Four series of tests were performed in an accelerated deposition test facility to study the independent effects of particle size, gas temperature, and metal temperature on ash deposits from two candidate power turbine synfuels (coal and petcoke). The facility matches the gas temperature and velocity of modern first stage high pressure turbine vanes while accelerating the deposition process. Particle size was found to have a significant effect on capture efficiency with larger particles causing significant thermal barrier coating (TBC) spallation during a 4 h accelerated test. In the second series of tests, particle deposition rate was found to decrease with decreasing gas temperature. The threshold gas temperature for deposition was approximately 960°C. In the third and fourth test series, impingement cooling was applied to the back side of the target coupon to simulate internal vane cooling. Capture efficiency was reduced with increasing mass flow of coolant air; however, at low levels of cooling, the deposits attached more tenaciously to the TBC layer. Postexposure analyses of the third test series (scanning electron microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy) show decreasing TBC damage with increased cooling levels.
Deposition on film-cooled turbine components was studied in an accelerated test facility. The accelerated deposition facility seeds a natural-gas burning combustor with finely-ground coal ash particulate at 1180°C and 180 m/s (M = 0.25). Both cylindrical and shaped holes, with and without TBC coating, were studied over a range of blowing ratios from 0.5 to 4.0. Coolant density ratios were maintained at values from 2.1 to 2.4. Deposition patterns generated with the cylindrical film cooling holes indicated regions of low deposition in the path of the coolant, with heightened deposition between film holes. This distinctive pattern was more accentuated at higher blowing ratios. Optical temperature measurements of the turbine component surface during deposition showed elevated temperatures between coolant paths. This temperature non-uniformity became more accentuated as deposition increased, highlighting a mechanism for deposition growth that has been documented on in-service turbines as well. The shaped-hole components exhibited little or no deposition in the region just downstream of the holes, due to the distributed coolant film. Close cylindrical hole spacing of 2.25d displayed similar behavior to the shaped hole configuration.
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