Pre-Swirl Cooling Air Delivery System Performance Study

Abstract

This paper reports the results from numerical simulations of the turbine blade cooling air delivery system performance using commercial CFD code Ansys CFX v11. Computations have been performed with variation of pre-swirl nozzle location radius, rotor-rotor rotating cavity width and the way of air transmission through the cover-plate. There are two ways of air transmission depending on the cover-plate design: through the CAO (circular array of orifices) or CAS (continuous annular slot). Computations are performed within the parameter range similar to gas-turbine engine operating conditions: 0.375<λT<0.98; 0.548<β0<2.5; 1.69·107<Reφ<2.33·107; 2.79·105<Cw<5.73·105. It has been shown that the selection of optimum radius of pre-swirl nozzle location is determined by different factors and depends on design and boundary conditions. The rotor-rotor rotating cavity width does not affect delivery system performances and is selected by a designer based on the constructional necessity, strength, weight and dynamic behavior of the turbine rotor. Rotating orifices reduce the swirl ratio βb before the blade cooling rim slot reduce adiabatic effectiveness Θ and increase loss coefficient ζ.