Cooling of the gas turbine blades

Cooling of gas turbine blades is a critical aspect of modern turbine design, as these components operate in extremely high-temperature environments—often exceeding the melting point of the blade material. To ensure structural integrity and efficient performance, various advanced cooling techniques are employed. One common method is internal air cooling, where cooler air bled from the compressor stage is channeled through intricate internal passages within the blade. This air absorbs heat from the blade and exits through small holes on the surface, creating a protective film of cooler air—known as film cooling. In addition, thermal barrier coatings are often applied to the blade surfaces to reduce heat transfer from the hot gases. Together, these cooling strategies enable turbine blades to withstand harsh thermal conditions while maintaining efficiency and durability in high-performance engines.

In this project the cooling of the turbine blades through cylindrical canals inside the blade was simulated. The Navier-Stokes solver for this simulation is pressure-based and the effect of gravity was not considered in the simulation. The turbulence model for this simulation is be k-epsilon and the blade material is assumed to be aluminum. The heat transfer occurs through convection only whereas in reality due to the high temperature environment radiation can be crucial as well. In this project I neglected the effect the radiation for heat transfer and merely focused on the convective nature of heat transfer.