The Effect of Internal Cross-Flow on the Adiabatic Effectiveness of Compound Angle Film Cooling Holes

Author(s):  
John W. McClintic ◽  
Sean R. Klavetter ◽  
Joshua B. Anderson ◽  
James R. Winka ◽  
David G. Bogard ◽  
...  

In gas turbine engines, film cooling holes are often fed by an internal cross-flow, with flow normal to the direction of the external flow around the airfoil. Many experimental studies have used a quiescent plenum to feed model film cooling holes and thus do not account for the effects of internal cross-flow. In this study, an experimental flat plate facility was constructed to study the effects of internal cross-flow on a row of cylindrical compound angle film cooling holes. Operating conditions were scaled, based on coolant hole Reynolds number and turbulence level, to match realistic turbine engine conditions. A cross-flow channel allowed for coolant to flow alternately in either direction perpendicular to the mainstream flow. Film cooling holes were operated at blowing ratios ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 at a density ratio of 1.5. There are relatively few studies available in literature that focus on the effects of cross-flow on film cooling performance, with no studies examining the effects of internal cross-flow on film cooling with round, compound angled holes. This study showed that significantly greater adiabatic effectiveness was achieved for cross-flow in the opposite direction of the span-wise direction of the coolant holes and provides possible explanations for this result.

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. McClintic ◽  
Sean R. Klavetter ◽  
James R. Winka ◽  
Joshua B. Anderson ◽  
David G. Bogard ◽  
...  

In gas turbine engines, film cooling holes are often fed by an internal crossflow, with flow normal to the direction of the external flow around the airfoil. Many experimental studies have used a quiescent plenum to feed model film cooling holes and thus do not account for the effects of internal crossflow. In this study, an experimental flat plate facility was constructed to study the effects of internal crossflow on a row of cylindrical compound angle film cooling holes. There are relatively few studies available in literature that focus on the effects of crossflow on film cooling performance, with no studies examining the effects of internal crossflow on film cooling with round, compound angled holes. A crossflow channel allowed for coolant to flow alternately in either direction perpendicular to the mainstream flow. Experimental conditions were scaled to match realistic turbine engine conditions at low speeds. Cylindrical compound angle film cooling holes were operated at blowing ratios ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 and at a density ratio (DR) of 1.5. The results from the crossflow experiments were compared to a baseline plenum-fed configuration. This study showed that significantly greater adiabatic effectiveness was achieved for crossflow counter to the direction of coolant injection.


2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean R. Klavetter ◽  
John W. McClintic ◽  
David G. Bogard ◽  
Jason E. Dees ◽  
Gregory M. Laskowski ◽  
...  

Early stage gas turbine blades feature complicated internal geometries in order to enhance internal heat transfer and to supply coolant for film cooling. Most film cooling experiments decouple the effect of internal coolant feed from external film cooling effectiveness, even though engine parts are commonly fed by cross-flow and feature internal rib turbulators which can affect film cooling. Experiments measuring adiabatic effectiveness were conducted to investigate the effects of turbulated perpendicular cross-flow on a row of 45 deg compound angle cylindrical film cooling holes for a total of eight internal rib configurations. The ribs were angled to the direction of prevailing internal cross-flow at two different angles: 45 deg or 135 deg. The ribs were also positioned at two different spanwise locations relative to the cooling holes: in the middle of the cooling hole pitch and slightly intersecting the holes. Experiments were conducted at a density ratio of DR = 1.5 for a range of blowing ratios including M = 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0. This study demonstrates that peak effectiveness can be attained through the optimization of cross-flow direction relative to the compound angle direction and rib configuration, verifying the importance of hole inlet conditions in film cooling experiments. It was found that ribs tend to reduce adiabatic effectiveness relative to a baseline, smooth-walled configuration. Rib configurations that directed the internal coolant forward in the direction of the mainstream resulted in higher peak adiabatic effectiveness. However, no other parameters could consistently be identified correlating to increased film cooling performance. It is likely that a combination of factors is responsible for influencing performance, including internal local pressure caused by the ribs, the internal channel flow field, in-hole vortices, and jet exit velocity profiles. This study also attempted to replicate the possibility that film cooling holes may intersect ribs and found that a hole which partially intersects a rib still maintains moderate levels of effectiveness.


Author(s):  
Sean R. Klavetter ◽  
John W. McClintic ◽  
David G. Bogard ◽  
Jason E. Dees ◽  
Gregory M. Laskowski ◽  
...  

