Abstract: Systems and methods Embodiments for facilitating onboarding of a cooling fluid are disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, a system may include a rotor assembly, a wheel space cavity adjacent to the rotor assembly, and a bucket shank cavity in fluid communication with the wheel space cavity. The system may also include at least one protrusion disposed on the rotor assembly in the wheel space cavity. The at least one protrusion may be configured to direct the cooling fluid radially from the wheel space cavity to the bucket shank cavity to minimize pressure loss in the cooling fluid.

Abstract: A system includes a turbine. The turbine includes a first turbine blade comprising a leading edge, a blade platform coupled to the first turbine blade, and a protrusion disposed on the blade platform adjacent the leading edge of the first turbine blade. The protrusion is configured to increase a first static pressure of a cooling flow near the leading edge above a second static pressure of a hot gas flow near the leading edge.