Uncertainty quantification of turbine endwall aero-thermal performance under combustor-turbine interface louver coolant and cavity

Abstract

The uncertainty characteristics have a significant influence on turbine cooling performance and its reliability, especially for the combustor-turbine interface region which faces more complicated flow interactions. Previous researches under the certainty framework are not able to reflect the realistic cooling characteristics of the interface region under real operation circumstances. Considering the random fluctuations of the major structure and flow parameters, uncertainty quantification of turbine endwall cooling performance under realistic combustor-turbine interface conditions is conducted in this paper using the polynomial chaos expansion method. The mix characteristic of combustor louver coolant and interface cavity leakage in the turbine endwall region is investigated, and the influences of parameter uncertainties on endwall cooling, vane phantom cooling, and cascade aerodynamic characteristics are analyzed. The results indicate that the uncertainties at the combustor-turbine interface largely influence the endwall cooling by modifying the strength and position of the secondary flows. Under the random fluctuations of interface geometry parameters, the local mean value of endwall cooling effectiveness can reach up to 0.25, and the standard deviation of endwall cooling effectiveness can reach 0.1. The geometrical parameters of interface width and misalignment height are the decisive factors for endwall cooling uncertainty. The random fluctuations of interface width and misalignment height separately cause great cooling effectiveness uncertainties on the pressure side endwall and suction side hot ring. The uncertainties in mainstream and structure parameters exhibit a reduced propensity to propagate onto vane phantom cooling. The decisive factors for vane phantom cooling uncertainty are interface width and misalignment height, and the major influenced area is the vane middle part. Four mainstream and structure parameters all make great contributions to the aerodynamic uncertainty at the strong secondary flow region and vane wake flow region. This paper can provide a theoretical basis for the design of combustor-turbine interface cooling structures to accommodate the actual turbine operation uncertainty conditions.