Heat Transfer Evaluation Method in Complex Rotating Environments Employing IR Thermography and CFD

This article presents a measuring method for determination of convective heat transfer in rotating environments. The method is used to obtain temperature and Nusselt number distributions on optically accessible objects inside real operating environments, without the need for implementation of complex surface heat flux measurements. Temperature maps of the observed surfaces are acquired non-intrusively by infrared (IR) thermography, whereas heat flux data is computed numerically by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools. The method was employed on a rotating hollow blade, heated internally by secondary air flow. Experimental and numerical results for the observed blade side are compared in terms of surface temperature 2D distributions. Temperature distributions are further statistically evaluated and show good agreement, which is the basic precondition for combining experimental and numerical data by the method. Results are presented in terms of combined experimental-numerical Nusselt number shown as two-dimensional distribution on the blade pressure side.