Purge Flow Injection Research Articles

Conjugate Heat Transfer Validation of an Optimized Film Cooling Configuration for a Turbine Vane Endwall

Abstract In this study, to improve overall cooling performance for a turbine endwall that incorporated internal jet impingement and external purge flow and discrete injection cooling, the external film cooling was re-designed based on the knowledge of film coverage patterns from a baseline design. Experimental conjugate heat transfer validation of the newly-designed cooling geometry was conducted by measuring overall cooling effectiveness over the endwall through an Infrared thermography technique and detecting aero-thermal fields at the cascade exit with five-hole and thermocouple probes. For a given total coolant flow rate, the influence of coolant split among different cooling sources was examined. Parallel computational simulations were undertaken to elaborate the experimentally-observed results by offering in-passage flow physics. Comparisons with the baseline design proved that the newly-designed cooling scheme improved the endwall overall cooling performance in terms of both effectiveness levels and coverage area. In addition to optimizing the cooling geometry, more efficient usage of the coolant was found to be linked with the proper coolant split, which helped the re-designed cooling geometry to achieve an improvement of cooling effectiveness by approximately 20%. The computational simulations produced satisfactory overall cooling effectiveness, but failed to capture mixing of coolant with mainstream flow. The flow interactions visualized by the simulations provided evidence that the coolant jets from the optimized cooling scheme increased mixing flow loss but those from the pressure side suppressed the inherent vortex flow, resulting in no aerodynamic penalty as compared with the baseline cooling design.

Rotor Cascade Assessment at Off-Design Condition: An Aerodynamic Investigation on Platform Cooling

Off-design condition of a rotor blade cascade with and without platform cooling was experimentally investigated. The ability of the gas turbine to operate down to 50% to 20% of its nominal intake air flow rate has an important consequence in the change in the inlet incidence angle, which varied from nominal to −20°. Platform cooling through an upstream slot simulating the stator-to-rotor interface gap was considered. The impact of rotation on purge flow injection was simulated by installing fins inside the slot to give the coolant flow a tangential direction. Aerodynamic measurements to quantify the cascade aerodynamic loss and secondary flow structures were performed at Ma2is = 0.55, varying the coolant to main flow mass flow ratio (MFR%) and the incidence angle. The results show that losses strongly increase with MFR. A negative incidence allows a reduction in the overall loss even when coolant is injected with a high MFR. The more negative the incidence, the greater the loss reduction.

Aerodynamic influence of rim seal purge flow injection on the main flow in a 1.5-stage axial turbine with nonaxisymmetric end wall contouring

This paper presents an investigation of the aerodynamic influence of rim seal purge flow injection on the main flow in a 1.5-stage turbine with non-axisymmetric end walls and a bowed stator using experimental flow measurements and unsteady RANS simulations. The study focuses on the secondary vortex structures formed in the rotor passages of the 1.5-stage axial turbine rig. Through performance map measurements, it was found that the efficiency gain of the non-axisymmetric configuration is partially eliminated by the injection of purge flow. Numerical investigations, which are supported by detailed flow measurements with five-hole probes and hot-wire probes, revealed that the injection of purge air flow intensifies vortex structures near the hub, thereby generating additional losses. These resulting vortex structures are highly similar both in the axisymmetric baseline and the non-axisymmetric configuration and are the result of jet-like vortices emerging from the cavity. From these findings, it can be concluded that the non-axisymmetric contour and the bowed stator no longer provides any efficiency benefit near the hub. Only the near the casing, where the flow is not affected by the purge flow, the optimized configuration continues to improve the efficiency of the rig by homogenizing the stator outflow and thus reducing the secondary flow structures in the rotor passages.

