Gas Turbine Engines: Turbine Cooling: Ronald S. Bunker

Gas Turbine Engines: Turbine Cooling
Ronald S. Bunker
Energy and Propulsion Technologies, General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, NY, USA
advanced materials for structural components and protective

1 Introduction 1 coatings, the application of high efficiency aerodynamics, the
2 Turbine Design with Cooling 2 use of prognostic and health monitoring systems, and the con-
3 Elements of Turbine Cooling 4 tinuous development of improved mechanical stress, lifing,
and systems interactions and behavioral modeling.
4 The External Hot Gas Flow Driving Turbine
The high-pressure turbine (HPT) section of the engine,
Cooling 4
shown in Figure 1 for the CFM56-5B commercial aviation en-
5 Film Cooling 5 gine, encompasses all of these challenges simultaneously. For
6 Turbine Airfoil Internal Cooling 7 example, the technology of cooling gas turbine components
7 The Impact of the Combustion System on Turbine via internal convective flows of single-phase gases spans the
Cooling 10 range from simple smooth cooling passages to very complex
8 In the Final Design 10 geometries involving many differing surfaces, architectures,
References 11 and fluid-surface interactions. The fundamental aim of this
technology area is to obtain the highest overall cooling ef-
fectiveness with the lowest possible penalty on the thermo-
1 INTRODUCTION dynamic cycle performance. The use of 20 to 30% of the
compressor air to cool the HPT presents a severe penalty on
The gas turbine is a specialized engine designed to convert the thermodynamic efficiency unless the firing temperature
chemical energy into one or more useful forms of energy, is sufficiently high for the gains to outweigh the losses. In
such as thrust, shaft work, and process heat. Gas turbine all properly operating cooled turbine systems, the efficiency
engines for aviation and marine propulsion applications are gain is significant enough to justify the added complexity
most commonly in the form of continuously rotating axial and cost of the cooling technologies employed. In many re-
turbomachinery (see Gas Turbine Engines: Turbines). As a spects, gas turbine internal cooling technologies are founded
thermodynamic Brayton cycle, the efficiency of the gas tur- on heat exchanger and fluid processing techniques, “simply”
bine engine can be raised substantially by increasing the firing packaged into the constrained designs required of turbine air-
temperature of the turbine. Modern gas turbine systems are foils; that is, aerodynamics, mechanical strength, vibrational
fired at temperatures far in excess of the material melting response, etc. Turbine airfoils are after all merely highly spe-
temperature limits. This is made possible by the aggressive cialized and complex heat exchangers that release the cold
cooling of the hot gas path (HGP) components, the use of side fluid in a controlled fashion to maximize work extrac-
tion. Actively or passively cooled regions of the HGP include
the stationary vanes and rotating blades of the HPT stages, the
shrouds bounding the rotating blades, and the combustor lin-
ers and flame holding segments. The ever present constraints
common to all components and systems include but are not
Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Online © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is © 2010 The General Electric Company
This article was published in the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae093
2 Airbreathing Engines
Figure 1. Schematic of CFM56 commercial engine combustor and HPT.
limited to pressure losses, material temperatures, component enough, however, to allow ranking and down-selection be-
stresses, geometry and volume, aerodynamics, fouling, and tween options. The result of preliminary design analysis, after
coolant conditions. various alterations and iterations, is the basic system design
with balanced choices that satisfy the engine design goals. A
view of the detailed design process, specific to the cooling
2 TURBINE DESIGN WITH COOLING design, leading to the final component specifications is shown
in Figure 3. Here the principle design factors affecting heat
An overview of the HPT design system or design cycle typ- transfer and cooling of HPT airfoils are linked to the cool-
ical of highly cooled airfoils is presented in Figure 2. The ing design analysis through required boundary conditions.
design cycle analysis deals mainly with the mission require- Also shown are the major turbine design elements that are
ments, such as efficiency, specific fuel consumption, thrust, linked to the cooling design and therefore directly impacted.
and meantime between repairs. The cycle sets the target Cooling design analysis must include surrounding effects and
goals on the cooling system, including the coolant consump- constraints from aerodynamics, material properties, mechan-
tion, turbine airfoil life, and inspection intervals. The pre- ical loads, lifing limitations, clearances, etc. Analyses often
liminary design of the cooled components is largely based must be combined thermal-mechanical predictions using very
on nominal target conditions and divorced from the sur- detailed finite element models, at times even sub-models of
rounding systems constraints and competing requirements certain component sections (see Lifing Approaches and Com-
or trade-offs. Such analysis can be performed based on one-, ponent Classification: Overview of Methods). Most analyses
two-, or three-dimensional complexities and details, and is are performed at one steady-state operating condition, for ex-
primarily used to compare various options in design (see Fun- ample, hot day takeoff with full load, but more detailed anal-
damentals of Heat Transfer and Thermal Physics, Engineer- ysis brings in the operational transient aspects to determine
ing Analysis of Heat Transfer). Analysis must still be detailed if requirements or constraints are violated under conditions
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae093
Gas Turbine Engines: Turbine Cooling 3
Figure 2. HPT design cycle.
Figure 3. Detailed cooling design process.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae093
such as normal spool-up, fast start-up, takeoff, thrust-reverse,

