A comparative study of Reynolds-averaged Navier-stokes and semi-empirical thermal solutions of a gas turbine nozzle guide vane

Abstract

In a typical modern gas turbine engine, the nozzle guide vanes (NGVs) endure the highest operating temperatures. There exists a great drive in the turbine industry to increase the turbine inlet temperatures leading to higher thermal efficiency. This has led to a drive to increase turbine vane- and blade-cooling. Numerical modelling has to a large degree replaced empirical codes and models as the main research tool regarding simulation of blade-cooling. Outdated empirical solvers have made way for commercial CFD solvers such as FLUENT, a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver. One such empirical solver, TACT1, has until recently still proved to yield acceptable results. A comparative study has been done using the T56 NGV blade to establish the differences, advantages and disadvantages of these 2 codes. The engine and subsequent NGV blade were analysed using NREC, STAN5, LOSS3D and TACT1. RANS simulations were found to be computationally expensive. TACT1 yielded acceptable results compared with computational cost. For modern-day designers, RANS would be the preferred tool.