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Film cooling is a commonly used thermal protection technology for turbine airfoils. However, due to the counter-rotating vortex pair (CVP) generated by the interaction between the cooling jet and the mainstream, the coolant gradually breaks away from the wall, which is particularly evident at high blowing ratios. For the sake of improving the film cooling effectiveness (FCE) under high inlet temperature conditions, a novel film cooling structure (SerrTrench-VSS) that combines serrated trench film holes with shark skin-inspired V-shaped surface (VSS) is proposed. The RANS method and realizable k - ε model are used for the simulations. The flow characteristics, adiabatic FCE, and resistance loss are analyzed in detail when the blowing ratio (BR) is 0.5–1.5 and then compared with the traditional cylindrical film hole and transverse trench film hole. In addition, the impact of VSS height on the cooling performance is investigated and the best height of the structure is determined. The results show that the SerrTrench-VSS has better FCE. The serrated trench can destroy the CVP and improve the spanwise spreading ability of the coolant. Also, the VSS can converge the cooling jet downstream of the film hole toward the centerline, thereby improving its extension ability along the flow direction. In the studied range of blowing ratio, the SerrTrench-VSS has the best FCE, and the spanwise-averaged FCE increases by up to 10.50% when BR = 0.5. The empirical correlations between the globally-averaged FCE and the height ratio within the range of the present study are also given. For the serrated trench, the cooling jet has the best spanwise spreading and flow extension ability when the VSS height is 0.5 D. The proposed novel film cooling structure (SerrTrench-VSS) can effectively improve the FCE and provide feasible means for the efficient cooling of a turbine blade under practical conditions. [Display omitted] • A V-shaped surface structure inspired by shark skin was proposed for film hole cooling. • It can concentrate the downstream cooling jet and inhibit the counter-rotating vortex pairs. • The best height of the V-shaped surface structure was determined. • The best cooling effectiveness can be obtained by combining a serrated trench with this structure. • The globally-averaged film cooling effectiveness and the height ratio were empirically correlated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new method of defining the velocity field in the coolant inlet is used to quantitatively investigate the effects of the coolant swirl intensity on the film cooling performance in the operating conditions of h series turbine vanes. • The critical value of the coolant vorticity to the transformation of film coverage is 20,000 /s. • When the coolant vorticity is 40,000 /s, the area-averaged film cooling effectiveness at the near field downstream of the film hole is 54 % higher than the non-swirling case. • With high blowing ratios and large vorticities, a stable flow field is formed, where the additional coolant vortex and induced vortex appear. • For high blowing ratios, with the increase of the vorticity, the momentum advantage of the coolant gradually transforms into the effectiveness advantage. Advanced H/J series heavy-duty gas turbines are widely equipped with film cooling to protect turbine blades. Previous studies have shown that coolant swirl has an important influence on film cooling performance. However, there are few studies on the quantitative analysis of the coolant swirl intensity because of the swirl generated by the specific structure, and most of the research was carried out at relatively low temperatures. In this paper, a new method of defining the velocity field in the coolant inlet is used to quantitatively investigate the coolant swirl intensity. A numerical study of the film cooling performance for the coolant jet with various swirl intensities is conducted in the operating conditions of H series turbine vanes. The effects of the blowing ratio and coolant vorticity on the vortex structure and mixing process of the flow field are investigated emphatically, and the mechanisms for the variation of the film cooling effectiveness are analyzed. The results show that the film cooling effectiveness is greatly improved with the swirling coolant jet at high blowing ratios. When Ω n =40,000 /s, the area-averaged (L = 5 D) film cooling effectiveness is 54 % higher than the non-swirling case. Ω n =20,000 /s is a critical value of the coolant vorticity. When Ω n >20,000 /s, the film coverage transforms significantly. Furthermore, the main vortical structures in a typical SJICF flow field with high blowing ratios and large vorticities are proposed. Compared with the non-swirling JICF, the additional coolant vortex and induced vortex appear in the SJICF. Under the influence of the two vortices, the coolant momentum is sacrificed for enhanced attachment to the wall resulting in the momentum advantage gradually transforming into the effectiveness advantage with the increase of the vorticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern gas turbines use high-performance ribs to improve internal cooling performance. In this study, the aerothermal performance of a bio-inspired truncated rib arrangement with stepped length and height variations, proposed in our previous work, is systematically studied using the numerical simulation method and the rib structures are optimized using the response surface methodology. A square channel model is employed to simulate the flow of actual turbine blade, and the rhombus-patterned ribs are placed on the two channel sidewalls. The studied structural parameters include the length variation rate, height variation rate, and pitch distance. It is found that as the rib height decreases, heat transfer is enhanced while the pressure drop is decreased. In general, however, as the variation rates of height and length increase, both the heat transfer coefficient and flow loss increase. The correlations between the thermal performance factor and the three structural parameters are obtained from thirteen cases of aerothermal performance analysis, and the optimal structure of rhombus-patterned ribs is further obtained: Δ l / l 1 = 0.333, Δ e / e 1 = 0.167, and p / e 1 = 2.000. The geometric layout optimization of the novel ribs is important for providing higher thermal performance of the internal channel and hence efficient cooling of the turbine blades. • Rhombus-patterned rib structures are optimized to enhance turbine blade aerothermal performance. • The response surface methodology is used for optimizing the structural parameters. • The optimized parameters include length variation rate, height variation rate, and pitch distance. • The relationship between the thermal performance factor and these parameters are correlated. • The rhombus-patterned ribs are also suitable for application in many heat exchange devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]