Working Details

• Phase  1: Gas‑Path Modelling – Modelled the 1400 °C gas flow from compressor exit through turbine blades to the nozzle under steady‑state, incompressible assumptions; a constant convection coefficient was applied along the blade fin to establish baseline heat flux.

• Phase  2: Material Down‑Select & Thickness Optimisation – Screened candidate TBC stacks; YSZ–ceria, zirconia, and aerogel; against thermal conductivity, sintering resistance, and cost. Calculated thicknesses that balanced durability, weight, and expense, then computed heat transfer and enthalpy savings for each multilayer configuration.

• Phase  3: MATLAB Prototype Coding – Implemented the optimised bare‑blade model in MATLAB PlotLib, iterating parametric sweeps of coating combinations to visualise temperature fields and quantify effectiveness across operating points.

• Phase 4:  Experimental Validation – Applied the selected TBC to a surrogate heat‑exchanger coupon replicating blade geometry. Testing confirmed the refrigeration‑equivalent heat dissipation reduced metal temperature from 1400 °C to ~1050 °C, matching simulation within ±3 %.

These steps verified that the chosen YSZ–ceria stack, at a tuned thickness, meets thermal targets without excessive mass penalty and is compatible with existing turbine maintenance cycles.