Large amounts of tiny microparticles are ingested into gas turbines over their operating life, resulting in unexpected wear and tear. Knowledge of such microparticle behavior at gas turbine operating temperatures is limited in published literature. In this study, Arizona road dust (ARD) is injected into a hot flow field to measure the effects of high temperature and velocity on particle rebound from a polished 304 stainless steel (SS) coupon. The results are compared with baseline (27 mis) measurements at ambient (300 K) temperature made in the Virginia Tech Aerothermal Rig, as well as previously published literature. Mean coefficient of restitution (COR) was shown to decrease with the increased temperature/velocity conditions in the VT Aerothermal Rig. The effects of increasing temperature and velocity led to a 12% average reduction in COR at 533 K (47m/s), 15% average reduction in COR at 866K (77m/s), and 16% average reduction in COR at 1073 K (102 m/s) compared with ambient results. The decrease in COR appeared to be almost entirely a result of increased velocity that resulted from heating the flow. Trends show that temperature plays a minor role in energy transfer between particle and impact surface below a critical temperature.

Erosion and deposition in gas turbine engines are functions of particle/wall interactions and Coefficient of Restitution (COR) is a fundamental property of these interactions. COR depends on impact velocity, angle of impact, temperature, particle composition, and wall material. The current study attempts to characterize the fundamental behavior of sand at different impact angles. A PIV system is used in the Virginia Tech Aerothermal Rig to measure velocity trajectories of microparticles. A novel method is used that solves for impact velocity in a forced flowfield by numerical methods. Two sizes of Arizona Test Dust and one of Glass beads are impacted into a 304 Stainless Steel coupon. Free jet velocity is 27m/s at room temperature. Impact angle varies from almost 90 to 25 degrees depending on particle. Mean results compare favorably with trends established in literature. This utilization of this technique to measure COR of microparticle sand will help develop a computational model and serve as a baseline for further measurements at elevated, engine representative air and wall temperatures.

A novel particle tracking velocimetry (PTV)/computational fluid dynamics (CFD) hybrid method for measuring coefficient of restitution (COR) has been developed which is relatively simple, cost-effective, and robust. A laser and camera system is used in the Virginia Tech Aerothermal Rig to measure velocity trajectories of microparticles. The method solves for particle impact velocity at the impact surface using a CFD solution and Lagrangian particle tracking. The methodology presented here attempts to characterize a difficult problem by a combination of established techniques, PTV and CFD, which have not been used in this capacity before. Erosion and deposition are functions of particle/wall interactions and COR is a fundamental property of these interactions. COR depends on impact velocity, angle of impact, temperature, particle composition, and wall material. Two sizes of Arizona road dust and one size of glass beads are impacted on to a 304 stainless steel coupon. The particles are entrained into a free jet of 27 m s−1 at room temperature. Impact angle was varied from 85° to 25° depending on particle. Mean results collected using this new technique compare favorably with trends established in literature. The utilization of this technique to measure COR of microparticle sand will help develop a computational model and serve as a baseline for further measurements at elevated air and wall temperatures.

Large amounts of tiny microparticles are ingested into gas turbines over their operating life, resulting in unexpected wear and tear. Knowledge of such microparticle behavior at gas turbine operating temperatures is limited in published literature. In this study, Arizona Road Dust (ARD) is injected into a hot flow field to measure the effects of high temperature and velocity on particle rebound from a polished 304 Stainless Steel (SS) coupon. The results are compared with baseline (27m/s) measurements at ambient (300°K) temperature made in the Virginia Tech Aerothermal Rig, as well as previously published literature. Mean Coefficient of Restitution (COR) was shown to decrease with the increased temperature/velocity conditions in the VT Aerothermal Rig. The effects of increasing temperature and velocity led to a 12% average reduction in COR at 533°K (47m/s), 15% average reduction in COR at 866°K (77m/s), and 16% average reduction in COR at 1073°K (102m/s) compared with ambient results. The decrease in COR appeared to be almost entirely a result of increased velocity that resulted from heating the flow. Trends show that temperature plays a minor role in energy transfer between particle and impact surface below a critical temperature.

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