Effects of tip geometry and tip clearance on the mass/heat transfer from a large-scale gas turbine blade

An experimental investigation has been performed to measure average and local mass transfer coefficients on the tip of a gas turbine blade using the naphthalene sublimation technique. The heat/mass transfer analogy can be applied to obtain heat transfer coefficients from the measured mass transfer data. Flow visualization on the tip surface is provided using an oil dot technique. Two different tip geometries are considered: a squealer tip and a winglet-squealer tip having a winglet on the pressure side and a squealer on the suction side of the blade. Measurements have been taken at tip clearance levels ranging from 0.6% to 3.6% of actual chord. The exit Reynolds number based on actual chord is approximately 7.2 × 10⁵ for all measurements. Flow visualization shows impingement and recirculation regions on the blade tip surface, providing an interpretation of the mass transfer distributions and offering insight into the fluid dynamics within the gap. For both tip geometries the tip clearance level has a significant effect on the mass transfer distribution. The squealer tip has a higher average mass transfer that sensibly decreases with gap level, whereas a more limited variation with gap level is observed for the average mass transfer from the winglet-squealer tip.