COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF TRAILING EDGE INTERNAL COOLING OF A GAS TURBINE BLADE WITH PIN-FIN ARRAYS

The performance of pin-fin arrays installed in the trailing edge internal cooling channel of a turbine blade was investigated using three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The turbulence was modeled using the low-Reynolds shear stress transport turbulence model. The Reynolds number based on the hydraulic diameter was 20,000. The measured and calculated velocity distributions in the trailing edge internal cooling channel were compared to verify the accuracy of numerical analysis. To examine the effects of the configuration of the pin-fin arrays on heat transfer, pressure drop, and flow rate uniformity at the exit of the channel, the number of pin-fin rows and spaces between the pin-fins were selected as the geometric parameters to be tested. As the number of pin-fins increased, the heat transfer and exit flow uniformity were enhanced. In addition, the flow uniformity was also improved by adjusting the spaces between the pin-fins.