Effect of Unsteady Wakes on Local Heat Transer of 1^st Stage Blade Endwall

We investigated the local heat and mass transfer on the endwall surface at different Strouhal numbers. The Strouhal number represents the interaction between the turbine stator and rotor. Thus, characteristics of flow and heat transfer on the endwall surface change for different Strouhal numbers. The experiment was performed in five-bladed linear cascade blades with moving cylindrical rods simulating unsteady wakes effects. The Reynolds number which was based on the blade cord length and inlet velocity was 100,000. The range of the Strouhal number varies from 0 to 0.22 to investigate the effect of unsteady wakes on the endwall surface. The local heat and mass transfer were measured on the endwall surface using the naphthalene sublimation method. The results showed that the local heat transfer characteristics changed depending on the Strouhal number. In the steady case, the occurrence of a horseshoe vortex, passage vortex and corner vortex caused non-uniform heat transfer on the endwall surface. However, in the unsteady case, the unsteady wake effect caused more uniform heat transfer on the endwall surface. As the Strouhal number increased, heat transfer increased and became more uniform compared with the steady case. Thus, an appropriate cooling system is necessary for stator and rotor endwalls in situations of real gas turbine operation.