and power cuts. In all cases, engine experience design factors
and known engine degradation factors must also be included.
As examples, such factors may include the use of –3σ material
properties, knockdown factors on cooling augmentation, and
loss of protective coatings. Every aspect of this design process
from the initial engine cycle objectives to the life of the final
component is also affected by the manufacturing methods by
the fact that process variability (statistical mean and standard
deviation) must be “designed into” the final component to
assure survival and guarantee lifetime economics.
3 ELEMENTS OF TURBINE COOLING
Cooling technology, as applied to gas turbine components

Figure 4. Generic cooling technology curves.
such as the high-pressure turbine vanes and blades, is com-
posed of five main elements that must work in harmony, (1)
internal convective cooling, (2) external surface film cool- ratios the overall hot gas heat flux (source) delivered to the
ing, (3) materials selection, (4) thermal-mechanical design, component against the overall coolant capability to accept
and (5) selection and/or pre-treatment of the coolant fluid. heat flux (sink). Since the gas and coolant temperatures are
Internal convective cooling is the art of directing coolant via not in this term, the ratio is not unity, but does provide a rela-
the available pressure gradients into all regions of the com- tive scale for placement of past and current designs. Several
ponent requiring cooling, while augmenting the heat transfer curves are present showing major levels of cooling technol-
coefficients as necessary to obtain distributed and reasonably ogy. Aside from constraints such as cost, the goal of cooling
uniform thermal conditions. Film cooling is the practice of technology is always to move the next generation of design
bleeding internal cooling flows onto the exterior skin of the in the direction shown by the dashed line, meaning greater
components to provide a heat flux reducing cooling layer. cooling effectiveness with less coolant flow. Temperatures
Materials most commonly employed in cooled parts include may be altered by various choices of cycles, surface areas
high-temperature, high-strength nickel- or cobalt-based su- by overall thrust requirements or aerodynamics, coolant spe-
peralloys coated with yttria-stabilized zirconia oxide ceram- cific heat by selection of cooling fluid, airfoil temperatures
ics (thermal barrier coating, TBC). The protective ceramic by cooling mass flow rate, and so forth. All of which lead
coatings are today actively used to enhance the cooling capa- to differing impacts on overall engine efficiency, emissions,
bility of the internal convection mechanisms (see Thermal life, and cost.
Barrier Coatings). The thermal-mechanical design of the
components must marry these first three elements into a pack-
age that has acceptable thermal stresses, coating strains, oxi- 4 THE EXTERNAL HOT GAS FLOW
dation limits, creep-rupture properties, and aero-mechanical DRIVING TURBINE COOLING
response. The last cooling design element concerns the cor-
rect selection of the cooling fluid to perform the required An understanding of the sources and complexity of the
function with the least impact on the cycle efficiency. This external heat loading factors that lead to the multi-faceted
usually is achieved through the use of compressor air bleed approach to turbine cooling is useful as a starting point.
from the most advantageous stage of the compressor, but Using the HPT inlet guide vane, Figure 5 shows the gen-
might also be done using off-board cooling sources such as eral elements of the flow field bounded by the airfoil and
closed-circuit steam or air, as well as intra-cycle and inter- endwalls, and through the hot gas passage. This flow field is
cycle heat exchangers. also largely applicable to the rotating blades with the same
A generic cooling technology performance chart is shown features seen in the relative velocity frame, excepting de-
in Figure 4 for a turbine airfoil, either a vane or a blade. The tails associated with the blade tips. The physical presence
technology curves shown on this chart present the gross air- of the airfoil-endwall junction leads to the creation of sig-
foil cooling effectiveness versus a heat loading parameter, nificant secondary flows such as the leading edge horseshoe
and indicate how the general elements used in cooling have vortex. The airfoil lift design in conjunction with the endwall
enhanced capabilities over time. The heat loading parameter leads to the creation of cross-passage secondary flows. The
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae093
Figure 5. External flow field complexities on a turbine inlet guide vane.
core flow region of the passage experiences the full range

