Detached eddy simulation of film cooling performance on the trailing edge cut-back of gas turbine airfoils

The present study deals with the unsteady flow simulation of trailing edge film cooling on the pressure side cut-back of gas turbine airfoils. Before being ejected tangentially on the inclined cut-back surface, the coolant air passes a partly converging passage that is equipped with turbulators such as pin fins and ribs. The film mixing process on the cut-back is complicated. In the near slot region, due to the turbulators and the blunt pressure side lip, turbulence is expected to be anisotropic. Furthermore, unsteady flow phenomena like vortex shedding from the pressure side lip might influence the mixing process (i.e. the film cooling effectiveness on the cut-back surface). In the current study, three different internal cooling designs are numerically investigated starting from the steady RaNS solution, and ending with unsteady detached eddy simulations (DES). Blowing ratios M=0.5; 0.8; 1.1 are considered. To obtain both, film cooling effectiveness as well as heat transfer coefficients on the cut-back surface, the simulations are performed using adiabatic and diabatic wall boundary conditions. The DES simulations give a detailed insight into the unsteady film mixing process on the trailing edge cut-back, which is indeed influenced by vortex shedding from the pressure side lip. Furthermore, the time averaged DES results show very good agreement with the experimental data in terms of film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficients.