Large Eddy Simulation of Flow and Heat Transfer in the 180° Bend Region of a Stationary Ribbed Gas Turbine Internal Cooling Duct

LES of the 180° bend in a stationary ribbed duct is presented. The domain studied includes three ribs upstream of the bend region and three ribs downstream of the bend with an outflow extension added to the end, using a total of 8.4 million cells. Two cases are compared to each other: one includes a rib in the bend and the other does not. The friction factor, mean flow, turbulence, and heat transfer are compared in the two cases to help explain the benefits and disadvantages of the wide number of flow effects seen in the bend, including flow separation at the tip of the dividing wall, counter-rotating Dean vortices, high heat transfer at areas of flow impingement, and flow separation at the upstream and downstream corners of the bend. Mean flow results show a region of separated flow at the tip of the dividing region in the case with no rib in the bend, but no separation region is observed in the case with a rib. A pair of counter-rotating Dean vortices in the middle of the bend is observed in both cases. Turbulent kinetic energy profiles show a 30% increase in the mid-plane of the bend when the rib is added. High gradients of heat transfer augmentation are observed on the back wall and downstream outside wall, where mean flow impingement occurs. This heat transfer is increased with the presence of a rib. Including a rib in the bend increases the friction factor in the bend by 80%, and it increases the heat transfer augmentation by approximately 20%, resulting in a tradeoff between pressure drop and heat transfer.