Estimation of Efficiency of the Cooling Channel of the Nozzle Blade of Gas-Turbine Engines

The main direction of improvement of gas-turbine plants (GTP) and gas-turbine engines (GTE) is increasing the gas temperature at the turbine inlet. For the solution of this problem, promising systems of intensification of heat exchange in cooled turbine blades are developed. With this purpose, studies of the efficiency of the cooling channel of the nozzle blade in the basic modification and of the channel after constructive measures for improvement of the cooling system by the method of calorimetry in a liquid-metal thermostat were conducted. The combined system of heat-exchange intensification with the complicated scheme of branched channels is developed; it consists of a vortex matrix and three rows of inclined intermittent trip strips. The maximum value of hydraulic resistance ξ is observed at the first row of the trip strips, which is connected with the effect of dynamic impact of airflow on the channel walls, its turbulence, and rotation by 117° at the inlet to the channels formed by the trip strips. These factors explain the high value of hydraulic resistance equal to 3.7–3.4 for the first row of the trip strips. The obtained effect was also confirmed by the results of thermal tests, i.e., the unevenness of heat transfer on the back and on the trough of the blade is observed at the first row of the trip strips, which amounts 8–12%. This unevenness has a fading character; at the second row of the trip strips, it amounts to 3–7%, and it is almost absent at the third row. At the area of vortex matrix, the intensity of heat exchange on the blade back is higher as compared to the trough, which is explained by the different height of the matrix ribs on its opposite sides. The design changes in the nozzle blade of basic modification made it possible to increase the intensity of heat exchange by 20–50% in the area of the vortex matrix and by 15–30% on the section of inclined intermittent trip strips. As a result of research, new criteria dependences for the complicated systems of heat exchange intensification were obtained. The design of nozzle blades can be used when developing the promising high-temperature gas turbines.