Experimental study on a heavy film cooled nozzle guide vane with contoured platforms

Over the past several decades, researchers from around the world have embraced the use of Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP) to obtain detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions. Utilizing the mass transfer analogy along with the luminescence characteristics of PSP, the mixing behavior of the coolant and mainstream flows is easily quantified. As the method relies on tracking the concentration of various gases in contact with the paint, the measurements are not affected by thermal diffusion through the test surface. Therefore, researchers provide film cooling effectiveness distributions that are spatially, highly resolved, even in the near-hole regions. Such distributions are not only needed to visualize the three-dimensional mixing occurring near the holes, but the measurements can also be used to validate numerical simulations. When PSP was first introduced to the gas turbine and film cooling communities, steady, film cooling effectiveness distributions were primarily obtained in low-speed flows with simple geometries and coolant-to-mainstream density ratios of unity. However, as more researchers have integrated this measurement tool into their labs, the use of the paint has expanded to include flow conditions and cooling configurations relevant to advanced gas turbine engines. In this review, the mass transfer analogy for film cooling effectiveness measurements will be explained, and the recent, widespread deployment of the method will be discussed. Within the past decade, laboratories have successfully utilized traditional PSP for full coverage airfoil cooling over a range of coolant-to-mainstream density ratios simulating engine conditions. In addition, “binary” and “fast response” paints have gained popularity. The binary PSP is most often used in high speed flows, where viscous heating may affect the response of traditional PSP. A second luminophore in the binary paint allows for correction of the local temperature variation and improves the accuracy of the mass transfer analogy. Finally, fast response PSPs now allow researchers to visualize the unsteady interaction of the coolant and mainstream flows, yielding time-resolved film cooling effectiveness distributions. This review will discuss these developments and provide opportunities for further advancement into the future.

While pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique has been widely used to measure adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distributions on the surfaces of interest based on a mass transfer analog to traditional thermal-based measurements, very little can be found in literature to provide a comprehensive analysis on the uncertainty levels of the measured film cooling effectiveness distributions derived from PSP measurements. In the present study, a detailed analysis is performed to evaluate the effects of various associated uncertainties in the PSP measurements on the measured film cooling effectiveness distributions over the surfaces of interest. The experimental study is conducted in a low-speed wind tunnel under an isothermal condition. While airflow is used to represent the “hot” mainstream flow, an oxygen-free gas, i.e., carbon dioxide (CO2) gas with a density ratio of DR = 1.5 for the present study, is supplied to simulate the “coolant” stream for the PSP measurements to map the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distribution over a flat test plate with an array of five cylindrical coolant holes at a span-wise spacing of three diameters center-to-center. A comprehensive analysis was carried out with focus on the measurement uncertainty and process uncertainty for the PSP measurements to determine the film cooling effectiveness distributions over the surface of interest. The final analysis indicates that the total uncertainty in the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness measurements by using the PSP technique depends strongly on the local behavior of the mixing process between the mainstream and coolant flows. The measurement uncertainty is estimated as high as 5% at the near field behind the coolant holes. In the far field away from the coolant holes, the total measurement uncertainty is found to be more uniform throughout the measurement domain and generally lower than those in the near field at about 3%.

Detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions are measured on the leading edge of a rotating gas turbine blade with two rows (pressure-side row and suction-side row from the stagnation line) of holes aligned to the radial axis using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Film cooling effectiveness distributions are obtained by comparing the difference of the measured oxygen concentration distributions with air and nitrogen as film cooling gas respectively and by applying the mass transfer analogy. Measurements are conducted on the first-stage rotor blade of a three-stage axial turbine at 2400rpm (positive off-design), 2550rpm (design), and 3000rpm (negative off-design), respectively. The effect of three blowing ratios is also studied. The blade Reynolds number based on the axial chord length and the exit velocity is 200,000 and the total to exit pressure ratio was 1.12 for the first-stage rotor blade. The corresponding rotor blade inlet and outlet Mach numbers are 0.1 and 0.3, respectively. The film cooling effectiveness distributions are presented along with discussions on the influence of rotational speed (off design incidence angle), blowing ratio, and upstream nozzle wakes around the leading edge region. Results show that rotation has a significant impact on the leading edge film cooling distributions with the average film cooling effectiveness in the leading edge region decreasing with an increase in the rotational speed (negative incidence angle).

