This paper describes a new engine-parts facility at the University of Oxford for high technology-readiness-level research, new technology demonstration, and for engine component validation. The Engine Component AeroThermal (ECAT) facility has a modular working section which houses a full annulus of engine components. The facility is currently operated with high-pressure nozzle guide vanes from a large civil jet-engine. A high degree of engine similarity is achieved, with matched conditions of Mach number, Reynolds number, and coolant-to-mainstream pressure ratio. For combustor-turbine interaction studies, a combustor simulator module is used, which is capable of both rich-burn and lean-burn combined temperature, swirl and turbulence profiles. The facility is being used for aerothermal optimisation research (e.g., novel cooling systems, aerodynamic optimisation problems, capacity sensitivity studies), computational fluid dynamics validation (aerodynamic predictions, conjugate predictions), and for component validation to accelerate the engine design process. The three key measurement capabilities are: capacity characteristic evaluation to a precision of 0.02%; overall cooling (metal) effectiveness measurements (using a rainbow set of parts if required); and aerodynamic loss evaluation (with realistic cooling, trailing-edge flow etc.). Each of these three capabilities have been separately developed and optimised in other facilities at the University of Oxford in the last 10 years, to refine aspects of facility design, instrumentation design, experimental technique, and theoretical aspects of scaling and reduction of experimental data. The ECAT facility brings together these three research strands with a modular test vehicle for rapid high technology-readiness-level research, demonstration of new technologies, and for engine component validation. The purpose of this paper is to collect in one place — and put in context — the work that led to the development of the ECAT facility, to describe the facility, and to illustrate the accuracy and utility of the techniques by presenting typical data for each of the key measurements. The ECAT facility is a response to the changing requirements of experimental turbomachinery testing, and it is hoped this paper will be of interest to engine designers, researchers, and those involved in major facility developments in both research institutes and engine companies.

The continuing maturation of metal laser-sintering technology (direct metal laser sintering (DMLS)) presents the opportunity to derisk the engine design process by experimentally down-selecting high-pressure nozzle guide vane (HPNGV) cooling designs using laboratory tests of laser-sintered—instead of cast—parts to assess thermal performance. Such tests could be seen as supplementary to thermal-paint test engines, which are used during certification to validate cooling system designs. In this paper, we compare conventionally cast and laser-sintered titanium alloy parts in back-to-back experimental tests at engine-representative conditions over a range of coolant mass flow rates. Tests were performed in the University of Oxford Annular Sector Heat Transfer Facility. The thermal performance of the cast and laser-sintered parts—measured using new infrared processing techniques—is shown to be very similar, demonstrating the utility of laser-sintered parts for preliminary engine thermal assessments. We conclude that the methods reported in this paper are sufficiently mature to make assessments which could influence engine development programs.

For engines operating at high turbine entry temperatures it is increasingly important to cool the high pressure nozzle guide vane (HP NGV) endwalls. This is particularly so for low NOx combustors operating with flatter outlet temperature distributions. Double-row arrangements of film/ballistic cooling holes upstream of the NGV passage have been employed in production engines. Optimisation of such systems is non-trivial, however, due to the complex nature of the flow in the endwall region. Previous studies have reported that strong cross passage pressure gradients lead to migration of coolant flow and boundary layer flow within the passage. In addition the vane potential field effects lead to non-uniform blowing ratios for holes upstream of the vanes. It has also been reported that inlet total pressure and turbulence profiles have a significant effect on the development of the film cooling layer. In this study, endwall film cooling flows are studied experimentally in a large-scale low-speed cascade tunnel with engine-realistic combustor geometry and turbulence profiles. At very low blowing ratios mild cross-passage migration effects are observed. At higher blowing ratios more realistic of the engine situation no cross-passage migration is observed. This finding is somewhat contrary to the classical view of endwall secondary flow, which is presented as significant at the scale of the vane passage by several authors. The difference arises in part because of the thinning of the boundary layer due to strong acceleration in the vane inlet contraction. The findings are further supported by CFD simulations. Methods of improving conventional double-row systems to offer improved cooling of the endwall are also discussed.

Gas turbine cooling system design is constrained by a maximum allowable wall temperature (dictated by the material and the life requirements of the component), minimum coolant mass flow rate (the requirement to minimize cycle-efficiency cost), and uniform wall temperature (to reduce thermal stresses). These three design requirements form the basis of an iterative design process. The relationship between the requirements has received little discussion in the literature, despite being of interest from both a theoretical and a practical viewpoint. In this paper, we consider the optimum cooling system for parts with both internal and film cooling. We show analytically that the coolant mass flow rate is minimized when the wall temperature is uniform and equal to the maximum allowable wall temperature. Thus, we show that achieving uniform wall temperature achieves minimum coolant flow rate, and vice versa. The purpose is to clarify the interplay between two design requirements that are often discussed separately in the literature. The penalty (in terms of coolant mass flow) associated with cooling nonisothermal components is quantified. We show that a typical high pressure nozzle guide vane (HPNGV) operating isothermally at the maximum allowable wall temperature requires two-thirds the coolant of a typical nonisothermal vane. The optimum coolant exit temperature is also considered. It is shown analytically that the optimum coolant exit temperature depends on the balance between the mean adiabatic film cooling effectiveness, the nondimensional mass flow rate, and the Biot number of the thermal barrier coating (TBC). For the large majority of gas turbine cooling systems (e.g., a typical HPNGV) it is shown that the optimum coolant exit temperature is equal to the local wall temperature at the point of injection. For a small minority of systems (e.g., long effusion cooling systems operating at low mass flow rates), it is shown that the coolant exit temperature should be minimized. An approximation relating the wall/film properties, the nondimensional mass flow, and the overall cooling effectiveness is derived. It is used to estimate the effect of Biot number (TBC and metal), heat transfer coefficient (HTC) ratio, and film properties on the performance of a typical HPNGV and effusion cooling system. In Part II, we show that designs which achieve uniform wall temperature have a particular corresponding internal HTC distribution.

There have been numerous studies reporting film effectiveness for film rows in isolation, which have led to correlations which are used for preliminary design. Many applications require multiple film cooling rows. Although there is some published data which deals with the combined effect of multiple rows, in most design situations the additive effect is computed using correlations for single rows. The most widely used method is the Sellers superposition method. In many applications the method gives accurate results. Although the method is to some extent physically based, energy is not conserved within the model, and in certain situations this limitation can be shown to lead to an under-prediction of the film effectiveness. In this paper, a new energy-based method for predicting the additive effect of multiple film cooling rows is outlined. The physical basis and limitations of the model are discussed. Predictions conducted using the new method are compared with CFD data and contrasted with the Sellers method. In situations where energy conservation is required to avoid under-prediction of effectiveness the method is shown to be advantageous.