r secondary flow injections in hub and tip regions;
of conditions from stagnation flow to highly accelerated and
r radiative heat flux distributions.
turbulent boundary layer flow along the airfoil (see Laminar
Boundary Layers, Flow Instabilities and Transition, Turbu- These major flow elements and their many spin-offs gener-
lent Boundary Layers). While the individual film holes are ally serve to augment the heat loading, and provide challenges
not shown with coolant flow arrows, consider that each hole for film cooling on both the endwalls and the airfoil sections.
is injecting coolant, but that the large range of external hot gas
pressures (Mach numbers) will lead to an equally large range 5 FILM COOLING
of film cooling blowing or momentum ratios. Also shown
are flow arrows representing various leakage flows (see Gas Film cooling is one of the major technologies allowing to-
Turbine Engines: Seals). For a specific aerodynamic design day’s gas turbines to obtain extremely high turbine firing tem-
(static pressure distributions) and the gas temperatures sur- peratures, subsequent high efficiencies, and longer life parts.
rounding the airfoil and endwalls, the external heat transfer The art and science of film cooling concerns the bleeding of
coefficient distribution is fundamentally that of a turbulent internal component cooling air through the external walls to
boundary layer, but with the several additional influencing form a protective layer of cooling between the hot gases and
factors including: the component external surfaces. The application of effective
film cooling techniques provides the first and the best line
r airfoil loading; of defense for hot gas path surfaces against the onslaught
r subsonic boundary layer laminar and turlulent transitions; of extreme heat fluxes, serving to directly reduce the inci-
r bypass transition; dent convective heat flux on the surface. Figure 6 provides a
r transonic shocks; visualization of discrete hole film injection showing the three-
r surface roughness distribution; dimensional mixing of coolant and hot gas. The measure of
r freestream turbulence; unmixedness, or film cooling effectiveness is defined as
r freestream approach swirl;
r Thot gas recovery − Tadiabatic wall
rotational effects; η= (1)
r boundary layer disturbances due to film coolant injec-
Thot gas recovery − Tcoolant
tions; The adiabatic wall temperature is the effective mixed local
r boundary layer disturbances due to coating spallations; fluid temperature established in the absence of a wall heat
r periodic unsteadiness and wake passing; flux. Because of its high importance and widespread applica-
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tion, research into the many aspects of film cooling has seen Film cooling elements that require specific attention and de-
a tremendous increase over the past three decades. Film cool- sign include:
ing effectiveness depends on the major effects of film hole
internal fluid dynamics, interactions with the mainstream gas
flow, turbulence and vorticity production, effects of approach r stagnation region film cooling with radially oriented
flows prior to the hole entry, hole shaping, orientation, and holes, closely grouped in rows;
spacing, hole length-to-diameter ratio, density ratio, blowing r film injection into low Mach number mainstream flows
strength, momentum flux ratio, effects of mainstream tur- with laminar or transitional boundary layers;
bulence intensity, mainstream acceleration, external surface r film injection into a turbulent boundary layer with desta-
curvature, and external surface roughness. One of the goals bilizing concave surface flows tending to greater film jet
of film cooling in gas turbines has been the achievement of mixing;
ideal cooling films, such as those from two-dimensional con- r film injection along a highly curved (convex) surface with
tinuous slots with uniformly distributed cooling supply. Due stabilizing effects, and possible relaminarization;
to the many competing constraints of turbine design (e.g., r film injection into a turbulent boundary layer with sepa-
aerodynamics, thermal and mechanical stress, fabrication), ration and/or shocks;
it is generally impractical to place such slots into the high r airfoil trailing edge cooling with film ejection from pres-
temperature surfaces of the turbine components. As a conse- sure side bleed slots (as shown in Figures 5 and 7);
quence, film cooling is performed almost exclusively through r carryover film cooling from the upstream combustor liner
the use of discrete holes and rows of evenly spaced holes. walls (see Figure 1);
In practical applications, both commercial and military, all r endwall inter-segment leakage flows that may disrupt car-
film cooling holes are either round or shaped. Shaped holes ryover film cooling, or may add to film cooling dependent
are composed of round metering or throat sections with a on design and leakage strength;
uniform and symmetric expanded exit region on the hot gas r endwall film cooling migration due to secondary flow
surface. Most commonly, all shaped holes applied in prac- effects (pressure gradient driven);
