Establishing a methodology for resolving convective heat transfer from complex geometries

Current turbine airfoils must operate at extreme temperatures, which are continuously driven higher by the demand for high output engines. Internal cooling plays a key role in the longevity of gas turbine airfoils. Ribbed channels are commonly used to increase heat transfer by generating turbulence and to provide a greater convective surface area. Because of the increasing complexity in airfoil design and manufacturing, a methodology is needed to accurately measure the convection coefficient of a rib with a complex shape. Previous studies that have measured the contribution to convective heat transfer from the rib itself have used simple rib geometries. This paper presents a new methodology to measure convective heat transfer coefficients on complex ribbed surfaces. The new method was applied to a relatively simple shape so that comparisons could be made with a commonly accepted method for heat transfer measurements. A numerical analysis was performed to reduce experimental uncertainty and to verify the lumped model approximation used in the new methodology. Experimental measurements were taken in a closed-loop channel using fully rounded, discontinuous, skewed ribs oriented 45° to the flow. The channel aspect ratio was 1.7:1 and the ratio of rib height to hydraulic diameter was 0.075. Heat transfer augmentation levels relative to a smooth channel were measured to be between 4.7 and 3 for Reynolds numbers ranging from 10,000 to 100,000.