Experimental decoupled-analysis of overall cooling effectiveness for a turbine endwall with internal and external cooling configurations

High-efficient composite cooling structures that are comprised of external and internal cooling techniques, are one of the key technologies to guarantee the aerothermal performance and reliability of a turbine vane, especially the endwall region due to unique complex flow structures. It is thereby critical to understand the flow mechanism and conjugate heat transfer characteristics in this region for further optimal design. In this paper, a representative endwall model which matches non-dimensional parameters to real turbine operating conditions is investigated. Thermal protection for the endwall is provided by internal jet impingement and external purge flow and discrete hole injection cooling. Comprehensive measurements of overall cooling effectiveness over the endwall, total pressure loss coefficient, and non-dimensional temperature at the cascade exit are performed by using an infrared (IR) thermography technique, a five-hole probe, and a temperature probe. Through decoupled analysis, heat transfer and flow characteristics of film cooling only, both jet impingement and film cooling, upstream purge cooling only, and combined cooling are analyzed, respectively, and their optimal ranges of cooling air are obtained. The measurements reveal that with film cooling only, only the regions around the film holes are covered. Using both film and jet impingement cooling, cooling coverage is expanded, and cooling effectiveness is much higher with a more uniform distribution pattern. Purge flow achieves thermal protection for upstream regions of endwalls, and the combined cooling scheme that involves all cooling sources provides the best cooling performance. Globally, those cooling schemes have no obvious effects on overall cascade aerodynamic performance but affect the development and distribution of secondary flows.

Influence of Purge Flow Injection on the Performance of an Axial Turbine With Three-Dimensional Airfoils and Non-Axisymmetric Endwall Contouring

Abstract In this paper, we present the evaluation of the aerodynamic robustness to rim seal purge flow of an optimized 1.5-stage axial turbine configuration with a bowed stator profile and endwall contouring. Performance maps obtained by experiments and numerical simulations show that the efficiency benefit gained by this optimized configuration is partially reduced, but not eliminated, by the injection of purge flow through the cavity downstream of the first stator. Measurements with five-hole probes and hot-wire probes, as well as unsteady RANS simulations, give detailed insights into the physical effects of the purge flow inside the rotor passage. There, when no purge flow is injected, the optimized configuration diminishes the formation of loss-inducing secondary flow structures near the hub and the casing. When purge flow is injected, however, new strong secondary flow structures are induced near the hub. These vortices generate additional losses and thereby partially negate the efficiency benefits gained by the optimization. From the data, we found that this influence of the purge flow is limited to the lower half of the channel height. The data also show that the optimized configuration is able to reduce the vorticity near the casing regardless of the purge flow injection, which in turn leads to an efficiency increase in this area. Together, these effects lead to a reduction of the previously gained efficiency benefit by the optimized configuration when it is subjected to purge flow injection. However, compared to a baseline configuration with cylindrical endwalls also subject to purge flow injection, the overall efficiency is still increased by 0.38%.

Non-axisymmetric endwall contour optimization and performance assessment as affected by simulated swirl purge flow and backward hole injection

A shape optimization system was constructed using the kriging model, NSGA-II algorithm and CFD simulation, and the endwall contour was optimized targeting on balancing the endwall cooling and blade phantom cooling performances. Off-design conditions of simulated swirl purge flow and backward hole injection were introduced to evaluate the aero-thermal performances of the optimal non-axisymmetric endwall. The results show that two optimal contours are able to increase the endwall adiabatic effectiveness separately by 3.518% and 2.177%, but the flat endwall achieves the best phantom cooling performance. Under both design and off-design condition, the slot coolant coverage on pressure side endwall is enlarge by contours. The swirled slot leakage is able to weaken the tendency for the hole coolant to cover the suction side hot ring on both contoured and flat endwall. With the increase of SR, the averaged phantom cooling effectiveness is decreased when slot MFR = 1.0% but increased when MFR = 1.5%. When MFR = 1.0%, the averaged endwall Nu between 0.4 < z/Cax < 0.8 is decreased by 15% in optimal_2. When MFR = 1.5%, the averaged Nu for the upstream part endwall is increased by approximately 20% when SR = 0.6 compared with SR = 1.0. The net heat flux reduction of the pressure side endwall is increased by contouring, but the swirled purge flow dramatically decreases this protection effect. This research provides insights into the designing of non-axisymmetric endwall in off-design film cooling condition.

