COMPARISON OF GAS TURBINE VANE PRESSURE SIDE AND SUCTION SIDE FILM COOLING PERFORMANCE AND THE APPLICABILITY OF SUPERPOSITION

In order to protect a solid surface exposed to high temperature gaseous flows, e.g. gas turbines and rocket engines, a second gas at lower temperature may be introduced into the hot boundary layer, i.e. one obtains a three temperature problem. The impact of the film cooling on a prototype vane due to variation in blowing ratio, the shape of the hole-outlet and position has been experimentally investigated. The semi-infinite and low conductive test object, initially at a uniform temperature, was exposed to a sudden step change in main flow temperature and a time-resolved surface temperature was measured using an IR camera. By assuming constant values of the heat transfer coefficient and the film cooling effectiveness over time, the heat equation was solved using least squares. The prototype vane was tested for different film cooling row positions on the pressure and suction side. Both cylindrical as well as fan shaped holes were investigated with and without showerhead cooling. The resulting heat transfer coefficient and film cooling effectiveness on the pressure side is compared to flat plate studies and to the results from the suction side. Also, the applicability of using superposition on showerhead cooling and on single/double rows is investigated. Furthermore, the results are compared to other published airfoil film cooling experiments and to CFD analysis for which conclusions are drawn on quantitative and qualitative capabilities of this tool.