Numerical Simulation of Film Cooling on Rotating Blade Tips Within a High-Pressure Turbine

Abstract

This paper numerically investigates the aerodynamics and film cooling effectiveness of high pressure turbine blade tips. Two different rotor blade tip configurations have been studied: the plane tip with tip hole cooling and the squealer tip with tip hole cooling. The geometry of the blades is determined based on the blade profiles within the three-stage multi-purpose turbine research facility at the Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory (TPFL), Texas A&M University. Seven perpendicular holes along the camber line are used for the tip hole cooling. The clearance between the blade tip and casing is 1.0% of the blade span. For each blade tip configuration, the coolant is ejected through the cooling holes under blowing ratios of M = 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. In this paper, a comparison between the plane tip and the squealer tip has been presented. The detailed flow structures and film cooling effectiveness are discussed.