INTRODUCTION TO CONCEPT OF TURBINE COOLING AND BLADE MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY

COOLING OF TURBINE BLADES

The efficiency of gas cycle depends upon the range of maximum temperature of the gas

If the maximum temperature increases, efficiency of the cycle also increases

Any increase in maximum temperature of the gas, results in an increase in blade temperature, thereby inducing more thermal stresses in the blade material This limits the capacity of the turbine

To achieve greater power, the blades are cooled through the hollow passages

DIFFERENT METHODS OF BLADE COOLING

Internal Air Cooling It is done by supplying cold air through hollow blade It implies an internal baffle or deflector to direct the flow over the hotter portions on internal surface Film Cooling It involves in supplying of thin film of cooled compressed air through a narrow slit on the blade surface to form boundary layer over the blades

Water Cooling Circulation of water is maintained through hollow section of the blade from root towards tip
Disc Cooling Disc is cooled by circulating cooling fluid and thus blade temperature is reduced by conduction

ADVANTAGES OF COOLING
The specific thrust of the jet engine is increased by 32 % for gas temperature increased from 800C to 1100C at the expense of 7 % specific fuel consumption If the maximum temperature is increased to 1600C in place of present practice 900C then the specific fuel consumption will be increased by 50 % for increase in a specific power by 200 %

TURBINE COOLING
Because the limiting factor in most turbine designs is the maximum temperature that can be tolerated at the turbine inlet, design engineers use every method at their command to increase the allowable inlet temperature On practically all large engines, one such method is to cool the inlet guide-vanes of the first-stage turbine and the firststage rotor blades The cooling is accomplished by directing compressor bleed air through as sage inside the engine to the turbine area where the air (or coolant) is led to longitudinal holes, tubes, or cavities in the vanes

TURBINE COOLING

TURBINE COOLING

TURBINE COOLING
After entering the passages in the vanes and blades, the air (coolant) is distributed through holes at the leading and trailing edges of the vanes and blades The air impinges along the vane, blade surfaces, and then passes out of the engine with the engine exhaust

THE INTERNAL COOLING SYSTEM OF AN ADVANCED TURBINE

The PW4000 turbofan, an advanced engine, has a cooling system for the high-pressure turbine vanes and blades, outer air seal, transition duct between the high-pressure and low-pressure turbines, and the high-pressure turbine disks

THE INTERNAL COOLING SYSTEM OF AN ADVANCED TURBINE

This system must not be confused with the system that uses fan air to cool the turbine cases to control blade tip clearance The cooling system optimizes engine performance by bleeding and controlling twelfth-stage compressor air to the high-pressure turbine The twelfth-stage cooling air is bled from the high-Pressure compressor through four ducts Two of the ducts continually inject cooling air

THE INTERNAL COOLING SYSTEM OF AN ADVANCED TURBINE

The air from the two remaining ducts is controlled by valves; thus, fifty percent of the cooling air for the turbine vanes can be shut off at lower power to increase engine efficiency The two valves also control the twelfth-stage cooling air that is used to supplement fifteenth-stage air The twelfth stage air is supplied from the valves to the diffuser case via two ducts

THE INTERNAL COOLING SYSTEM OF AN ADVANCED TURBINE

It flows through diffuser case struts and joins the modified fifteenth-stage air flowing around the No 3 bearing compartment This combined coolant flows to and cook the high-pressure turbine disks The electronic engine control controls the valves according to a schedule determined by altitude and high-pressure rotor speed

Blade-Tip Clearance Control

Some modern jet engines, particularly those of Transports, have a system that controls the clearance between the blade-tips and the outer case of the turbine, It improves fuel efficiency and increases the life of the cases Blade-tip clearance is controlled by scooping cool air from the fan stream and distributing it through ducts To spray over the turbine cases the hot cases are cooled by the air, shrink, and thus lessen the gap around the rotating turbine blades

BLADE-TIP CLEARANCE CONTROL

The reduced leakage of air past the tightly running blade tips increases fuel efficiency On the PW2000 and PW4000-series engines, both the lowpressure and high-pressure turbine cases are cooled during the climb and cruise portions of flight The FADEC commands the operation of the system according to a schedule determined by altitude and highpressure rotor speed

DIRECTIONAL SOLIDIFICATION PROCESS

DS-200
Close examination of a conventional turbine blade reveals a myriad of crystals that lie in all directions (equip-axed)

Improved service life can be obtained by aligning the crystals to form columns along the blade length, produced by a method known as Directional Solidification Further advance of this technique is to make the blade out of a single crystal
Each method extends the useful creep life of the blade, in the case of the single crystal blade, the operating temperature can be substantially increased

TURBINE MATERIALS SINGLE CRYSTALS

High temperature turbine materials allow turbines to withstand higher temperatures longer periods of time and can help reduce the for the amount of cooling air It reduces the maintenance cost of the hot section and increases the efficiency of the engine The durability of single crystal material is useful for firststage turbine blades, which must endure the greatest temperatures and stresses in the engine

TURBINE MATERIALS SINGLE CRYSTALS

Use of single crystals allows the raising of engine operating temperatures, yielding increased power and fuel efficiency The durability of single crystals in blades and vanes are advances on directionally solidified, or columnar grain, airfoils, which were themselves stronger than airfoils cast by traditional means The metal of conventional airfoils comprises crystals joined at boundaries

TURBINE MATERIALS SINGLE CRYSTALS

When high performance gas-turbine blades fail in service, one of two modes of failure, rupture or fatigue, usually predominates The mechanism usually is failure along crystal boundaries, with subsequent propagation of a crack

The inter crystal line cracking which leads to failure is initiated principally at grain boundaries that are oriented normal to the stress axis

TURBINE MATERIALS SINGLE CRYSTALS

In the directional solidification process introduced by Pratt& Whitney in 1969 grain boundaries are aligned in columns parallel to the airfoil axis, providing improved hightemperature performance Single crystal material goes even further by eliminating all grain boundaries, It allowing maximum use of the natural strength of the metal

COMPRESSOR-TURBINE MATCHING
The flow characteristics of the turbine must be very carefully matched with those of the compressor to obtain the maximum efficiency and performance of the engine. Nozzle guide vanes allowed too low a maximum flow, then a back pressure would build up causing the compressor to surge, too high a flow would cause the compressor to choke. In either condition a loss of efficiency would very rapidly occur.

CONCEPT OF BLISK WITH REFERENCE TO COMPRESSOR (DUAL ALLOY DISCS)

Very high stresses are imposed on the blade root fixing of high work rate turbines, which make conventional methods of blade attachment impractical A dual alloy disc, or blisk has a ring of cast turbine blades bonded to the disc This type of turbine is suitable for small high power helicopter engines