Experimental Heat Transfer Coefficients and Friction Factors in a Rib-Roughened Leading-Edge Cooling Cavity of a Gas Turbine Airfoil

A gas turbine airfoil contains multiple coolant passageways. These passages usually have rib roughened wall surfaces in order to increase the heat transfer from the blade to the cooling air. Auxiliary power and compressed air is very valuable in a gas turbine, therefore low pumping power requirements are crucial. The thermal performance of three different coolant channel geometries with three different rib sizes was investigated. Heat transfer calculations were performed for Reynolds numbers ranging from 6,000 to 40,000. The performance characteristics were calculated through the use of the convective heat transfer coefficient and the friction factor. In this study, the most desirable characteristics are a high heat transfer coefficient and minimal pumping power requirements.;The thermal performance of each case was determined by comparing the average Nusselt numbers to the friction factor ratio. The resulting value was then plotted against the Reynolds number for each case. The trending data indicated thermal efficiency decreases with an increasing Reynolds number for all cases. The picture data shows increased thermal efficiency at larger distances from the nose portion of the cavity. In addition, thermal efficiency was higher at the half distance of the rib pitch while areas close to the ribs saw a lower thermal efficiency. The following experimental data will show that Rig 2 and 3 are the most thermally efficient geometries, with Rig 2 requiring lower pumping power and Rig 3 having a higher average Nusselt number.