Thermo-structural Analysis of Coolant Channel Configurations of Actively Cooled Panels

The liner of a high speed combustion chamber is subjected to high thermo-mechanical loads. Active cooling of the high speed combustor liner by using hydro carbon fuel is seen as a viable option due to its weight efficiency. But choice of the channel configuration has to be optimum. Two channels shape viz., rectangular and trapezoidal are investigated and compared. The purpose of this paper is to bring out most suitable shape of the channel which can withstand the thermo-mechanical loads. During the investigation, various high temperature materials are studied for their suitability for this application. Apart from thermo-mechanical loads, the configurations are constrained to have minimum weight per unit area, which is important for aero-space applications. The study brings out the most efficient material cum configuration suitable for application to the high speed combustion chamber for the given heat flux. In the initial study, various configurations are verified based on minimum weight per unit area with the help of 1D MATLAB program and the results are further validated by performing 2D thermo-structural analysis using ANSYS. It was found that Nb-Cb752 can serve at lower mass flow rates when compared to Inconel X-750. GRCop-84 is not suitable for the given heat flux and coolant flow rates. In terms of weight per unit areas, Nb-Cb752 has high weight per unit area at lower coolant mass flow rates of up to 0.0065 kg/m(2) and subsequently reduces and remains constant with increase in the mass flow rate from 0.0065 to 0.009 Kg/m(2). Inconel is found to have higher weight per unit area than Nb-Cb752 at a given mass flow rate. Between rectangular and Trapezoidal, latter is found to have slightly lower weight per unit area for all the materials considered.