Discrete Element Roughness Modeling for Design Optimization of Additively and Conventionally Manufactured Internal Turbine Cooling Passages

Pennsylvania State University will deliver a computational 3-D model set that can be implemented within current turbine manufacturing design practices. To achieve this, they will first produce four engine-scale turbine cooling passage configurations and cooling hole geometry configurations using additive manufacturing techniques representative of current gas turbine practice. They will then advance, validate, and apply volumetric based Discrete Element Roughness Modeling (DERM) to engine-scale turbine blade cooling passages, and carry out validation quality local flow and heat transfer measurements using geometrically up-scaled hardware in facilities at Baylor University, and then develop optimized designs for cooling passage and cooling hole geometries that accommodate the critically important and mechanistically modeled effects of the complex roughness field that arises in Powder Bed Fusion manufacturing.