As designers aim to increase efficiency in gas turbines for aircraft propulsion and power generation, spatially-resolved experimental measurements are needed to validate computational models and compare improvement gains of new cooling designs. One such viable method for attaining spatially-resolved temperature measurements is to use infrared (IR) thermography. With advances in thermal detectors allowing for faster integration times, surface temperature measurements are made possible for rotating turbine blades that lead to understanding how airfoil cooling technologies perform. This paper addresses some of the challenges of implementing IR for turbine rigs such as the facility at the Steady Thermal Aero Research Turbine (START) Laboratory and introduces a unique IR thermal imaging system for measuring surface temperatures on cooled blades at high rotational speeds. Comparisons are made on the acquisition and processing between a custom IR system, designed for turbine rig applications, with that of a commercially-available IR camera. Simulated images and experimental data for a rotating blade are used to assess the effects of integration time and direction of rotation on both  
accuracy and spatial resolution. The impacts of post-processing IR images by averaging, binning, and filtering are demonstrated using a detailed view of an object the size of a film cooling hole.


Acquisition and Processing Considerations for Infrared Images of Rotating Turbine Blades

Division / Sponsor:
International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/GT/GT2020/volume/84058

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