Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Civil/Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering
David Potter Jr. - Tennessee State University
Co-Author(s): Muhammad Akbar, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN
This study focuses on design of an efficient film cooling technique for a gas turbine. The blade cooling has a great impact on the thermal efficiency of a gas turbine. The current gas turbine blade film cooling methods focus on cooling effectiveness, as well as economic variables of cooling parameters. The efforts to minimize monetary impacts have led designers and manufacturers to use simple cooling channels and coatings that are easily applied to the surface of the blade. A balance is struck between cost and cooling effectiveness. The present exploration of film cooling techniques is geared towards the geometric shape aspects of the cooling arrangements with the intended result of optimizing the cooling effectiveness. In the present study, a three-dimensional cooling injection setup consisting of one coolant inlet hole inside a channel is adopted as the benchmark case. The benchmark case has been reported in the literature. The model is numerically studied using a computational fluid dynamics software named ANSYS FLUENT. The numerical study is done using the realizable k-e turbulence model with enhanced wall treatment option. Three cases are utilized: with varying injection orientations and entrance to exit ratios, with one coolant injection hole of 10mm in diameter, and with a velocity ratio of 0.28. Carbon Dioxide gas is used as the coolant in order to achieve the desired density ratio of 1.53 with air. The incoming mainstream fluid is air. A benchmark model was compared with experimental results to validate the test parameters and the comparison was reasonable. The next phase of the study consists of a detailed parametric modeling of the film cooling setup to identify an optimum design of the coolant geometry and parametric conditions.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This study was supported by a HBCU-UP Research Initiative Award grant from NSF.
Faculty Advisor: Muhammad Akbar,