Ribbed channel Heat Transfer Enhancement Investigation of an Internally Cooled Gas Turbine Vane using Cooling Conjugate Heat Transfer Simulation

Cooling the high-temperature gas turbine blades is inevitable for safe operation and durability of gas turbines. Internal cooling is a common and effective solution for the issue. Geometrical features and patterns of internal channels inside turbine vanes are a key factor of blade cooling efficiency. This paper concerns the effects of the ribbed channels on temperature distribution, and convection thermal coefficient of the blade surface by utilizing 3D simulations. In this study, Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) is employed for flow and heat transfer calculations. The case study is a modified NASA C3X gas turbine in which longitudinal ribs in six different configurations are created inside cooling channels. The effects of those ribs on the friction coefficient, the convective heat transfer coefficient, and the temperature distribution in comparisons with rib-less channels are investigated. The selected ribbed configuration increases total heat transfer by 25 percent, with only a 3 percent increase in friction coefficient, and the maximum temperature reduced up to 25 K.

Keywords:

ribbed channel , heat transfer coefficient , temperature distribution ,