The Effect of Step Misalignment on Purge Flow Cooling of Nozzle Guide Vane at Transonic Conditions

Abstract

This study describes a detailed investigation on the effects that step misalignment and upstream purge film cooling have on the endwall heat transfer for 1st stage nozzle guide vanes in a land-based power generating gas turbine at transonic conditions. Endwall Nusselt number and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distributions were experimentally measured and compared with flow visualization. Tests were conducted in a transonic linear cascade blowdown facility where data were gathered at an exit Mach number of 0.85 with a freestream turbulence intensity of 16% at an exit Re = 1.5 × 106 based on axial chord. Varied upstream purge blowing ratios and a no blowing case were tested for 3 different upstream step geometries, the baseline (no misalignment), a span-wise upstream step of +4.86% span, and a step of −4.86% span. Experimentation shows that the addition of upstream purge film cooling increases the Nusselt number at injection upwards of 50% but lowers it in the throat of the passage by approximately 20% compared to no blowing case. The addition of a backward facing step induces more turbulent mixing between the coolant and mainstream flows, thus reducing film effectiveness coverage and increasing Nusselt number by nearly 40% in the passage throat. In contrast, the presence of a forward step creates a more stable boundary layer for the coolant flow aiding to help keep the film attached to the endwall at higher blowing ratios. Increasing the blowing ratio increases film cooling effectiveness and endwall coverage up to a certain point, beyond which, the high momentum of the coolant results in poor cooling performance due to jet liftoff.