Clocking Effects of Inlet Nonuniformities in a Fully Cooled High-Pressure Vane: A Conjugate Heat Transfer Analysis

A high-pressure vane (HPV) equipped with a realistic film-cooling configuration has been studied. The vane is characterized by the presence of multiple rows of fan-shaped holes along pressure and suction side, while the leading edge (LE) is protected by a showerhead system of cylindrical holes. Steady three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations have been performed. A preliminary grid sensitivity analysis with uniform inlet flow has been used to quantify the effect of spatial discretization. Turbulence model has been assessed in comparison with available experimental data. The effects of the relative alignment between combustion chamber and HPVs are then investigated, considering realistic inflow conditions in terms of hot spot and swirl. The inlet profiles used are derived from the EU-funded project TATEF2. Two different clocking positions are considered: the first in which hot spot and swirl core are aligned with passage; and the second in which they are aligned with the LE. Comparisons between metal temperature distributions obtained from conjugate heat transfer (CHT) simulations are performed, evidencing the role of swirl in determining both the hot streak trajectory within the passage and the coolant redistribution. The LE aligned configuration is determined to be the most problematic in terms of thermal load, leading to increased average and local vane temperature peaks on both suction side and pressure side with respect to the passage-aligned case. A strong sensitivity to both injected coolant mass flow and heat removed by heat sink effect has also been highlighted for the showerhead cooling system.