Gas Turbine Engines operate at temperatures higher than current material temperature limits. This necessitates cooling the metal through internal or external means and/ or protecting the metal with coatings that have higher material limits. Film cooling is one of the major technologies allowing today’s gas turbines to operate at extremely high turbine inlet temperatures, consequently higher power density, and extend the cooled components life. Film cooling is a technique where a coolant is blown over the surface exposed to hot gas and a film of low temperature gas is maintained that protects the metal surface from the hot gas. The application of effective film-cooling techniques provides the first and best line of defense for hot gas path surfaces against the onslaught of extreme heat fluxes, serving to directly reduce the incident convective heat flux on the surface. The effectiveness of film cooling methods depends on the blowing ratio, shape of the cooling holes, and geometrical parameters such as the area ratio and diffusion angle. Film cooling is performed almost exclusively through the use of discrete holes. The holes can be of round or other shaped. A detailed study of the literature shows that the fan shaped has higher effectiveness when compared to other shapes. In this study a number of cooling hole shapes are evaluated numerically using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool ANSYS-CFX-11.0 with the objective of improving cooling effectiveness under a favorable pressure gradient main flow. In order to delineate the effects of shape from that of diffusion, a constant area ratio is assumed first. In the next set of analyses the effect of hole exit diffusion is considered. Results are presented in terms of surface temperatures and adiabatic effectiveness at three different blowing ratios for the different film cooling hole shapes analyzed. Comparison is made with reference to the fan shaped film cooling hole with forward and lateral angles of 10/10/10 degree respectively. Hole shapes that show improvement over the fan shaped hole are identified and optimized.

Jet impingement is often employed within the leading edge of turbine airfoils to combat the heat loads incurred within this region. This experimental investigation employs a transient liquid crystal technique to obtain detailed Nusselt number distributions on a concave, cylindrical surface that models the leading edge of a turbine airfoil. The effect of hole shape and differing hole inlet and exit conditions are investigated. Two hole shapes are studied: cylindrical and racetrack-shaped holes; for each hole shape, the hydraulic diameter and mass flow rate into the array of jets is conserved. As a result, the jet's Reynolds number varies between the two jet arrays. Reynolds numbers of 13,600, 27,200, and 40,700 are investigated for the cylindrical holes, and Reynolds numbers of 11,500, 23,000, and 34,600 are investigated for the racetrack holes. Three inlet and exit conditions are investigated for each hole shape: a square edged, a partially filleted, and a fully filleted hole. The ratio of the fillet radius to hole hydraulic diameter is set at 0.25 and 0.667 for the partially and fully filleted holes, respectively, while all other geometrical features remain constant. Results show the Nusselt number is directly related to the Reynolds number for both cylindrical and racetrack-shaped holes. The racetrack holes are shown to provide enhanced heat transfer compared to the cylindrical holes. The degree of filleting at the inlet and outlet of the holes affects whether the heat transfer on the leading edge model is further enhanced or degraded.

With the relatively large surface area of the platform of the gas turbine blades being exposed directly to the hot, mainstream gas, it is vital to efficiently cool this region of the blades. This region is particularly difficult to protect due to the strong secondary flows developed at the airfoil junction (formation of the leading edge horseshoe vortex) and circumferentially across the blade passage (strengthening passage vortex moving from the pressure side to the suction side of the passage). Over the past decade, researchers and engine designers have attempted to combat the enhanced heat transfer to the blade platform by implementing both frontside and backside novel cooling techniques. This paper presents a review of platform cooling technology ranging from frontside film cooling via stator-rotor purge flow, mid-passage purge flow, and discrete film holes to backside cooling achieved via impinging jet arrays or cooling channels. To gain a full understanding of state-of-the-art cooling technology, recent patents, journal articles, and conference proceedings are included in this review.

Stagnation region heat transfer coefficients are obtained from jet impingement onto a concave surface in this experimental investigation. A single row of round jets impinge on the cylindrical target surface to replicate leading edge cooling in a gas turbine airfoil. A modified, transient lumped capacitance experimental technique was developed (and validated) to obtain stagnation region Nusselt numbers with jet-to-target surface temperature differences ranging from 60 °F (33.3 °C) to 400 °F (222.2 °C). In addition to varying jet temperatures, the jet Reynolds number (5000–20,000), jet-to-jet spacing (s/d = 2–8), jet-to-target surface spacing (ℓ/d = 2–8), and impingement surface diameter-to-jet diameter (D/d = 3.6, 5.5) were independently varied. This parametric investigation has served to develop and validate a new experimental technique, which can be used for investigations involving large temperature differences between the surface and fluid. Furthermore, the study has broadened the range of existing correlations currently used to predict heat transfer coefficients for leading edge jet impingement.

Impinging jets are often employed within the leading edge of turbine blades and vanes to combat the tremendous heat loads incurred as the hot exhaust gases stagnate along the exterior of the airfoil. Relative to traditional cylindrical jets, racetrack shaped impinging jets have been shown to produce favorable cooling characteristics within the turbine airfoil. This investigation experimentally and numerically quantifies the cooling characteristics associated with a row of racetrack shaped jets impinging on a concave, cylindrical surface. Detailed Nusselt number distributions are obtained using both a transient liquid crystal technique and commercially available CFD software (Star CCM+ from CD-Adapco). Three geometrical jet inlet and exit conditions are experimentally investigated: a square edge, a partially filleted edge (r/dH,Jet = 0.25), and a fully filleted edge (r/dH,Jet = 0.667). Additionally, to investigate the effect of high crossflow velocities at the inlet of the jet, a portion of the flow supplied to the test apparatus radially bypasses the impingement section. Thus, the mass flow rate into the test section is varied to achieve the desired inlet crossflow conditions and jet Reynolds numbers. As a result, jet Reynolds numbers (ReJet) of 11500 and 23000 are investigated at supply duct Reynolds numbers (ReDuct) of 20000 and 30000. The results are compared to baseline cases where no mass bypasses the test section. Additionally, the relative jet – to – jet spacing (s/dH,Jet) is maintained at 8, the relative jet – to – target surface spacing (z/dH,Jet) is 4, the target surface curvature – to – jet hydraulic diameter (D/dH,Jet) is 5.33, and the relative thickness of the jet plate (t/dH,Jet) is 1.33. Measurements indicate that the addition of fillets at the edges of the jet orifice and the introduction of significant crossflow velocity at the inlet of the jet can significantly degrade the cooling characteristics on the leading edge of the turbine blade. The magnitude of such degradation generally increases with increasing fillet size and inlet crossflow velocity. The V2F model is adequate for predicting the flow field and target surface heat transfer in the absence of inlet crossflow; however, it is believed the turbulence within the jet is overpredicted by the CFD leading to elevated heat transfer coefficients (compared to the experimental results).