Heat Transfer and Friction Studies in a Tilted and Rib-Roughened Trailing-Edge Cooling Cavity With and Without the Trailing-Edge Cooling Holes

Abstract

Local and average heat transfer coefficients and friction factors were measured in a test section simulating the trailing edge cooling cavity of a turbine airfoil. The test rig with a trapezoidal cross sectional area was rib-roughened on two opposite sides of the trapezoid (airfoil pressure and suction sides) with tapered ribs to conform to the cooling cavity shape and had a 22-degree tilt in the flow direction upstream of the ribs that affected the heat transfer coefficients on the two rib-roughened surfaces. The radial cooling flow traveled from the airfoil root to the tip while exiting through 22 cooling holes along the airfoil trailing edge. Two rib geometries, with and without the presence of the trailing-edge cooling holes, were examined. The numerical model contained the entire trailing-edge channel, ribs and trailing-edge cooling holes to simulate exactly the tested geometry. A pressure-correction based, multi-block, multi-grid, unstructured/adaptive commercial software was used in this investigation. Realizable k–ε turbulence model in conjunction with enhanced wall treatment approach for the near wall regions, was used for turbulence closure. The applied thermal boundary conditions to the CFD models matched the test boundary conditions. Comparisons are made between the experimental and numerical results.