Measurement and Prediction of Heat Transfer Distributions on an Aft-Loaded Vane Subjected to the Influence of Catalytic and Dry Low NOx Combustor Turbulence

Abstract

Aft-loaded vane designs can have an impact on surface heat transfer distributions by accelerating boundary layers for a greater portion of the suction surface. New combustion systems developed for low emissions have produced substantial changes to the characteristics of inlet turbulence entering nozzle guide vanes. This paper documents heat transfer rates on an aft-loaded vane subject to turbulence generated by mock combustion configurations representative of recently developed catalytic and dry low NOx (DLN) combustors. Four different inlet turbulence conditions with levels ranging up to 21% are documented in this study and vane heat transfer rates are acquired at vane exit chord Reynolds numbers ranging from 500,000 to 2,000,000. Heat transfer distributions show the influence of the turbulence conditions on heat transfer augmentation and transition. Cascade aerodynamics are well documented and match pressure distributions predicted by a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code for this large-scale low-speed facility. The aft-loaded vane pressure distribution exhibits a minimum value at about 50% arc on the suction surface. This comprehensive vane heat transfer data set is expected to represent an excellent test case for vane heat transfer predictive methods. Predictive comparisons are shown based on a two-dimensional boundary layer code using an algebraic turbulence model for augmentation as well as a transition model.