Thermal Analysis of a Turbine Blade: Effect of Film Cooling and Internal Convective Cooling

Advanced gas turbines are designed to operate at increasingly higher inlet temperature that poses a greater challenge to the designer for more effective blade cooling strategies. In this paper, a generic high-pressure turbine (HPT) blade of a gas turbine, which is cooled by film cooling in conjunction with internal convective cooling, has been analysed by solving Navier-Stokes and energy equations. The intricate internal cooling passages and a series of holes on the suction surface are considered for the simulations. Large numbers of cell in different zones are used to truly replace the blade with cooling holes and the internal cooling passage. The CFD analysis with conjugate heat transfer condition is accomplished by Fluent, version 6.3. A detailed discussion has been made regarding the aerodynamics and heat transfer. In brief, the suction surface is well protected by film cooling, whereas, the pressure surface demands some additional protection for a longer life. The leading edge is under the metallurgical limit because of internal cooling for the present configuration.