CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS FOR GAS TURBINE COOLED BLADE

This paper explores the conjugate heat transfer (CHT) numerical simulation approach to calculate the metal temperature for a cooled gas turbine blade. ANSYS CFX14.0 code was selected as the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tool to perform the CHT simulation. The two-equation SST turbulence model with automatic wall treatment was employed. A full engine test with Silicon Carbide (SiC) chip measurements was performed and used to validate the CHT results. Metal temperatures calculated with the CHT model were compared to engine test data. The results demonstrated good agreement between predicted and measured airfoil metal temperatures. The blade cooling flow prediction was matched to the flow network analysis. This paper describes a process to calculate convection heat transfer coefficients (HTC) for cooling passages and airfoil surfaces using CHT results. This process was made possible because local wall heat flux and fluid temperatures were known. This approach assisted in calibrating an in-house conduction thermal model for steady state thermal analyses.