Lean burn premix technology of gas turbines results in that the turbine combustor outlet has strong swirl flow characteristics which directly influences the inlet flow condition of the first turbine vane downstream from combustor and raise the thermal load of endwall. The aerothermal performance and film cooling effectiveness of first turbine vane endwall at different inlet swirl conditions is numerically investigated in this paper. The flow pattern, Nusselt distribution and film cooling effectiveness of turbine vane endwall at the uniform and three kinds of swirl numbers (0.6, 0.8, 1.0) inflow conditions with clockwise and anticlockwise swirl orientations are analyzed using three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and &nbsp;turbulence model solutions. The obtained results show that the flow field is apparently influenced by inlet swirl conditions. The separation in passage is clearly suppressed at clockwise swirl inflow conditions but anticlockwise make the flow pattern more complex. Inlet swirl can increase the overall Nu on the endwall. Especially in the area upstream of leading edge and area between the first and second row of film holes whose Nu are increased by 4 and 1.5 times compared with uniform inflow, respectively. Not only swirl number but also orientation can affect the film cooling effectiveness distribution of the vane endwall. The better film cooling effectiveness distribution and higher film cooling effectiveness downstream of each film hole row can be achieved at the clockwise swirl inflow conditions by weakening the accumulation of coolant near the suction side of the turbine vane endwall. Compared with uniform inflow, average film cooling effectiveness of endwall between the second row and third row is increased from 0.21 to 0.27 at clockwise SN=1.0 for the maximum increase. The detailed flow field and aerothermal performance of the turbine vane endwall at different swirl inflow conditions is also discussed and illustrated.

Numerical Investigations on the Aerothermal Performance and Film Cooling Effectiveness of Turbine Vane Endwall at Inlet Swirl Conditions

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/GT/GT2021/volume/84898

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