Film cooling effectiveness can be greatly affected by the characteristics of the upstream approach flow, although the degree of influence that different approach flow parameters exert is not completely clear. While some recent studies have investigated the effect of the approach Mach number, very little data exists that describes the separate effects of approach Mach and Reynolds number. Furthermore, the effect of boundary layer thickness on the effectiveness of shaped holes has not been thoroughly investigated. In this work, a parametric study of these effects was undertaken. This study considered approach flow velocities of Ma∞ = 0.03–0.15, with an independently varied Reynolds number of ReD = 5,500 – 15,500 by utilizing cooling hole diameters of D = 4.0 mm and 9.0 mm. The influence of boundary layer properties, including laminar and turbulent approach boundary layer characteristics, as well as varying boundary layer thickness, was also investigated. This work utilized plenum-fed shaped holes of an open-literature design. Hi-resolution IR thermography measured adiabatic effectiveness downstream of a single row of shaped cooling holes. The experiments were conducted at a density ratio of DR = 1.80 with an ambient temperature approach flow, using blowing ratios varying from M = 1.0 to 3.0. Special attention was paid to the implications of these results for scaling of effectiveness measurements from lower-speed approach flow conditions, as is present in a laboratory, toward higher speed conditions present within a gas turbine engine.
Numerical investigations of flow around subsea covers at high Reynolds numbers