Effect of purge air on rotor endwall heat transfer of an axial turbine

AbstractIn order to gain in cycle efficiency, turbine inlet temperatures tend to rise, posing the challenge for designers to cool components more effectively. Purge flow injection through the rim seal is regularly used in gas turbines to limit the ingestion of hot air in the cavities and prevent overheating of the disks and shaft bearings. The interaction of the purge air with the main flow and the static pressure field of the blade rows results in a non-homogenous distribution of coolant on the passage endwall which poses questions on its effect on endwall heat transfer. A novel measurement technique based on infrared thermography has been applied in the rotating axial turbine research facility LISA of the Laboratory for Energy Conversion (LEC) of ETH Zürich. A 1.5 stage configuration with fully three-dimensional airfoils and endwall contouring is integrated in the facility. The effect of different purge air mass flow rates on the distribution of the heat transfer quantities has been observed for the rated operating condition of the turbine. Two-dimensional distributions of Nusselt number and adiabatic wall temperature show that the purge flow affects local heat loads. It does so by acting on the adiabatic wall temperature on the suction side of the passage until 30% of the axial extent of the rotor endwall. This suggests the possibility of effectively employing purge air also as rotor platform coolant in this specific region. The strengthening of the secondary flows due to purge air injection is observed, but plays a negligible role in varying local heat fluxes. For one test case, experimental data is compared to high-fidelity, unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes simulations performed on a model of the full 1.5 stage configuration.

Novel high-pressure turbine purge control features for increased stage efficiency

AbstractRim seals throttle flow and have shown to impact the aerodynamic performance of gas turbines. The results of an experimental investigation of a rim seal exit geometry variation and its impact on the high-pressure turbine flow field are presented. A one-and-a-half stage, unshrouded and highly loaded axial turbine configuration with 3-dimensionally shaped blades and non-axisymmetric end wall contouring has been tested in an axial turbine facility. The exit of the rotor upstream rim seal was equipped with novel geometrical features which are termed as purge control features (PCFs) and a baseline rim seal geometry for comparison. The time-averaged and unsteady aerodynamic effects at rotor inlet and exit have been measured with pneumatic probes and the fast-response aerodynamic probe (FRAP) for three rim seal purge flow injection rates. Measurements at rotor inlet and exit reveal the impact of the geometrical features on the rim seal exit and main annulus flow field, highlighting regions of reduced aerodynamic losses induced by the modified rim seal design. Measurements at the rotor exit with the PCFs installed show a benefit in the total-to-total stage efficiency up to 0.4% for nominal and high rim seal purge flow rates. The work shows the potential to improve the aerodynamic efficiency by means of a well-designed rim seal exit geometry without losing the potential to block hot gas ingestion from the main annulus.

Experimental Investigation of Purge Flow Effects on a High Pressure Turbine Stage

In the present paper, an experimental investigation of the effects of rim seal purge flow on the performance of a highly loaded axial turbine stage is presented. The test configuration consists of a one-and-a-half stage, unshrouded, turbine, with a blading representative of high pressure (HP) gas turbines. Efficiency measurements for various purge flow injection levels have been carried out with pneumatic probes at the exit of the rotor and show a reduction of isentropic total-to-total efficiency of 0.8% per percent of injected mass flow. For three purge flow conditions, the unsteady aerodynamic flow field at rotor inlet and rotor exit has been measured with the in-house developed fast response aerodynamic probe (FRAP). The time-resolved data show the unsteady interaction of the purge flow with the secondary flows of the main flow and the impact on the radial displacement of the rotor hub passage vortex (HPV). Steady measurements at off-design conditions show the impact of the rotor incidence and of the stage flow factor on the resulting stage efficiency and the radial displacement of the rotor HPV. A comparison of the effect of purge flow and of the off-design conditions on the rotor incidence and stage flow factor shows that the detrimental effect of the purge flow on the stage efficiency caused by the radial displacement of the rotor HPV is dominated by the increase of stage flow factor in the hub region rather than by the increase of negative rotor incidence.

Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Purge Flow on Film Cooling Effectiveness on a Rotating Turbine With Nonaxisymmetric End Wall Contouring

The impact of the purge flow injection on aerodynamics and film cooling effectiveness of a three-stage, high-pressure turbine with nonaxisymmetric end wall contouring has been experimentally investigated. As a continuation of the previously published work involving stator-rotor gap purge cooling, this study investigates film cooling effectiveness on the first-stage rotor contoured platform due to a coolant gas injection. Film cooling effectiveness measurements are 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 injection of coolant from the rotor cavity through the circumferential gap between the first stator followed by the first rotor. Effects of the presence of contouring, blowing ratios, rotational speeds, and coolant density ratio are studied and compared to a noncontouring platform. The experimental investigation is carried out in a three-stage turbine facility at the Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory (TPFL) at Texas A&amp;M University. Its rotor includes nonaxisymmetric end wall contouring on the first and second rotor row. The turbine has two independent cooling loops. Film cooling effectiveness measurements are performed for three coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%. Film cooling data is obtained for three rotational speeds, 3000 rpm (reference condition), 2550 rpm, and 2400 rpm, and compared with noncontoured end wall data. Effect of density ratio for coolant-to-mainstream density ratio (DR) = 1.0 and DR = 1.5 is also investigated. The comparisons of film effectiveness results show that contoured cases have a noticeable quantitative improvement compared to those of noncontoured ones.

Influence of Purge Flow Injection Angle on the Aerothermal Performance of a Rotor Blade Cascade

This paper is focused on the influence of stator-rotor purge flow injection angle on the aerodynamic and thermal performance of a rotor blade cascade. Tests were performed in a seven-blade cascade of a high-pressure gas turbine rotor at low Mach number (Ma2is = 0.3) under different blowing conditions. A number of fins were installed inside the upstream slot to simulate the effect of rotation on the seal flow exiting the gap in a linear cascade environment. The resulting coolant flow is ejected with the correct angle in the tangential direction. Purge flow injection angle and blowing conditions were changed in order to identify the best configuration in terms of end wall thermal protection and secondary flows reduction. The 3D flow field was surveyed by traversing a five-hole miniaturized pressure probe in a downstream plane. Secondary flow velocities, loss coefficient, and vorticity distributions are presented for the most significant test conditions. Film cooling effectiveness distributions on the platform were obtained by thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC) technique. Results show that purge flow injection angle has an impact on secondary flows development and, thus, on the end wall thermal protection, especially at high injection rates. Passage vortex is enhanced by a negative injection angle, which simulates the real counter rotating purge flow direction.

Purge flow and interface gap geometry influence on the aero-thermal performance of a rotor blade cascade

This paper is focused on the influence of the geometry of an interface seal gap on the aerodynamic and thermal performance of a rotor blade cascade. Tests are performed in a seven-blade cascade of a gas turbine high-pressure subsonic rotor at low Mach number (Ma2is=0.3). To simulate some of the effects of rotation on the seal flow exiting the gap on a linear cascade environment, a number of fins are installed inside the slot, providing the coolant flow with an injection angle in the tangential direction. Tests are carried out at variable blowing conditions and different gap widths. Moreover, the influence of a radial misalignment between stator and rotor platforms is also investigated for variable injection conditions. The 3D flow field is surveyed by traversing a 5-hole miniaturized pressure probe in a downstream plane. Secondary flows velocities, loss coefficient and vorticity distributions are presented for the most relevant test conditions. Film cooling effectiveness distributions on the platform are obtained by Thermochromic Liquid Crystals technique. Results show that engine purge flow injection conditions have to be reproduced in the wind tunnel as close as possible, in order to get the correct blade aero-thermal performance.

