Effect of Inlet Skew on Heat/Mass Transfer From a Simulated Turbine Blade

Heat (mass) transfer experiments are conducted to study the effect of an inlet skew on a simulated gas-turbine blade placed in a linear cascade. The inlet skew simulates the relative motion between rotor and stator endwalls in a single turbine stage. The transverse motion of a belt, placed parallel to and upstream of the turbine cascade, generates the inlet skew. With the freestream velocity constant at approximately 16 m/s, which results in a Reynolds number (based on the blade chord length of 0.184 m) of 1.8 × 10⁵, a parametric study was conducted for three belt-to-freestream velocity ratios. The distribution of the Sherwood number on the suction surface of the blade shows that the inlet skew intensifies the generation of the horseshoe vortex close to the endwall region. This is associated with the development of a stronger passage vortex for a higher velocity ratio, which causes an earlier transition to turbulence. Corresponding higher mass transfer coefficients are measured between the midheight of the blade and the endwall, at a midchord downstream location. However, a negligible variation in transport properties is measured above the two-dimensional region of the blade at the higher velocity ratios. In contrast, the inlet skew has a negligible effect on the distribution of the Sherwood number on the entire pressure surface of the blade. This is mainly because the skew is directed along the passage vortex, which is from the pressure surface of the airfoil to the suction surface of the adjacent airfoil.