tice have fan diffuser exits with divergence angles between r endwall film cooling degradation due to vortex scrubbing
10 and 15 degrees on each lateral side, and sometimes also effects;
on the side into the surface. The lower flow visualization in r local directional injection differences caused by manufac-
Figure 6 shows the higher degree of film cooling effective- turing constraints;
ness indicative of shaped holes. In all of its uses, film cooling r airfoil-endwall horseshoe rollup vortex effect interaction
is notoriously sensitive to local flow fields and disturbances. with local film injections.
Figure 6. Mixing of film injection jets with hot gas flows.
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The rotating blade airfoils experience pretty much the A summary of the complex loading and film cooling region
same conditions, although special attention must be given associated with the blade tip is provided by Bunker (2006).
to the tip film cooling. The vane-to-blade inner flow path A recent comprehensive compilation of the art and science of
transition also contains a purge flow that has a swirl factor, film cooling is contained in the von Karman Institute lecture
which interacts with whatever mixed flow is coming from series of Bunker et al. (2007).
the vane endwall to the blade platform (see Internal Air and
Lubrication Systems).
Fundamental equations and correlations concerning vari- 6 TURBINE AIRFOIL INTERNAL
ous cases of idealized slot film cooling, such as might be en- COOLING
countered in various leakage flow paths, are summarized in
the review of Goldstein (1971). The best open source of both In the turbine airfoil design community and amongst the var-
adiabatic film effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient aug- ious manufacturers there are a very large number of cooled
mentation factors due to film injection for round and shaped airfoil designs and an even larger number of individual
holes is contained in the series of studies by Gritsch, Schulz cooling features. Figure 7a depicts a typical turbine blade
and Wittig (1998a); Gritsch, Schulz and Wittig (1998c); having three distinct internal cooling circuits, similar to the
Saumweber, Schulz and Wittig (2003); Dittmar, Schulz and actual blade shown in Figure 7b. The airfoil forward region
Wittig (2003). Such data are generally put into a simplified is cooled by a radial passage that delivers impingement air to
form to describe the centerline or laterally averaged adia- the leading edge through crossover holes, while the lead edge
batic effectiveness as a function of distance and mass veloc- discharges showerhead film cooling. The airfoil mid-chord
ity ratio. A broad set of data for discharge coefficients of region is cooled by a five-pass serpentine with turbulated
film cooling holes is available from the research of Hay and channels and 180◦ turns. The airfoil trailing edge region uti-
Lampard (1998); Gritsch, Schulz and Wittig (1997b); Gritsch lizes a radial passage with pin bank that feeds a distribution
et al. (2000). Aerodynamic film injection mixing losses may of small axial flow channels ending in bleed slots. The blade
be estimated by the use of the method of Hartsel (1972). tip section has passage dust holes and dedicated coolant holes
Figure 7. Typical cooled turbine blade: (a) internal flow circuits; and (b) actual blade.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae093
exiting into a tip cavity. In addition, rows of film holes other niques, using traditional characteristic lengths and velocities,
than the showerhead may be located to draw from any or all of is from 10 000 to 60 000. This is true of both stationary and
the passages to refresh the external surface film cooling. The rotating components. The enhancement of heat transfer co-
typical cooled blade wall section is simply composed of an efficients for turbine cooling makes full use of the turbulent
investment cast nickel or cobalt alloy base metal, a metallic flow nature by seeking to generate mixing mechanisms in
bond coat, and a layer of TBC. The base metal structural de- the coolant flows that actively exchange cooler fluid for the
sign, thickness, and crystallographic orientation (equiaxed, heated fluid near the walls. These mechanisms include shear
directionally solidified, or single crystal) are an integral part layers, boundary layer disruption, and vortex generation. In a
of the overall thermal-mechanical design. An increase in marked difference from conventional heat exchangers, most
base metal temperature capability serves to directly reduce turbine cooling means do not rely on an increase in cooling
cooling requirements, but usually also significantly increases surface area, since the available surface area to volume ra-
cost. The base metal thickness provided as a product of the tios are very small. Surface area increases are beneficial, but
investment casting process will have a nominal value of are not the primary objective of enhancements. The use of
about 1.5 mm, with limits set on the thermal stresses, low various enhancement techniques typically results in at least
