Gas Turbine Combustor Cooling by Augmented Backside Convection

Traditionally, gas turbine combustor walls have been cooled by one or more of the various film cooling methods. The current motivation to control exhaust gas emission composition has led to the serious consideration of backside convection wall cooling, where the cooling air is introduced to the main gas stream not prior to the dilution zone. Due to the confined space and the severe nature of the wall cooling problem, it is essential to maximize the heat transfer/pumping power characteristic, which suggests an augmented convection technique. A particular heat transfer design of a combustor cooled by means of transverse rib turbulence promoters applied to the exterior wall of the annular spaces surrounding the primary and secondary zones is described. Analytical methods for designing such a cooling system are reviewed and a comparison between analytical and experimental results is presented.