Jet Impingement and Forced Convection Cooling Experimental Study in Rotating Turbine Blades

Both jet impingement and forced convection are attractive cooling mechanisms widely used in cooling gas turbine blades. Convective heat transfer from impinging jets is known to yield high local and area averaged heat transfer coefficients. Impingement jets are of particular interest in the cooling of gas turbine components where advancement relies on the ability to dissipate extremely large heat loads. Current research is concerned with the measurement and comparison of both jet impingement and forced convection heat transfer in the Reynolds number range of 10,000 to 30,000. This study is aimed at experimentally testing two different setups with forced convection and jet impingement in rotating turbine blades up to 700 RPM. This research also observes Coriolis force and impingement cooling inside the passage during rotating conditions within a cooling passage. Local heat transfer coefficients are obtained for each test section using thermocouple technique with slip rings. The cross section of the passage is 10 mm X 10 mm without ribs and the surface heating condition has enforced uniform heat flux. The forced convection cooling effects were studied using serpentine passages with three corner turns under different rotating speeds and different inlet Reynolds numbers. The impingement cooling study uses a straight passage with a single jet hole under different Reynolds numbers of the impingement flow and the cross flow. In summary, the main purpose is to study the rotation effects on both the jet impingement and the serpentine convection cooling types. Our study shows that rotation effects increase serpentine cooling and reduce jet impingement cooling.