The paper is focused on the effect of leading edge airfoil geometry on endwall film cooling. Fillets placed at the junctions of the leading edge and the endwall are used in investigation. Three types of fillet profiles are tested, and the results are compared with baseline geometry without fillet. The design of the fillet is based on the suggestion by previous literature data indicating that sharp is effective in controlling the secondary flow. Three types of sharp slope fillet with the length to height ratio of 2.8, 1.2 and 0.5 are made using stereo lithography (SLA) and assessed in the experiment. Distributed with the approximately inviscid flow direction, four rows of compound angle laidback fan-shaped holes are arranged on the endwall to form full covered coolant film. The four rows of fanshaped holes are inclined 30 deg to the endwall surface and held an angle of 0, 30, 45 and 60 deg to axial direction respectively. The fanshaped holes have a lateral diffusion angle of 10 deg from the hole-centerline and a forward expansion angle of 10 deg to the endwall surface. The Reynolds number based on the axial chord and inlet velocity of the free-stream flow is 3.5*105, and the testing is done in a four-blade cascade with low Mach number condition (0.1 at the inlet) while the blowing ratio of the coolant through the discrete holes varies from 0.4 to 1.2. The film-cooling effectiveness distributions are obtained using the PSP (pressure sensitive paint) technique, by which the effect of different fillet geometry on passage induced flow and coolant is shown. The present paper compares the film cooling effectiveness distributions in a baseline blade cascade with three similar blades with different leading edge by adding fillets. The results show that with blowing ratio increasing, the film cooling effectiveness increases on the endwall. For specific blowing ratio, the effects of leading edge geometries could be illustrated as follows. The baseline geometry provides the best film cooling performance near leading edge pressure side. As for the leading edge suction side, the best leading edge geometry depends on the blowing ratio. The longfillet is the more effective in controlling horseshoe vortex at low blowing ratio, but for the high blowing ratio shortfillet and mediumfillet are better.

Film-cooling effectiveness and leakage flow play crucial roles in turbine blade heat transfer. In contrast to the conventional trailing edge cutback squealer blade tip (CB tip), this study aims to compare the film-cooling effectiveness of a suction side squealer tip (SS tip) under different blowing ratios and density ratios. This experiment is conducted in a three-blade cascade wind tunnel under transonic conditions. While applying the pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique for film-cooling effectiveness measurements, both top-view and side-view perspectives were employed to illustrate the distribution of local cooling effectiveness across various regions of the blade. Furthermore, PSP can be used to estimate the leakage flow across the blade tip by analyzing the local static pressure distribution. For the CB tip, the film-cooling effectiveness within the cavity increases as both the blowing ratio and density ratio increase. The PSP technique clearly captures the accumulation of coolant within the cavity and the coolant discharge near the trailing edge in the vicinity of the squealer cutback. When the blade tip is outfitted with only a suction side squealer, the film-cooling effectiveness on the blade tip is comparable to that of the full squealer with the trailing edge cutback. This similarity is achieved as the CB tip design requires 14–20% more coolant to achieve the same blowing ratios as the SS tip. The advantage of the SS tip is further demonstrated as leakage flow across the tip is reduced compared to the CB tip.

Effects of the presence of squealer, the locations of the film cooling holes, and the tip gap clearance on the film cooling effectiveness were studied and compared to plane tip. The film cooling effectiveness distributions were measured on the blade tip using Pressure Sensitive Paint technique. Air and nitrogen gas were used as the film cooling gases and the oxygen concentration distribution for each case was measured. The film cooling effectiveness information was obtained from the difference of the oxygen concentration between air and nitrogen gas cases by applying the mass transfer analogy. Plane tip and squealer tip blades were used while the film cooling holes were located (a) along the camber line on the tip or (b) along the span of the pressure side. The average blowing ratio of the cooling gas was controlled to be 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0. Tests were conducted in a five-bladed linear cascade with a blow down facility. The free stream Reynolds number, based on the axial chord length and the exit velocity, was 1,100,000 and the inlet and the exit Mach number were 0.25 and 0.59, respectively. Turbulence intensity level at the cascade inlet was 9.7%. All measurements were made at three different tip gap clearances of 1%, 1.5%, and 2.5% of blade span. Results show that the locations of the film cooling holes and the presence of squealer have significant effects on surface static pressure and film-cooling effectiveness.

