Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Purge Flow on Film Cooling Effectiveness on a Rotating Turbine With Nonaxisymmetric End Wall Contouring

The impact of the purge flow injection on aerodynamics and film cooling effectiveness of a three-stage, high-pressure turbine with nonaxisymmetric end wall contouring has been experimentally investigated. As a continuation of the previously published work involving stator-rotor gap purge cooling, this study investigates film cooling effectiveness on the first-stage rotor contoured platform due to a coolant gas injection. Film cooling effectiveness measurements are performed on the rotor blade platform using a pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique. The present study examines, in particular, the film cooling effectiveness due to injection of coolant from the rotor cavity through the circumferential gap between the first stator followed by the first rotor. Effects of the presence of contouring, blowing ratios, rotational speeds, and coolant density ratio are studied and compared to a noncontouring platform. The experimental investigation is carried out in a three-stage turbine facility at the Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory (TPFL) at Texas A&M University. Its rotor includes nonaxisymmetric end wall contouring on the first and second rotor row. The turbine has two independent cooling loops. Film cooling effectiveness measurements are performed for three coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%. Film cooling data is obtained for three rotational speeds, 3000 rpm (reference condition), 2550 rpm, and 2400 rpm, and compared with noncontoured end wall data. Effect of density ratio for coolant-to-mainstream density ratio (DR) = 1.0 and DR = 1.5 is also investigated. The comparisons of film effectiveness results show that contoured cases have a noticeable quantitative improvement compared to those of noncontoured ones.