cycle fatigue life, and creep rupture life. The bond coat is 50% and as much as 300% increase in local heat transfer co-
only about 0.05 mm thick, and much of that may be diffused efficients over that associated with fully developed turbulent
into the base metal surface. The bond coat is present to flow in a smooth duct.
provide strain matching and bonding augmentation for the One of the most common means for enhancing heat trans-
TBC, as well as some oxidation resistance. The TBC layer fer coefficients within internal cooling passages, and espe-
has come to be relied upon as a heat load mitigation technol- cially the serpentine passages of many turbine blade designs,
ogy. With a nominal thickness of 0.25 mm, TBC thickness is the use of turbulators, also known as rib rougheners (see
variations can have a substantial effect on the external heat Figure 8a). Turbulators in the form of trip strips placed trans-
flux and the resulting maximum base metal and bond coat verse to the bulk flow direction within a channel were one
temperatures. of the first improvements made to the cooling of blades, and
Typical internal cooling technologies include turbula- hence many investigations have been made into the heat trans-
tors, pin-fins, turns, impingement jets, trailing edge holes, fer and friction characteristics. With the advancements in ma-
swirl cooling, vortex cooling, and convoluted passages (see terials and manufacturing technologies of the last decade, a
Heat Transfer Enhancement: Phase Change, Geometry, and drastically larger realm of surface enhancement techniques
Jets/Sprays). Several characteristics of gas turbine cooling has become cost-effective for use in the cooling of turbine air-
are worthy of note prior to describing any specific technolo- foils. Turbulators may now be of varying shape, orientation,
gies. Almost all highly cooled regions of the high-pressure segmentation, and size, essentially providing a continuous
turbine components involve the use of turbulent convective spectrum of possible geometries for achieving flow-surface
flows and heat transfer. Very few if any cooling flows within interactions serving to enhance local and global heat trans-
the primary hot section are laminar or transitional. More- fer coefficients. The bulk of turbulator usage is for relative
over, the typical range of Reynolds numbers for cooling tech- height less than 0.2 (turbulator height relative to channel
Figure 8. Cooling techniques of (a) turbulated channels, (b) impingement, and (c) pin fins.
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hydraulic diameter), but greater than that relative rough- other applications for individual impingement jets on selected
ness typically associated with uniform surface roughness. stationary and rotating surfaces. Vane endwalls, blade plat-
In general, surface-averaged heat transfer coefficients within forms, unattached shrouds, and combustor liners all have spe-
stationary, turbulated passages may be enhanced by factors cific local cooling requirements well suited to the use of in-
from 1.8 to 2.8, while the friction factors or required pumping dividual jet cooling. Impingement jets are also used on rotor
power are increased by factors of 3 to 10. Many parameters disk cavity faces and in some applications provide additional
are involved in turbulated passages (angle to the bulk flow, functions of sealing.
pitch-to-height ratio, relative height, shaping, taper, etc.), and Pin banks or pin fins are commonly used in the confined
many more in serpentine circuits, but the range of effects re- regions of blade trailing edges. Most research has focused
mains much the same. Amongst the most promising geome- on pins with height-to-diameter ratios of one or higher, in
tries are variations on chevron turbulators, including broken regular arrays of in-line or staggered rows of pins. Common
or segmented chevrons, as well as the staggering of these applications center around a pin-to-pin spacing of about 2.5.
features to increase vortical surface flow interactions. The pins, generally of circular cross section as shown in Fig-
Turbulated cooling passages are of particular usefulness in ure 8c, each generate flow separation and wake regions that
the rotating turbine blades where simplicity of airfoil struc- serve to turbulate the flow. This flow disruption decays with
ture is required to maintain acceptable stress levels. The ex- distance, hence the use of multiple rows of pin fins. Each pin
ceedingly high rotational field, on the order of tens of thou- augments local heat transfer coefficients through flow mix-
sands of g’s, introduces centrifugal and Coriolis forces, as ing, as well as the addition of a stagnation heat transfer region
well buoyancy effects, on the cooling fluid. The interaction on the pin itself. Heat transfer coefficient enhancement lev-
of these forces with the forced convection of the cooling fluid els are usually built up to a maximum of factor of about 3
leads to greatly enhanced or greatly reduced heat transfer co- after three to four rows of pin fins, and hold steady for any
efficients on internal surfaces of radially oriented channels additional rows. Staggered arrays usually provide higher heat
