EES Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 71-83
EES Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 71-83
[( ) ] (3)
where Re and Pr stand for Reynolds and
where the left-hand side of this equation is Prandtl numbers of fluid, respectively. The
equal to zero for the solid domain. mass flow rate and the average temperature of
each hole from run 157 are presented in
2.3.Boundary conditions Table 2.
The reference values for mass flow rate and
The inlet and outlet boundary conditions are heat transfer coefficient for each hole of the
specified according to ‘run 157’ experiments base configuration of C3X blade are known.
of Hylton et al. [5]. The coupled boundary However, by changing the diameter of holes
condition is used for fluid-solid interface and in optimization process, the ̇ and values
the convective heat transfer of each hole is should be recalculated according to the hole
estimated by its corresponding temperature diameter. By assuming a constant pressure
and heat transfer coefficient. The details of drop for each hole and Darcy-Weisbach
boundary conditions for simulation are equation for pressure loss [15], the mass flow
presented in Table 1. rate and heat transfer coefficient of each hole
The heat transfer coefficient of each hole can be estimated by
can be calculated from the experimental
correlation of forced convection and Nusselt (5)
number of a tube [14]. ̇ ̇ ( )
Wall with
Internal walls ( )
Convective heat transfer ̂
( ) (6) ̇ (8)
( )
{
( )
equations, where ̇ and are the reference
values of mass flow rate and heat transfer where the values of A and B are selected by
coefficient, respectively. their respective values in the reference design.
The main objective of this research is to In the current work, location and diameter of
compare different optimization methods for the cooling holes are chosen as the design
gas turbine blade cooling. The first method is variables. To reduce the number of the design
a multi-objective optimization suggested by variables and to keep the holes inside the
[11] and [12], in which the objective was to blade area, the location of the first two holes
minimize the maximum temperature and the are kept constant and the other holes are
maximum temperature gradient in the blade. restricted to move only along a certain curve.
The objective functions of the first method This curve is a second order polynomial
can be expressed as which best fits the initial location of holes as
( ) (7) displayed in Fig.3. By using this curve, the
{ location of each of eight holes can be
( )
specified by one variable, and in addition to
where no constraints existed and the coolant 10 variables for each hole diameter, there will
mass flow rate might increase during the be 18 design variables in total.
process. In this study, we offer another
optimization method which appears to be 2.6.Thermodynamic modelling
more compatible with gas turbines cycle. In
this method, the objective is to minimize the A simple turbine with ideal Brayton cycle is
coolant mass flow rate, subject to maximum assumed for estimation of the effects of the
temperature and maximum temperature coolant mass flow rate and the turbine inlet
gradient remaining lower than specific values. temperature on turbine performance. Fig.4
The objective function and the constraints of presents the T-S diagram for this cycle
the proposed (second) method can be between arbitrary and pressures. The
expressed as: coolant air is extracted from the compressor
Fig.4. The ideal Brayton cycle with coolant air extracted from compressor outlet
outlet, so the mass flow rate at the combustor 3.Meshing and validation
and the turbine can be calculated by
3.1.Mesh procedure
̇ ̇ ̇( ) (9)
where ̇ is the mass flow rate of the Unstructured mesh with boundary layer mesh
compressor and x is the mass flow rate ratio near walls is generated in all cases in this
of the coolant to the compressor. research. Five different meshes with 5.8 up to
In this cycle, the compressor intake conditions 24.6 thousand elements are generated for grid
are assumed to be and independence analysis and the blade
. The compressor outlet pressure , is temperatures are compared in Fig.5. The
results are almost the same for 11.5k and
related to compressor pressure ratio, . By more elements, so this mesh configuration is
considering a specific value for TIT ( ), air used for all cases in this research. The
properties at all points of the cycle can be selected mesh, which has the smaller than
determined. The turbine specific output power one near blade walls, is shown in Fig.6.
and net output power can be calculated from
̇ ( )( ) (10) 3.2.Validation
̇ ̇ ̇ Four different turbulence models are used to
( )( ) perform CHT analysis and the temperature
( ) (11) distribution on the blade surface is calculated
and the turbine efficiency can be expressed by by each model. The results are compared with
experimental data from Hylton et al. [5] in
̇ Fig.7. The data on the negative side of the
̇ (12) horizontal axis represent the data on the
( )( ) ( ) suction side of the blade, and the others
( )( ) represent the pressure side data. It is observed
that the SST model has the highest
where the real air properties for all points are accuracy with maximum error of 6% near
calculated by the EES software for different leading edge of the blade. The heat transfer
cases. coefficient on the external blade walls are
Seyyed Morteza Mousavi et al./ Energy Equip. Sys. / Vol. 5/No1/March 2017 77
Fig.6. The computing mesh of fluid and solid domains with boundary layer elements
extracted with this model and used as a variables of interest in this section. The values
boundary condition for solid domain in for these variables in reference design are
optimization process. presented in Table 3. According to this table,
the A and B values in Eq. (8) are set to be
4.Results and discussion 25000K/m and 685K respectively.
The contours of the blade temperature and
4.1.Reference design temperature gradient in reference design are
depicted in Fig.8 (a) and (b), respectively.