An experimental investigation of film cooling on rough surfaces has been accomplished at a Reynolds number and dimensionless boundary layer momentum thickness found in current high performance first stage turbine vanes. A transient experimental method using thermochromic liquid crystals is employed to determine both local heat transfer coefficients and film cooling effectiveness values on planar rough surfaces. Two surface roughness configurations are investigated with a single row of cooling holes spaced three diameters apart and inclined 30° to the mainstream flow. The mainstream turbulence level at the point of film injection is 8.5% and the density ratio considered is approximately 1.0. The influence of roughness on the centerline film cooling effectiveness, laterally averaged film cooling effectiveness, laterally averaged heat transfer coefficients, as well as area averaged values are presented. It is found that the presence of roughness causes a decrease in the film cooling effectiveness over that of the smooth surface for the range of experimental parameters considered in this study. In addition, significant lateral smoothing in film cooling effectiveness distribution is observed for the rougher surfaces. Measured heat transfer coefficients on rough surfaces show a trend of monotonic increase with blowing ratio. However, such increase is not as great as that for the case of smooth surface.

An experimental investigation has been completed to obtain detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions on a cooled turbine blade platform within a linear cascade. The platform has a labyrinth-like seal upstream of the blades to model a realistic stator-rotor seal configuration. Additional coolant is supplied to the downstream half of the platform via discrete film cooling holes. The coolant flow rate through the upstream seal varies from 0.5% to 2.0% of the mainstream flow, while the blowing ratio of the coolant through the discrete holes varies from 0.5 to 2.0 (based on the mainstream velocity at the exit of the cascade). Detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions are obtained using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique under a wide range of coolant flow conditions and various freestream turbulence levels (0.75% or 13.4%). The PSP technique clearly shows how adversely the coolant is affected by the passage induced flow. With only purge flow from the upstream seal, the coolant flow rate must exceed 1.5% of the mainstream flow in order to adequately cover the entire passage. However, if discrete film holes are used on the downstream half of the passage, the platform can be protected while using less coolant (i.e. the seal flow rate can be reduced).

Modern gas turbines have evolved by increasing the turbine inlet temperature (TIT) to improve performance. This development has led to a demand for cooling techniques. Among these, the film cooling, which involves injecting compressed air through holes on the turbine surface, is a prominent cooling technique used to protect the turbine surface. In this study, a comparative analysis is conducted between the conventional fan-shaped film cooling hole, primarily used in film cooling techniques, and modified shapes achieved by altering the geometry of the film cooling hole based on a fan-shaped hole to assess and compare the cooling performance on a flat plate surface. The adiabatic film cooling effectiveness was measured for three film cooling holes, the Baseline of a 7-7-7 fan-shaped film cooling hole, namely, Staircase, which had a double-step at the hole exit, and Compound Expansion, which had an additional expanded flow path at the hole leading edge. The used measurement technique was the pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique, using nitrogen gas as the foreign gas, and experiments were conducted at a density ratio of 1.0 and blowing ratios ranging from 0.5 to 2.0. The results reveal that the modified holes featured wider lateral expansion at the hole exits, resulting in a broader distribution of the cooling effectiveness in the lateral direction compared to the Baseline. The Staircase shows a better performance, although an overall cooling effectiveness trend similar to that of the Baseline. Furthermore, the Compound Expansion demonstrates an enhancement in the cooling performance with an increased blowing ratio, notably achieving nearly double the cooling effectiveness compared to that of the Baseline at a blowing ratio of 2.0.

The impact of the purge flow injection on aerodynamics and film cooling effectiveness of a three-stage high pressure turbine with non-axisymmetric endwall contouring has been experimentally investigated. As a continuation of the previously published work involving stator-rotor gap purge cooling, this study investigates film cooling effectiveness on the first stage rotor contoured platform due to a coolant gas injection. Film cooling effectiveness measurements are performed on the rotor blade platform using a pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. The present study examines, in particular, the film cooling effectiveness due to injection of coolant from the rotor cavity through the circumferential gap between the first stator followed by the first rotor. Efficiency and performance experiments were conducted with and without cooling injection to show (a) the impact of endwall contouring on the turbine efficiency and (b) the impact of film cooling injection in association with the endwall contouring. The experimental investigation is carried out in a three-stage turbine facility at the Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory (TPFL) at Texas A&M University. Its rotor includes non-axisymmetric endwall contouring on the first and second rotor row [1]. The turbine has two independent cooling loops. Film cooling effectiveness measurements are performed for three coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios of 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5%. Film cooling data is also obtained for three rotational speeds, 3000 rpm (reference condition), 2550 rpm and 2400 rpm and compared with non-contoured endwall data.

