Numerical investigation on sand particles deposition in a U-bend ribbed internal cooling passage of turbine blade

Sand particles impinge the internal cooling passage of the turbine blade and easily deposit, which lead to the decrease of cooling efficiency of the turbine blade and the increase of turbine blade temperature. In order to explore sand particles deposition mechanism in the internal cooling passage of turbine blades, the numerical simulation was performed in a U-bend passage with rib turbulators by means of a commercial CFD code. The fluid phase was modelled employing Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes approach. The discrete phase was solved using Lagrangian particle tracking method and a continuous random walk model. A particle deposition model was implemented using user-defined functions. The Reynolds numbers of 30000, 23000 and 15500 are considered. Particles sizes in the range 1-20 microns are considered. Results show that the particles deposition flux decreases gradually along the flow direction. The particles significantly deposit on the rib wall and the bend wall, especially on the windward rib wall and the upstream wall of the bend, with less deposition on the leeward rib wall. This is because the rib wall hinders the movement of fluid and sand particles impact the wall due to inertia, which lead to the energy loss. The particles deposition flux on the windward rib wall increases with the increase of Reynolds number and particles diameter, while the deposition flux on the leeward rib wall decreases. With the increase of the particles diameter, the particles deposition flux increases. The deposition rate increases with the increase of Reynolds number and particles diameter.