Calculations of Laminar Heat Transfer Around Cylinders of Arbitrary Cross Section and Transpiration-Cooled Walls with Application to Turbine Blade Cooling

An approximate method for development of flow and thermal boundary layers in laminar regime on cylinders with arbitrary cross section and transpiration-cooled walls is obtained by use of Karman's integrated momentum equation and an analogous heat-flow equation. Incompressible flow with constant property values throughout boundary layer is assumed. Shape parameters for approximated velocity and temperature profiles and functions necessary for solution of boundary-layer equations are presented as charts, reducing calculations to a minimum. The method is applied to determine local heat-transfer coefficients and surface temperature-cooled turbine blades for a given flow rate. Coolant flow distributions necessary for maintaining uniform blade temperatures are also determined

Experimental and computational studies of film cooling with compound angle injection

The thermal efficiency of gas turbine systems depends largely on the turbine inlet temperature. Recent decades have seen a steady rise in the inlet temperature and a resulting reduction in fuel consumption. At the same time, it has been necessary to employ intensive cooling of the hot components. Among various cooling methods, film cooling has become a standard method for cooling of the turbine airfoils and combustion chamber walls. The University of Minnesota program is a combined experimental and computational study of various film-cooling configurations. Whereas a large number of parameters influence film cooling processes, this research focuses on compound angle injection through a single row and through two rows of holes. Later work will investigate the values of contoured hole designs. An appreciation of the advantages of compound angle injection has risen recently with the demand for more effective cooling and with improved understanding of the flow; this project should continue to further this understanding. Approaches being applied include: (1) a new measurement system that extends the mass/heat transfer analogy to obtain both local film cooling and local mass (heat) transfer results in a single system, (2) direct measurement of three-dimensional turbulent transport in a highly-disturbed flow, (3) the use of compound angle and shaped holes to optimize film cooling performance, and (4) an exploration of anisotropy corrections to turbulence modeling of film cooling jets