(such as shown in Figure 7). Enhancement magnitudes can transfer capability.
be as large as a factor of 2 over the already turbulated heat Because there are so many possible combinations and vari-
transfer level, while reductions can be a factor of 0.5. Fur- ations, cooling design is founded on several basic generic cor-
ther localized complications arise from the thermally induced relations from the open literature, and augmented by many
buoyancy effects that can actually reverse flow along entire geometry-specific correlations determined by the original en-
sections of a surface. Such challenges lead to the require- gine manufacturers. The following is a list of the primary
ment that each new blade cooling design be firmly grounded cooling correlation sources from open literature. Impinge-
within known cooling parameter space, or that deviations be ment jet array heat transfer coefficients may be obtained from
carefully tested and validated. the correlation of Florschuetz, Truman and Metzger (1981)
The use of impingement jets for the cooling of various for average jet Reynolds numbers typical in engine design.
regions of modern gas turbine engines is widespread, most For square arrays of jets at somewhat lower Re numbers, the
especially within the high-pressure turbine. Since the cooling graphical data of Kercher and Tabakoff (1970) may be used.
effectiveness of impingement jets is very high, this method Impingement cooling that involves the use of individual jets,
of cooling provides an efficient means of component heat or slot type jets, or other non-standard configurations, may be
load management given sufficient available pressure head and determined by correlations in the summary paper of Martin
geometrical space for implementation. Regular arrays of im- (1977). Most fully-developed, turbulated duct flow heat trans-
pingement jets are used within turbine airfoils and endwalls fer correlations are of the format Nu = C∗ Ren Pr m . The basic
to provide relatively uniform and controlled cooling of fairly correlations for stationary turbulated ducts with transverse or
open internal surface regions (see Figure 8b). Such regular angled rib rougheners can be found in Han, Park and Lei
impingement arrays are generally directed against the target (1985). This research also includes the coefficients of fric-
surfaces by the use of sheet metal baffle plates, inserts, or tion. Rotating passage heat transfer data with and without
covers that are fixed in position relative to the target surface. turbulators is contained in the NASA HOST program data
These arrangements allow for the design of a wide range of sets of Hajek et al. (1991) and Johnson, Wagner and Steuber
impingement geometries, including in-line, staggered, or ar- (1993). Pin bank internal heat transfer and pressure loss cor-
bitrary patterns of jets. In more confined regions of airfoils relations are contained in the works by Metzger, Berry and
such as the leading edge or trailing edge, spanwise lines of Bronson (1982) and Van Fossen (1982).
impingement jets are sometimes used to focus cooling on While the above referenced correlations provide a good
one primary location of high external heat load like the air- starting point for the most common methods of cooling, there
foil aerodynamic stagnation region. There also exist many are dozens of special regions, geometries, and circumstances
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae093
in cooling design analysis that require case-by-case data. For and premixed combustion. Swirl stabilization of combustion
these cases, the relevant literature is too large to mention here. is a very common approach employed to avoid blowout and
Most of these cases deal with the so-called “edge” regions flashback, but results in a highly complex flow entering the
of the cooled components, including the endwalls, platforms, turbine. Emissions, and especially NOx, are directly affected
airfoil leading and trailing edges, blade tips, interfacial rails, by the firing temperature, which in turn is heavily influenced
fillets, and any isolated corners. There are also several other by the degree of turbine cooling. Reduced turbine cooling
emerging general forms of cooling, such as chevron turbula- is beneficial to reducing emissions. Aviation fuel types are
tors, surface arrays of concavities, swirl flow channels, mesh presently fairly limited in diversity, but future fuels derived
networks, and arrays of small surface protrusions beginning from alternate sources such as biomass stocks will modify the
to find their way into designs. A summary of these cooling combustor conditions further. These several issues concern-
techniques considered outside the mainstream of design can ing the combustor-turbine system all point to the requirement
be found in Bunker (2008). that the cooling design analysis not only must be performed
for changing conditions due to the combustor, but in some
cases will even lead to vane-to-vane differences in the cool-
ing design.
7 THE IMPACT OF THE COMBUSTION
SYSTEM ON TURBINE COOLING
The turbine has a special relationship with the combustion 8 IN THE FINAL DESIGN
