Gas turbine cooling - Techniques and efficiency

Sophisticated, highly efficient cooling systems have been developed for the blades and nozzles of the first stages of the latest generation of gas turbines, capable of maintaining the component at a temperature compatible with the material's performance, with reduced consumption of cooling air.

Cooling techniques often differ according to manufacturer or machine type. What's more, cooling systems are manufacturer-specific and therefore not common knowledge. In reality, different machines belonging to the same technological class adopt cooling techniques that are very similar, even if they are produced by different manufacturers. All in all, we are witnessing a degree of standardization in blade and nozzle cooling technology.

Designing a blading system with a cooling system is a complicated task, since the requirements for cooling the blading system have to be reconciled with those dictated by the primary objectives of aerodynamic stage design.

We'll look at this point in the final section of this dossier.

For "Notations and symbols" please refer to the [ ] folder. ].