High Resolution Heat Transfer Measurement on Flat and Contoured Endwalls in a Linear Cascade

Abstract

In order to continue increasing the efficiency of gas turbines, a significant effort is being made to reduce losses induced by secondary flows in turbine stages. In addition to their impact on aerodynamic losses, these vortical structures are also the source of large heat transfer variations across the passage. A substantial reduction of the secondary flow losses can be achieved with a contoured endwall. However, a change in the vortical pattern can dramatically impact the thermal loads on the endwalls and lead to higher cooling requirements in those areas. This paper focuses on heat transfer measurements made in a passage with either flat or contoured endwalls. The experimental data are supplemented with numerical predictions of the heat transfer data. The measurements are carried out on an isothermal endwall equipped with symmetric airfoils. The paper presents measurements at M = 0.3, corresponding to a Reynolds number ReCax=4.6×105. An infrared camera is used to provide high-resolution surface temperature data on the endwall. The surface is equipped with an insulating layer (Kapton), allowing the calculation of heat flux through the endwall. The heat transfer quantities, namely the heat transfer coefficient and the adiabatic wall temperature, are then derived from a set of measurements at different isothermal plate temperatures. The numerical predictions clarify the link between the change in the heat transfer quantities and the changes in the flow field due to endwall contouring. Finally, numerically predicted heat transfer data are deduced from a set of adiabatic and diabatic simulations that are compared to the experimental data. The comparison focuses on the differences in the regions with endwall contouring, where a significant difference in the heat transfer coefficient between flat and contoured endwalls is measured but underpredicted numerically.