Systematic Experimental and Numerical Investigations on the Aerothermodynamics of a Film Cooled Turbine Cascade With Variation of the Cooling Hole Shape: Part I — Experimental Approach

Abstract

As a part of a systematic research program isothermal investigations on the aerodynamics and the heat transfer of a large scale turbine cascade with suction side film cooling with shaped holes and compound inclination were carried out. The film cooling through a row of holes at forty percent chord length on the suction side was supplied by a large plenum chamber. The axial component inclination was kept constant at 30°. All holes have a cylindrical inlet combined with a shaped outlet. Three injection geometries were tested. The first two investigated configurations had no lateral inclination. The hole geometries can be briefly described as follows: Fan-shaped holes with lateral expansion, fan-shaped holes with lateral expansion and streamwise laid-back. The last investigation combined the most complex hole shape with a lateral hole inclination of 45°. Typical engine conditions for the Mach and Reynolds number as well as the inlet turbulence level were maintained. Due to hardware limitations the total temperature was set to 303 Kelvin. The measured data comprise local and integral total pressure loss coefficients obtained by pressure probe traversing at midspan downstream of the cascade. The static profile pressure distribution together with oil-and-dye flow visualisation gives information on the surface flow conditions and boundary layer development especially in the near hole region. Three dimensional hot wire anemometry is used for detailed flow measurements in the hole region. Based on the steady state liquid crystal heat transfer measurement technique pseudo colour contour plots are used for the documentation of the local surface heat transfer coefficient distribution. Laterally averaged and statistically analysed data of the surface heat transfer is applied in further heat transfer examinations. The aim of all investigations is an aerodynamical optimisation of film cooling configurations taking into account the thermal aspects. The most important conclusions can be summarised as follows: Compared to cylindrical holes with the same axial injection angle, shaped holes have a tremendous influence on the flow type in the near hole region. This leads to a more homogeneous pattern of the suction side heat transfer coefficient. The combination of shaped holes and lateral inclination induces definitely higher losses downstream of the cascade compared to the case with no inclination. Due to the lateral injection the former symmetrical vortex branches downstream of the hole are increased asymmetrically. This leads to higher mean heat transfer coefficients in the near hole region downstream of the injection. On the other side laterally blowing increases the homogeneity of the heat transfer coefficient.