Additive Manufacturing Enables Innovative Shock-Wave Control in Supersonic Turbine Blades

摘要

Scientists at von Karman Institute in Belgium contracted LayerWise to produce a scaled turbine inlet guide vane model for a turbine research project. LayerWise, an additive-manufacturing specialist, built the metal-vane specimen as a single part, complete with internal cooling cavity and fine instrumentation channels. Research based on detailed simulation and testing concludes that turbine cooling could be improved by ejecting a pulsating stream instead of a continuous stream through the trailing edge. At the same time, the pulsed cooling significantly reduces the intensity of the shock waves. This opens up opportunities for jet-engine and power-plant turbine manufacturers to achieve higher turbine expansions, resulting in more compact engines and reduced development costs.