Control of over-tip leakage flow between turbine blade tips and the stationary shroud is one of the major challenges facing gas turbine designers today. The flow imposes large thermal loads on unshrouded high pressure (HP) turbine blades and is significantly detrimental to turbine blade life. This paper presents results from a computational study performed to investigate the detailed blade tip heat transfer on a sharp-edged, flat tip HP turbine blade. The tip gap is engine representative at 1.5% of the blade chord. Nusselt number distributions on the blade tip surface have been obtained from steady flow simulations and are compared with experimental data carried out in a superscale cascade, which allows detailed flow and heat transfer measurements in stationary and engine representative conditions. Fully structured, multiblock hexahedral meshes were used in the simulations performed in the commercial solver FLUENT. Seven industry-standard turbulence models and a number of different tip gridding strategies are compared, varying in complexity from the one-equation Spalart–Allmaras model to a seven-equation Reynolds stress model. Of the turbulence models examined, the standard model gave the closest agreement to the experimental data. The discrepancy in Nusselt number observed was just 5%. However, the size of the separation on the pressure side rim was underpredicted, causing the position of reattachment to occur too close to the edge. Other turbulence models tested typically underpredicted Nusselt numbers by around 35%, although locating the position of peak heat flux correctly. The effect of the blade to casing motion was also simulated successfully, qualitatively producing the same changes in secondary flow features as were previously observed experimentally, with associated changes in heat transfer with the blade tip.
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e-mail: brian.tang@eng.ox.ac.uk
e-mail: martin.oldfield@eng.ox.ac.uk
e-mail: david.gillespie@eng.ox.ac.uk
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July 2010
Research Papers
Computational Modeling of Tip Heat Transfer to a Superscale Model of an Unshrouded Gas Turbine Blade
Brian M. T. Tang,
Brian M. T. Tang
Department of Engineering Science,
e-mail: brian.tang@eng.ox.ac.uk
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK
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Pepe Palafox,
Pepe Palafox
Department of Engineering Science,
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK
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Martin L. G. Oldfield,
Martin L. G. Oldfield
Department of Engineering Science,
e-mail: martin.oldfield@eng.ox.ac.uk
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK
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David R. H. Gillespie
David R. H. Gillespie
Department of Engineering Science,
e-mail: david.gillespie@eng.ox.ac.uk
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK
Search for other works by this author on:
Brian M. T. Tang
Department of Engineering Science,
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UKe-mail: brian.tang@eng.ox.ac.uk
Pepe Palafox
Department of Engineering Science,
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK
Brian C. Y. Cheong
Martin L. G. Oldfield
Department of Engineering Science,
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UKe-mail: martin.oldfield@eng.ox.ac.uk
David R. H. Gillespie
Department of Engineering Science,
University of Oxford
, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UKe-mail: david.gillespie@eng.ox.ac.uk
J. Turbomach. Jul 2010, 132(3): 031023 (8 pages)
Published Online: April 7, 2010
Article history
Received:
March 2, 2009
Revised:
March 16, 2009
Online:
April 7, 2010
Published:
April 7, 2010
Citation
Tang, B. M. T., Palafox, P., Cheong, B. C. Y., Oldfield, M. L. G., and Gillespie, D. R. H. (April 7, 2010). "Computational Modeling of Tip Heat Transfer to a Superscale Model of an Unshrouded Gas Turbine Blade." ASME. J. Turbomach. July 2010; 132(3): 031023. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3153307
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