Role of gaseous film cooling injector orientation in duct flow: Experimental Study

Experimental investigations are carried out to analyze the effect of coolant injector configuration on overall film cooling performance in a cylindrical test section similar to a rocket combustion chamber. Three different injector orientations are investigated: (i) holes parallel to core gas flow, (ii) holes at a tangential angle to the core gas flow, and (iii) compound angle holes inclined to the wall both in the tangential and azimuthal direction. The objective is to provide a consistent set of measurements for cooling effectiveness within the same test facility with respect to different blowing ratios ranging from 1.69 to 3.9. The results suggest that coolant injection parallel to the axis should be used in situations where far field effectiveness is of concern. The tangential injection, in general, shows lower wall protection compared to other schemes. The results show that the compound angle configuration augments film cooling effectiveness in the near injection regimes. However comparison of the effectiveness values for the compound injectors suggests the existence of an optimum compound angle configuration. The circumferential wall temperature data represent systematic changes in the coolant flow behavior with the change from straight injection to compound angle injection. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.