Study on heat transfer characteristics of film cooling turbine vane with localized thermal barrier coating

Abstract

With the increase in turbine inlet temperature, thermal barrier coating (TBC) has become an effective thermal protection technology. Localized TBC outperforms conventional uniform TBC in addressing localized overheating and can also reduce the manufacturing cost of the vane. The film cooling turbine vane has a complex structure, which makes numerical simulations of the vane with localized TBC challenging. This study employs multiphysics-coupled numerical simulations and experimental investigations to analyze the thermal insulation effects of localized TBC on film cooling turbine vanes. A high-fidelity numerical simulation model of a film cooling vane with localized TBC is established, and the effects of localized TBC on different regions of the film cooling vane are observed. The results show that localized TBC applied to the leading edge, midsection of the pressure side, and trailing edge of the film cooling turbine vane exhibit better thermal protection. The maximum temperature reduction is approximately 221 K. Specifically, the surface temperature at the leading edge decreases by approximately 200 K, at the midsection of the pressure side by 150–200 K, at the trailing edge of the pressure side by 100–150 K, and at the trailing edge of the suction side by 50–100 K. The localized TBC not only provides effective thermal insulation during engine operation but also significantly mitigates the sudden temperature fluctuations on the vane surface after engine shutdown. Furthermore, the numerical simulation method used in this paper shows a calculation error of less than 15 % compared with experimental results, confirming the accuracy of the simulation results.