It is with great pleasure that we present this issue of the ASME J. of Heat Transfer to the heat transfer community dedicated to Gas Turbine Heat Transfer. Part 1 appears in the April 2005 issue. Gas turbines are used in military and commercial aircraft, and for land-based power generation, and contribute significantly to the nation’s economy. In modern gas turbine engines, the turbine inlet temperatures exceed the operating limits of the turbine blades, and one of the major technical challenges is the ability to effectively cool the turbine components with minimum coolant usage. Improvements in turbine efficiencies can be achieved with higher turbine inlet temperatures, and therefore, there is a significant ongoing effort in the gas turbine community (industry, academia, and federal laboratories) to explore new materials and material coatings that can withstand higher temperatures, and to explore more effective cooling strategies.
The special issues are an effort...
