Comparison of Film Cooling Performance for Different Purge Slot Configurations in a Cylindrical and State-of-the-Art Nozzle Guide Vane

Abstract

This comparative study is concerned with the advances in nozzle guide vane (NGV) design developments and their influence on the film cooling performance by injecting coolant through the purge slot. An experimental study compares the film cooling effectiveness as well as the aerodynamic effects for different purge slot configurations on both a flat and an axisymmetrically contoured endwall of a NGV. While the flat endwall cascade was equipped with four cylindrical vanes, the contoured endwall cascade consisted of four modern NGVs which represent state-of-the-art high-pressure turbine design standards. Geometric variations, e.g. the purge slot width and injection angle, as well as different blowing ratios (BR) at an engine-like density ratio (DR = 1.6) were realized to investigate the real-life effect of thermal expansion, design modifications and the interaction between secondary flow and coolant. The mainstream flow parameters were set to meet real engine conditions with regard to Reynolds and Mach numbers. The Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP) technique was used to determine the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. Five-hole probe measurements (DR = 1.0) were performed to measure the flow field with its characteristic vortex structures as well as the loss distribution in the vane wake region. For a more profound insight into the origin and development of the secondary flows, oil dye visualizations were carried out on both endwalls. The measurement results will be discussed based on a side-by-side comparison of the distribution of film cooling effectiveness on the endwall, its area-averaged values as well as the two-dimensional distribution of total pressure losses and the secondary flow field. The results of this study show that the advances in NGV design development have had a significantly positive influence on the distribution of the coolant. This has to be attributed to lesser disturbance of the coolant propagation by secondary flow for the optimized NGV design, since the design features are intended to suppress the formation of secondary flow. In contrast to the results of the cylindrical profile, sufficient cooling can be already provided with a perpendicular injection in the case of the modern NGV. It is therefore advisable to take these effects into account when designing the film cooling system of a modern high-pressure turbine.