Analysis of film cooling and flow resistance characteristics of turbine blades with thermal barrier coatings

Abstract

This paper employs numerical simulation to investigate the influence of thermal barrier coatings' (TBCs) thickness and surface roughness on the cooling and flow resistance characteristics of turbine blades. The results indicate that the application of TBCs significantly enhances the surface cooling efficiency of the blades. Turbine blades coated with a 0.4 mm thickness of TBC compared to blades without thermal barrier coatings, the average cooling efficiency of the blade surface increases by 12.3 %, and the maximum temperature drop at the leading edge(LE) is 317.8 K. However, the small increment in TBCs thickness leads to an increase in aerodynamic losses in the vane passage. The static pressure coefficient continuously decreases in the suction side(SS) within the interval 0.3 < x/C < 1.0. The average flow coefficient of the film holes exhibits distinct variations in different regions of the blade. As surface roughness increases, the cooling efficiency on the SS and pressure side(PS) of the blade decreases, while the heat transfer enhancement at the LE and cooling efficiency improve. Compared to a smooth coated surface, when the surface roughness height increases to 20 μm, the blade surface cooling efficiency decreases by 1.12 %, and the average temperature rise is 10.3 K. Simultaneously, the energy loss coefficient and total pressure loss coefficient in the vane passage rise with the increase in surface roughness, while the variation in the average flow coefficient of the film cooling holes remains relatively small.