The coolant flow rate, blade maximum While the blade leading edge is the most
temperature and blade maximum gradient are critical point for cooling in most blades, in
78 Seyyed Morteza Mousavi et al./ Energy Equip. Sys. / Vol. 5/No1/March 2017
Fig.7. Validation of the results of different turbulence models with experimental data
(a) (b)
Fig.8. Contours of field variables in reference design. (a) temperature and (b) temperature gradient
Seyyed Morteza Mousavi et al./ Energy Equip. Sys. / Vol. 5/No1/March 2017 79
this case, the maximum temperature is Four different points on the Pareto front are
observed at the trailing edge area. This is due selected as candidates for best design point
to high temperature of the coolant flowing and represented by A to D on the chart.
through the hole number 10. The temperature The values for output functions of the
gradient is higher near cooling holes, and the candidate points are presented in Table 4. All
highest point is reached near the eighth hole. candidates have a dimensionless coolant mass
flow rate of greater than one, and they have
4.2. First method of optimization different thermal characteristics at the TIT
equal to 818K. To find out the maximum
A multi-objective genetic algorithm is allowable TIT in each candidate design point,
implemented in this method, with the the TIT for each candidate is increased, until
objectives of minimizing the maximum
temperature and the maximum temperature one of the ( ) or ( ) becomes
gradient of the blade. There is no constraint higher than 685K or 25,000K/m, respectively.
on coolant mass flow rate, so the value As shown in Table 4, in design point A the
changes freely during the optimization maximum temperature gradient is already
process. An initial population of 400 and 80 higher than its value in reference design, thus
populations for the next generations are used the TIT cannot be increased in this case. This
for optimization and the solution is converged point is removed from the candidate points for
after 1655 observations. The objective later sections of this research, and the turbine
functions of all observations are plotted in performances for the other three candidates
Fig.9 and the Pareto front is also displayed. are compared for the rest of the candidates.
Table 4. The results of first method optimization for each candidate point
TIT = 818 K
Candidate ( ) ( ) Max allowable TIT
point Dimensionless ̇ (K)
(K) (K/m)
A 1.789 583.102 25453.800 <818K
B 2.104 592.065 23511.700 843.238
C 1.869 605.067 21573.500 874.952
D 1.237 644.563 20291.800 859.581
80 Seyyed Morteza Mousavi et al./ Energy Equip. Sys. / Vol. 5/No1/March 2017
The temperature distribution for the design maximum temperature gradient. The genetic
points B, C and D with the TIT equal to 818K algorithm with 400 initial population and 80
are depicted in Fig.10. The design point B has population per next generation, is used to find
the lowest coolant mass flow rate, so its the optimum design point and the solution
higher temperature is anticipated. converged after almost 1200 observations.
The first 400 points are generated randomly
4.3.Second method of optimization
and many of them do not satisfy the problem
In this method, the optimization is performed constraints. The objective function values are
with the objective to minimize the coolant sorted in ascending order for each generation
mass flow rate in the same blade, with and the convergence history of the objective
constraints on maximum temperature and function is displayed in Fig.11.
(a) (b)
Fig.12. Results of second method optimization. (a) Temperature and (b) temperature gradient contours
82 Seyyed Morteza Mousavi et al./ Energy Equip. Sys. / Vol. 5/No1/March 2017
power output compared to reference design. blade cooling are discussed and a new
In the design point D, the turbine power optimization method is offered for turbine
output is increased but the efficiency has blade cooling with the aim of improving the
slightly decreased compared to the reference overall turbine efficiency and output power.
design. But, the optimized geometry in the The location and diameter of cooling passages
second method has the higher turbine in a 2D model of C3X blade are optimized
efficiency and power output with respect to with two different methods. The first method,
the reference design. So, the second which was a popular one in previous research,
optimization method is more convenient in is a multi-objective method to minimize
the case of gas turbine blade cooling maximum temperature and maximum
optimization. temperature gradient in the blade. The second
method is proposed in this paper and its
A typical gas turbine can perform at a
objective is to minimize the coolant flow rate
pressure ratio of 12 or more. The turbine required to keep the temperature and
performance of different designs at this temperature gradient lower than a specific
pressure ratio is compared in Table 6. The value. The performance of the optimum
optimum design of the second optimization designs of these two methods has been
method increased the power output of the compared by a simple thermodynamic
turbine by 17% compared to reference design analysis.
and also shows 4.68% higher efficiency. This The proposed method in this research
value will be even higher for a real gas turbine (second method) is superior to the first
with 15% coolant mass flow rate, where method in terms of time consumption and
reduction of 1% from coolant mass flow rate certainty. It is mainly because a multi-
can increase the power output by 2% [4]. objective optimization method requires more
time to converge and the user must choose
5.Conclusion between a series of design points at the Pareto
front himself.
Different methods for optimization of turbine The second method’s optimum design has
(a) (b)
Fig.13. Turbine performance of different designs. (a) net power output and (b) turbine efficiency
increased the turbine power output and [13]Wang B., Zhang W., Xie G., Xu Y., Xiao
efficiency by 17% and 4.68%, respectively. M., Multiconfiguration Shape
However, while the candidate points of first Optimization of Internal Cooling Systems
method allow higher TIT without any harm to of a Turbine Guide Vane Based on
blades, the turbine performance might Thermomechanical and Conjugate Heat
deteriorate due to high coolant mass flow rate. Transfer Analysis, Journal of Heat
Transfer (2015)137( 6): 61004.
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