Entropy Generation Measurement in a Laminar Turbine Blade Boundary-Layer

This paper demonstrates a method of calculating the entropy generation rate in an incompressible laminar turbine blade boundary-layer from measurements of surface heat transfer rate. It is shown that the entropy generated by fluid friction in an incompressible blade boundary-layer is significantly less than that generated by heat transfer at engine representative temperature ratios. The centre blade in a low-speed linear cascade is electrically heated and isolated from the airflow with a bypass valve. Upon opening the valve the blade is transiently cooled and thin film heat transfer gauges, painted on machinable glass ceramic inserts mounted into the surface of the blade, are used to record blade surface temperature and surface heat transfer rate signals; local Nusselt numbers are then calculated. Non-dimensional temperature distributions are derived across the boundary-layer using the blade surface heat transfer rate and a similarity condition. The equation describing the local entropy generation per unit volume is then integrated through the boundary-layer at each chordwise measurement point on the blade surface.