Unsteady 2-D film-cooling effectiveness behind a single row of holes at different blowing ratios: Measurements using fast-response pressure-sensitive paint

Emission reduction and efficiency increase are key targets for gas turbine design. One way to reduce emissions is to get a lower peak temperature, e.g. to replace a parabolic inlet temperature profile protecting edge areas (platforms, heatshields) by a flat temperature profile. Another possibility is to design compact turbines with smaller spacing between blade rows to reduce hot gas wetted areas. Both solutions result in higher thermal load on endwalls. At part interfaces, gaps need to be purged to prevent hot gas ingestion. Cooling air consumption leads to lower efficiencies. A better understanding of the thermal load on endwalls will offer cooling air reduction potential. This paper focuses on the purging gap between first stage vane and the downstream outer diameter heatshield. The requirements for the gap purge air depend on the vane wake. A generic, realistic geometry including the interfacial gap is studied. Computational fluid dynamic is used to understand the flow structure, the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient. Film-cooling effectiveness are measured on a cascade bench by a steady-state thermochromic liquid crystal technique. Results are compared to CFD. A parametric study on the influence of blowing ratio is included.

A detailed parametric study of film-cooling effectiveness was carried out on a turbine blade platform. The platform was cooled by purge flow from a simulated stator–rotor seal combined with discrete hole film-cooling. The cylindrical holes and laidback fan-shaped holes were accessed in terms of film-cooling effectiveness. This paper focuses on the effect of coolant-to-mainstream density ratio on platform film-cooling (DR = 1 to 2). Other fundamental parameters were also examined in this study—a fixed purge flow of 0.5%, three discrete-hole film-cooling blowing ratios between 1.0 and 2.0, and two freestream turbulence intensities of 4.2% and 10.5%. Experiments were done in a five-blade linear cascade with inlet and exit Mach number of 0.27 and 0.44, respectively. Reynolds number of the mainstream flow was 750,000 and was based on the exit velocity and chord length of the blade. The measurement technique adopted was the conduction-free pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Results indicated that with the same density ratio, shaped holes present higher film-cooling effectiveness and wider film coverage than the cylindrical holes, particularly at higher blowing ratios. The optimum blowing ratio of 1.5 exists for the cylindrical holes, whereas the effectiveness for the shaped holes increases with an increase of blowing ratio. Results also indicate that the platform film-cooling effectiveness increases with density ratio but decreases with turbulence intensity.

The videogrammetric model deformation (VMD) measurement technique is developed, which is integrated with fast-responding pressure sensitive paint (PSP) to measure simultaneously unsteady aeroelastic deformation and pressure field of a wing in transonic and supersonic wind tunnels. The measurement system and data processing are described. The method of generating a deformed wing surface based on VMD measurements for PSP data mapping on the surface is developed and evaluated through simulation. Simultaneous VMD and PSP measurements on an oscillating airfoil section have been conducted in a transonic wind tunnel, and VMD data are obtained from the registration targets in PSP images. Furthermore, dynamic aeroelastic deformation of a thin flexible rectangular wing is measured by using a single-camera VMD system in a low-speed wind tunnel, and the vibration modes are extracted at different angles of attack and freestream velocities.

Several studies have previously been conducted to improve the cooling performance of film cooling. However, most of the research has conducted experiments with film cooling holes on flat plates, and thus, the results of these studies do not encompass the influence of the complex mainstream behavior within the turbine passage on film cooling. In this study, three different film cooling hole configurations were installed on the endwall of a turbine linear cascade to measure adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and evaluate cooling performance. The film cooling holes compared in the experiment for film cooling effectiveness were a 7-7-7 fan-shaped hole (Baseline), a Baseline with a double-step structure at the hole exit (Staircase), and a Baseline with an additional expanded passage at the hole leading edge (Compound Expansion). A total of nine holes were manufactured on the turbine endwall to assess film cooling performance, as various factors, such as mainstream acceleration, secondary flow within the turbine passage, and so on, can influence film cooling. Adiabatic film cooling effectiveness was measured using the pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Mass flow ratios ranging from 0.25% to 1.25% of the mass flow rate of a single turbine passage were supplied to the plenum chamber within the test rig. As a result, all experimental results confirmed the impact of secondary flow within the turbine passage on film cooling. In the case of the Staircase, it exhibits an overall cooling trend similar to the Baseline. It shows small cooling performance degradation compared with Baseline due to lift-off, and its double-step structure laterally expanding results in better cooling performance at high mass flow ratio (MFR) conditions. For the Compound Expansion, at low MFR, the momentum of the coolant is lower compared with other configurations, leading to lower cooling performance due to the influence of secondary flow. However, at high MFR, the Compound Expansion provides wider protection compared with other hole geometries and shows high cooling performance.