system (see Gas Turbine Engine Combustors). The turbine
cooling design may be directly influenced by the type of com- Design for transient operation is an absolute requirement to
bustor system, the combustor exit conditions, and the change meet the needs of performance and safety. The cooling design
in combustor conditions at various cycle operating points. of transients is commonly performed using a sufficient num-
The combustion system operation and its design relative to ber of steady-state analyses and their associated boundary
the turbine has potential impact in at least six main respects, conditions. Each steady-state design analysis is performed
(1) hot gas temperature profiles, (2) hot streak clocking rel- considering the aspects discussed in the previous sections.
ative to the turbine, (3) turbulence characteristics, (4) cool- The boundary conditions of these several operating points,
ing backflow margins, (5) emissions, and (6) fuel type. Each flow rates, pressures, gas temperature profiles, heat transfer
different combustor system design has its own set of charac- coefficients, and film effectiveness, are used to form the an-
teristic radial gas temperature profiles. The “set” of profiles chor points of the transient analysis. Since the number of
refers to the fact that the full-power radial profile differs from steady-state analysis points is typically limited, the bound-
any part-power profile. The key for turbine cooling design is ary conditions at several intermediate steps must be obtained
to know as much as possible about the combustor system exit by interpolation. As the basic fluid dynamic and thermal do-
conditions for all operating conditions, and to carry this infor- mains of the hot gas and cooling flows also change with op-
mation through to the design for each cycle operating point. erating conditions, these interpolations are performed using
Combustion systems have circumferential gas temperature explicit or ad-hoc rules. The exact nature and definition of
and pressure profiles as well, due to the discrete nature of vir- these rules are very dependent on the turbine design and op-
tually all designs with respect to air/fuel injection and flame eration, and as such are specific to the original engine manu-
holding. While radial profiles are caused by the combined facturers. Transient analyses of individual components, such
effects of fuel nozzles and combustor dilution/cooling flows, as the turbine airfoils, follow the same general guidelines.
circumferential profiles or pattern factors are caused primar- Usually, the concerns associated with these components are
ily by the number and spacing of the fuel nozzles. Since the not the same as those of the overall turbine systems. Instead,
turbine inlet vanes are also of a finite number, this leads to the issues with clearances, leakage gaps, binding, and hot gas in-
interesting aspect of hot streak clocking. The combustor hot gestion are scrutinized. In addition, transient effects on peak
streak may be aligned directly on a vane leading edge, mid- material stress and strain are important, as evidenced by the
way between two vanes, or may be variable around the entire potential for TBC spallation under severe thermal transients.
vane ring depending on the relative count of fuel nozzles and The transient cooling design analysis for hot gas path com-
turbine inlet vanes. Different unsteady gas conditions may ponents may therefore focus on certain transients, or portions
be incident upon the rotating blade row. Combustion system of transients, known to be of greatest concern.
turbulence and swirl flow are additional complicating factors Manufacturing technologies span the entire process of
generated from the specific modes and methods of diffusion fabrication from investment casting to the application of
DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae093
protective coatings. Manufacturing processes include the ma- REFERENCES

chining of wax and core molds and dies, the ceramic core
formation, the casting of metal parts, the removal of slag Bunker, R. (2006) Axial turbine blade tips: function, design, and
residue from the casting, external machining (e.g., milling durability. AIAA J. Propulsion and Power, 22, 271–285.
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DOI: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae093

Gas Turbine Engines: Turbine Cooling: Ronald S. Bunker

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Gas Turbine Engines: Turbine Cooling

advanced materials for structural components and protective

Figure 1. Schematic of CFM56 commercial engine combustor and HPT.

Figure 2. HPT design cycle.

Figure 3. Detailed cooling design process.

such as normal spool-up, fast start-up, takeoff, thrust-reverse,

3 ELEMENTS OF TURBINE COOLING

Cooling technology, as applied to gas turbine components

Figure 5. External flow field complexities on a turbine inlet guide vane.

core flow region of the passage experiences the full range

Figure 6. Mixing of film injection jets with hot gas flows.

protective coatings. Manufacturing processes include the ma- REFERENCES

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