Film Cooling Effectiveness on the Leading Edge of a Rotating Turbine Blade

Abstract

Detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions were measured on the leading edge region of a rotating blade using a Pressure Sensitive Paint technique. The film cooling effectiveness information was obtained from the oxygen concentration difference between air and nitrogen or air and CO2 injection cases by applying the mass transfer analogy. The blowing ratio was controlled to be 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 while the density ratios of 1.0 and 1.5 were obtained using nitrogen and CO2 as coolant gases, respectively. Tests were conducted on the first stage rotor of a 3-stage axial turbine with off-design condition at 2400 rpm. The Reynolds number based on the axial chord length and the exit velocity was 200,000 and the total to exit pressure ratio was 1.12 for the first rotor. The film cooling effectiveness distributions were presented along with the discussion on the influence of blowing ratio, density ratio, and vortices around the leading edge region.