pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. The present study examines, in particular, the film cooling effectiveness due to purging of coolant from the wheel-space cavity through the circumferential clearance gap provided between the stationary and rotating components of the turbine. The experimental investigation is carried out in a new three-stage turbine facility, recently designed and taken into operation at the Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory (TPFL) of Texas A&M University. This new turbine rotor has been used to facilitate coolant injection through this stator-rotor gap upstream of the 1st stage rotor blade. The gap was inclined at 25° to mainstream flow to allow the injected coolant to form a film along the passage platform. The effects of turbine rotating conditions on the blade platform film cooling effectiveness were investigated at three speeds of 2550 rpm, 2000 rpm and 1500 rpm with corresponding incidence angles of 23.2°, 43.4° and 54.8° respectively. Four different coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios varying from 0.5% to 2.0% were tested at each rotational speed. Aerodynamic measurements were performed at the 1st stage stator exit using a radially traversed five-hole probe to quantify the mainstream flow at this station. Results indicate that film cooling effectiveness increases with an increase in the coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios for all turbine speeds. Higher turbine rotation speeds show more local film cooling effectiveness spread on the platform with increasing magnitudes.