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Microturbine Blade Cooling
Journal Article
01-13-02-0008
ISSN: 1946-3855, e-ISSN: 1946-3901
Sector:
Citation:
Oliveira, E. and Barros, J., "Microturbine Blade Cooling," SAE Int. J. Aerosp. 14(1):17-32, 2021, https://doi.org/10.4271/01-13-02-0008.
Language:
English
Abstract:
The main technical barrier to commercial use of microturbines is its low efficiency,
not exceeding 15%. Efficiency and specific power are as high as the Turbine Inlet
Temperature (TIT), generally limited to 950°C in microturbines, as its tiny rotors
make internal blade cooling impossible. This work uses Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) to develop an external cooling system of the blades of a microturbine by
incorporating a compressor into the disk to blow air over the blades’ walls. The
engine used as the basis of the work is the FD-3/64. The work was divided into two
steps. In the first, Step 1, the reactive flow in the combustor was simulated to
obtain the boundary conditions for Step 2. In Step 2, the flow through the turbine
wheel during rotation is simulated. Four rotor models were simulated. Two models
significantly reduced the mean blade temperature, the first at 215 K at the expense
of 2.5 times the cold airflow than the second model, which in turn achieved a 168 K
reduction with only 5.22% of the main airflow. From the FD-3/64 design, a complete
engine was built to be used for further testing of the best cooling system developed
in this project.