Effects of rotation at different channel orientations on the flow field inside a trailing edge internal cooling channel

Abstract

The flow field inside a cooling channel for the trailing edge of gas turbine blades has been numerically investigated with the aim to highlight the effects of channel rotation and orientation. A commercial 3D RANS solver including a SST turbulence model has been used to compute the isothermal steady air flow inside both static and rotating passages. Simulations were performed at a Reynolds number equal to 20000, a rotation number (Ro) of 0, 0.23, and 0.46, and channel orientations of γ=0°, 22.5°, and 45°, extending previous results towards new engine-like working conditions. The numerical results have been carefully validated against experimental data obtained by the same authors for conditions γ=0° and Ro = 0, 0.23. Rotation effects are shown to alter significantly the flow field inside both inlet and trailing edge regions. These effects are attenuated by an increase of the channel orientation from γ=0°to 45°. © 2013 Matteo Pascotto et al.