Flowfield Measurements in a Single Row of Low Aspect Ratio Pin Fins

Abstract

Pin-fin arrays are commonly used as compact heat exchangers for cooling the trailing edge of gas turbine airfoils. While much research has been devoted to the heat transfer characteristics of various pin-fin configurations, little work has been done to investigate the flowfield in pin-fin arrays. Such information may allow for further optimization of pin-fin configurations. A new pin-fin facility at large scale has been constructed to allow optical access for the use of nonintrusive measurement techniques such as laser Doppler velocimetry and time-resolved, digital particle image velocimetry. Using these techniques, the flow through a single row of pin fins having a height-to-diameter ratio of 2 and span-to-diameter ratio of 2.5 was investigated. Results showed that the length of the wake region decreased with increasing Reynolds number. At higher Reynolds numbers, Kármán vortices developed closer to the pin fins than for single, infinitely long cylinders. Transverse fluctuations correlated well with endwall heat transfer indicating that the Kármán vortices play a key role in energy transport.