Early stage gas turbine blades feature complicated internal geometries in order to enhance internal heat transfer and to supply coolant for film cooling. Most film cooling experiments decouple the effect of internal coolant feed from external film cooling effectiveness, even though engine parts are commonly fed by cross-flow and feature internal rib turbulators which can affect film cooling. Experiments measuring adiabatic effectiveness were conducted to investigate the effects of turbulated perpendicular cross-flow on a row of 45° compound angle cylindrical film cooling holes for a total of eight internal rib configurations. The ribs were angled to the direction of prevailing internal cross-flow at two different angles: 45° or 135°. The ribs were also positioned at two different span-wise locations relative to the cooling holes: in the middle of the cooling hole pitch, and slightly intersecting the holes. Experiments were conducted at a density ratio of DR = 1.5 for a range of blowing ratios including M = 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0. This study demonstrates that peak effectiveness can be attained through the optimization of cross-flow direction relative to the compound angle direction and rib configuration, verifying the importance of hole inlet conditions in film cooling experiments. It was found that ribs tend to reduce adiabatic effectiveness relative to a baseline, smooth-walled configuration. Rib configurations that directed the internal coolant forward in the direction of the mainstream resulted in higher peak adiabatic effectiveness. However, no other parameters could consistently be identified correlating to increased film cooling performance. It is likely that a combination of factors is responsible for influencing performance, including internal local pressure caused by the ribs, the internal channel flow field, in-hole vortices, and jet exit velocity profiles. This study also attempted to replicate the possibility that film cooling holes may intersect ribs and found that a hole which partially intersects a rib still maintains moderate levels of effectiveness.


Author(s):  
John W. McClintic ◽  
Ellen K. Wilkes ◽  
David G. Bogard ◽  
Jason E. Dees ◽  
Gregory M. Laskowski ◽  
...  

The effectiveness of film cooling from short cooling holes, scaled to engine conditions, has been shown to be dependent on the nature of the internal coolant feed. A common method of supplying coolant to film cooling holes in engine components is through an internal cross-flow, which causes skewed effectiveness profiles on the surface of film cooled parts. For round axial holes, this effect causes coolant jets to more effectively spread across the surface. Additionally, for compound angle round holes, the direction of the cross-flow relative to the direction of injection has a substantial effect on film cooling effectiveness. A cross-flow directed counter to the span-wise direction of coolant injection has previously been shown to cause greater lateral jet spreading than cross-flow directed in-line with the span-wise injection direction. To better understand the phenomena responsible for the improved coolant spreading, two-dimensional thermal field profiles were measured downstream of compound angle film cooling holes fed by an internal cross-flow. A smooth-walled rectangular channel was used to produce an internal cross-flow in both a counter and in-line flow direction. Thermal field cross-section data was collected at three stream-wise locations: 0.7, 3.4, and 8.8 diameters downstream of the holes. Blowing ratios of 0.75 and 1.00 were studied at a density ratio of 1.5. Experiments were performed in a low speed recirculating wind tunnel at high mainstream turbulence with a thick approach boundary layer relative to the film cooling holes. It was found that the improved lateral spreading observed in the coolant jets fed by a counter cross-flow occurred due to the formation of a bulge on the downstream side of the jet.


Author(s):  
C. A. Martin ◽  
K. A. Thole

This paper presents a blind CFD benchmark of a simulated leading edge for a turbine airfoil. The geometry studied was relevant for current designs with two rows of staggered film-cooling holes located at the stagnation location (θ = 0°) and at θ = 25°. Both rows of cooling holes were blowing in the same direction which was 90° relative to the streamwise direction and had an injection angle with respect to the surface of 20°. Realistic engine conditions were simulated including a density ratio of DR = 1.8 and an average blowing ratio of M = 2 for both rows of cooling holes. This blind benchmark coincided with an experimental study that took place in a wind tunnel simulation of a quarter cylinder followed by a flat afterbody. At the stagnation region, the CFD calculation overpredicted the adiabatic effectiveness because the model failed to predict a small separation region that was measured in the experiments. Good agreement was achieved, however, between the CFD predictions and the experimentally measured values of the laterally averaged adiabatic effectiveness downstream of the stagnation location. The coolant pathlines showed that flow passed from the first row of holes over the second row of cooling holes indicating a waste of the coolant.


Author(s):  
Christian Saumweber ◽  
Achmed Schulz

A comprehensive set of generic experiments is conducted to investigate the interaction of film cooling rows. Five different film cooling configurations are considered on a large scale basis each consisting of two rows of film cooling holes in staggered arrangement. The hole pitch to diameter ratio within each row is kept constant at P/D = 4. The spacing between the rows is either x/D = 10, 20, or 30. Fanshaped holes or simple cylindrical holes with an inclination angle of 30 deg. and a hole length of 6 hole diameters are used. With a hot gas Mach number of Mam = 0.3, an engine like density ratio of ρc/ρm = 1.75, and a freestream turbulence intensity of Tu = 5.1% are established. Operating conditions are varied in terms of blowing ratio for the upstream and, independently, the downstream row in the range 0.5<M<2.0. The results illustrate the importance of considering ejection into an already film cooled boundary layer. Adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficients are significantly increased. The decay of effectiveness with streamwise distance is much less pronounced downstream of the second row primarily due to pre-cooling of the boundary layer by the first row of holes. Additionally, a comparison of measured effectiveness data with predictions according to the widely used superposition model of Sellers [11] is given for two rows of fanshaped holes.


