Investigation of Applicability of Using Water Mist for Cooling High-Pressure Turbine Components via Rotor Cavity Feed Channels

Mist cooling has been considered as a potential means to significantly enhance cooling the hot components of a gas turbine. However, it is a great challenge to transport mist to locations where cooling is needed due to the high temperature environment and rotating components in the gas turbines. One plausible way is to transport high-pressure water to the rotor cover-plate cavity via a feed channel passing through the vane. The high-pressure water is then atomized to fine droplets (mist) that can be used to cool the rotor cover-plate cavity and possibly the blades as well. This study is focused on investigating whether pressurized liquid water can resist boiling during its transportation through the hot vane and gas turbine interior walls. Both 1-D empirical correlations and a 3D flow computational scheme are used. Results show what could happen during the water transport in the feed channel with various inlet and boundary conditions. Conditions that can avoid boiling have been identified.