Improving the Turbine Cooling Conceptual Design Process

A method is introduced to improve the conceptual design of turbine blade cooling systems. It delivers greater insights, enables flexibility to explore the design space and provides a more mature start to a conventional design cycle. System representations are rapidly developed using 3-D sketch-based computer models based on idealised, imprecise geometry. Process bottlenecks are eliminated, accelerating design feedback to guide changes. Computational fluid dynamics models provide qualitative coolant flow information. Rapid-prototype models indicate core suitability. An example is presented: coolant flow and core quality are progressively improved and changes made to transform the system style.