Aerothermal Impact of the Interaction Between Hub Leakage and Mainstream Flows in Highly-Loaded High Pressure Turbine Blades

This paper describes experimental and numerical investigations of a highly-loaded rotor blade with leakage (purge) flow injection through an upstream overlapping seal. The effects of both leakage mass flow rates and swirl have been studied to examine their effects on the aerothermal performance. As the leakage mass flow rate was increased, the loss generally increased. The increase in the losses was found to be nonlinear with the three distinct regimes of leakage-mainstream interaction being identified. The varying sensitivity of the losses to the leakage fraction was linked to the effects of the upstream potential field of the blade on a vortical structure originating from the outer part of the seal. This vortical structure affected the interaction between the leakage and mainstream flows as it grew to become the hub passage vortex. Very limited cooling was provided by the leakage flows. The coolant was mainly concentrated close to the suction surface in the front part of the rotor platform and on the blade suction surface in the path of the passage vortex. However, the regions benefiting from cooling were also characterized by higher values of the heat transfer coefficient. As a consequence, the net heat flux reduction was small, and the leakage injection was thus deemed thermally neutral.

Unsteady Rotor Hub Passage Vortex Behavior in the Presence of Purge Flow in an Axial Low Pressure Turbine

The paper presents an experimental and computational study of the unsteady behavior of the rotor hub passage vortex in an axial low-pressure turbine. Different flow structures are identified as having an effect on the size, strength, shape, position, and the unsteady behavior of the rotor hub passage vortex. The aim of the presented study is to analyze and quantify the sensitivities of the different flow structures and to investigate their combined effects on the rotor hub passage vortex. Particular attention is paid to the effect of the rim seal purge flow and of the unsteady blade row interaction. The rotor under investigation has nonaxisymmetric end walls on both hub and shroud and is tested at three different rim seal purge flow injection rates. The rotor has separated pressure sides at the operating point under investigation. The nondimensional parameters of the tested turbine match real engine conditions. The 2-sensor fast response aerodynamic probe (FRAP) technique and the fast response entropy probe (FENT) systems developed by ETH Zurich are used in this experimental campaign. Time-resolved measurements of the unsteady pressure, temperature and entropy fields between the rotor and stator blade rows are taken and analyzed. Furthermore, the results of URANS simulations are compared to the measurements and the computations are also used to detail the flow field. The experimental results show a 30% increase of the maximum unsteadiness and a 4% increase of the loss in the hub passage vortex per percent of injected rim seal cooling flow. Compared to a free stream particle, the rim seal purge flow was found to do 60% less work on the rotor.

Sensitivity of Turbine Efficiency and Flow Structures to Varying Purge Flow

In many turbines, a small amount of air is ejected at the hub rim seal to prevent ingestion of hot gases into the cavity between the stator and the disk. This paper presents an experimental and computational investigation on the sensitivity of a 1.5-stage high-work axial turbine to varying purge flow rates equipped with nonaxisymmetric end walls. The paper gives a correlation of the total-to-total efficiency for different rates of purge flow injection while providing a physical explanation of the responsible mechanisms. The experimental data revealed a transitional behavior of the hub passage vortex when the purge flow injection rate reached 0.9% of the main mass flow. The increase of purge flow caused a lifting off of the rotor passage vortex. The result of this event was an unstable passage vortex resulting in a lower streamwise vorticity and higher unsteadiness. Additionally, a number of subharmonic frequencies appeared at an injection rate of 0.9% that were absent in the other injection rate cases. From the computations it could be seen that the injection created additional normal vorticity at the rotor leading edge. Through turning around the rotor leading edge, a streamwise vorticity component was introduced. The sensitivity to injection in terms of created vorticity was much larger below an injection rate of 0.9% than above.