Numerical prediction of turbulent flow and heat transfer enhancement in a square passage with various truncated ribs on one wall

Repeated ribs are often employed in the midsection of internal cooling passages of turbine blades to augment the heat transfer by air flowing through the internal ribbed passages. Though the research of flow structure and augmented heat transfer inside various ribbed passages has been well conducted, previous works mostly paid much attention to the influence of rib topology (height-to-pitch, blockage ratio, skew angle, rib shape). The possible problem involved in the usage of ribs (especially with larger blockage ratios) is pressure loss penalty. Thus, in this case, the design of truncated ribs whose length is less than the passage width might fit the specific cooling requirements when pressure loss is critically considered. A numerical study of truncated ribs on turbulent flow and heat transfer inside a passage of a gas turbine blade is performed when the inlet Reynolds number ranges from 8000 to 24,000. Different truncation ratio (truncated-length to passage-width) rib geometries are designed and then the effect of truncation ratio on the pressure drop and heat transfer enhancement is observed under the condition of constant total length. The overall performance characteristics of various truncated rib passages are also compared. It is found that the heated face with a rib that is truncated 12% in length in the center (case A) has the highest heat transfer coefficient, while the heated face with a rib that is truncated 4% at three locations over its length, in the center and two sides (case D), has a reduced pressure loss compared with passages of other designs and provides the lowest friction factors. Although case A shows larger heat transfer augmentation, case D can be promisingly used to augment side-wall heat transfer when the pressure loss is considered and the Reynolds number is relatively large.