Impact of Ceramic Matrix Topology on Friction Factor and Heat Transfer

Sponsor: Pratt & Whitney

Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are of interest for hot section components of gas turbine engines due to their low weight and favorable thermal properties. To implement this advanced composite in a gas turbine engine, characterizing the influence of CMC’s surface topology on heat transfer and cooling performance is critical. However, very few published studies have reported the flow and heat transfer effects caused by this unique surface topology. This study is an experimental and computational investigation to evaluate the effect of weave orientations, relevant to CMC surfaces, on the resulting pressure loss and convective heat transfer within an internal channel. The weave pattern was additively manufactured as the walls of a scaled-up coupon containing a single channel. For each of the three weave orientations, bulk pressure losses and convective heat transfer coefficients were measured over a range of Reynolds numbers.

Illustration of a generic weave pattern for CMC studies (left) and predicted local Nusselt number contours for Re = 40,000 on the full length of the one weave wall coupons for a 0° orientation, 45° orientation, and 90° orientation (right).