Direct Numerical Simulation of Jets in Cross-Flow with Application to Turbine Blade Cooling

The proposed work aims to carry out a numerical study of jets in cross-flow (JICF) with application to turbine blade cooling by addressing the important dynamic vortices and turbulent mixing & entrainment. Although extensive research has been done in the past few decades, there is still a lack of clear understanding of the interaction processes between the jet and the cross-flow, for example the unsteady behaviour of the vortex system. The work is of particular relevance to turbine blade cooling application, but is also of importance in other engineering problems. Recent developments in turbulence simulation and code parallelization technique make it possible to carry out a detailed numerical study by using high-accuracy, temporally and spatially resolved direct numerical simulations (DNS) technique. In this proposal, we are going to perform simulations of (1) single jet in cross-flow at three different angles (normal and inclined), and (2) multiple jets in cross-flow with in-line and side-by-side arrangements, both representing typical blade cooling configurations. Finally, high quality DNS databases including turbulence statistics will be analysed to identify the key turbulence model terms to be improved and derive useful guidelines for blade cooling designer. This project is expected to provide fundamental knowledge as well as useful datasets, and also to improve the capability of current industry CFD modelling for turbine blade cooling.