Improvement of Multi-Hole Airflow Impingement on Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics Inside a Turbine Vane Cavity

Abstract

The cooling effect of turbine vane is of great importance for ensuring thermal protection and economic operation of gas turbines. This study aims to reveal the influence mechanism and performance of impingement cooling and heat transfer within a turbine guide vane cavity. Then, a turbine guide vane cavity with a complex pin fins structure is numerically investigated at a multi-hole impingement by comparison with experiment verification. The results show that the larger the Reynolds number is, the larger the average Nusselt number is on the upper and lower surfaces of the cavity. The average Nusselt number increased on the upper and lower surfaces as the impingement hole diameter increased. Comparing 1 impingement hole with 16 ones, the average Nusselt number of the lower surface of the latter is 553.9% larger than that of the former. Furthermore, the average Nusselt number of the lower surface for pin fin height of 3 mm is only improved by 11.2% for pin fin height of 24 mm. The heat transfer effect near the impingement holes is better than that far away from the impingement holes. In particular, it is recommended to have 14 impingement holes with a hole diameter of 7.2 mm, as well as circular pin fins with a height of 3 mm and spacing of 25.8 mm. In addition, the entropy generation distribution in impingement cooling is analyzed. This study can provide a reference to enhance the turbine vane cooling performance by optimization design.