Author(s):  
Shiou-Jiuan Li ◽  
Shang-Feng Yang ◽  
Je-Chin Han

The density ratio effect on leading edge showerhead film cooling has been studied experimentally using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) mass transfer analogy method. Leading edge model is a blunt body with a semi-cylinder and an after body. There are two designs: seven-row and three-row of film cooling holes for simulating vane and blade, respectively. The film holes are located at 0 (stagnation row), ±15, ±30, and ±45 deg for seven-row design, and at 0 and ±30 for three-row design. Four film holes configurations are used for both test designs: radial angle cylindrical holes, compound angle cylindrical holes, radial angle shaped holes, and compound angle shaped holes. Coolant to mainstream density ratio varies from DR = 1.0, 1.5, to 2.0 while blowing ratio varies from M = 0.5 to 2.1. Experiments were conducted in a low speed wind tunnel with Reynolds number 100,900 based on mainstream velocity and diameter of the cylinder. The mainstream turbulence intensity near leading edge model is about 7%. The results show the shaped holes have overall higher film cooling effectiveness than cylindrical holes, and radial angle holes are better than compound angle holes, particularly at higher blowing ratio. Larger density ratio makes more coolant attach to the surface and increases film protection for all cases. Radial angle shaped holes provides best film cooling at higher density ratio and blowing ratio for both designs.


Author(s):  
Steven W. Burd ◽  
Terrence W. Simon

Experimental hot-wire anemometry and thermocouple measurements are taken to document the sensitivity which film cooling performance has to the hole length and the geometry of the plenum which supplies cooling flow to the holes. This sensitivity is described in terms of the effects these geometric features have on hole-exit velocity and turbulence intensity distributions and on adiabatic effectiveness values on the surface downstream. These measurements were taken under high freestream turbulence intensity (12%) conditions, representative of operating gas turbine engines. Coolant is supplied to the film cooling holes by means of (1) an unrestricted plenum, (2) a plenum which restricts the flow approaching the holes, forcing it to flow co-current with the freestream, and (3) a plenum which forces the flow to approach the holes counter-current with the freestream. Short-hole (L/D = 2.3) and long-hole (L/D = 7.0) comparisons are made. The geometry has a single row of film cooling holes with 35°-inclined streamwise injection. The film cooling flow is supplied at the same temperature as that of the freestream for hole-exit measurements and 10°C above the freestream temperature for adiabatic effectiveness measurements, yielding density ratios in the range 0.96–1.0. Two coolant-to-freestream velocity ratios, 0.5 and 1.0, are investigated. The results document the effects of (1) supply plenum geometry, (2) velocity ratio, and (3) hole L/D.


Author(s):  
Sai Shrinivas Sreedharan ◽  
Danesh K. Tafti

Computational studies are carried out using Large Eddy Simulations (LES) to investigate the effect of coolant to mainstream blowing ratio in a leading edge region of a film cooled vane. The three row leading edge vane geometry is modeled as a symmetric semi-cylinder with a flat afterbody. One row of coolant holes is located along the stagnation line and the other two rows of coolant holes are located at ±21.3° from the stagnation line. The coolant is injected at 45° to the vane surface with 90° compound angle injection. The coolant to mainstream density ratio is set to unity and the freestream Reynolds number based on leading edge diameter is 32000. Blowing ratios (B.R.) of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 are investigated. It is found that the stagnation cooling jets penetrate much further into the mainstream, both in the normal and lateral directions, than the off-stagnation jets for all blowing ratios. Jet dilution is characterized by turbulent diffusion and entrainment. The strength of both mechanisms increases with blowing ratio. The adiabatic effectiveness in the stagnation region initially increases with blowing ratio but then generally decreases as the blowing ratio increases further. Immediately downstream of off-stagnation injection, the adiabatic effectiveness is highest at B.R. = 0.5. However, further downstream the larger mass of coolant injected at higher blowing ratios, in spite of the larger jet penetration and dilution, increases the effectiveness with blowing ratio.


Author(s):  
K. Vighneswara Rao ◽  
Jong S. Liu ◽  
Daniel C. Crites ◽  
Luis A. Tapia ◽  
Malak F. Malak ◽  
...  

In this study, cylindrical and fan shaped film cooling holes are evaluated on the blade surface numerically, using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool ANSYS-CFX, with the objective of improving cooling effectiveness by understanding the flow pattern at the cooling hole exit. The coolant flow rates are adjusted for blowing ratios of 0.5, 1.0 & 1.5 (momentum flux ratios of 0.125, 0.5 & 1.125 respectively). The density ratio is maintained at 2.0. New shaped holes viz. straight, concave and convex trench holes are introduced and are evaluated under similar operating conditions. Results are presented in terms of surface temperatures and adiabatic effectiveness at three different blowing ratios for the different film cooling hole shapes analyzed. Comparison is made with reference to the fan shaped film cooling hole to bring out relative merits of different shapes. The new trench holes improved the film cooling effectiveness by allowing more residence time for coolant to spread laterally while directing smoothly onto the airfoil surface. While convex trench improved the centre-line effectiveness, straight trench improved the laterally-averaged and overall effectiveness at all blowing ratios. Concave trench improved the effectiveness at blowing ratios 0.5 and 1.0.


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