Heat Transfer Measurements in a Leading Edge Geometry With Racetrack Holes and Film Cooling Extraction

An experimental survey on a state of the art leading edge cooling scheme was performed to evaluate heat transfer coefficients (HTC) on a large scale test facility simulating an high pressure turbine airfoil leading edge cavity. Test section includes a trapezoidal supply channel with three large racetrack impingement holes. On the internal surface of the leading edge, four big fins are placed in order to confine impingement jets. The coolant flow impacts the leading edge internal surface and it is extracted from the leading edge cavity through 24 showerhead holes and 24 film cooling holes. The aim of the present study is to investigate the combined effects of jet impingement and mass flow extraction on the internal heat transfer of the leading edge. A non uniform mass flow extraction was also imposed to reproduce the effects of pressure side and suction side external pressure. Measurements were performed by means of a transient technique using narrow band Thermo-chromic Liquid Crystals (TLC). Jet Reynolds number and crossflow conditions into the supply channel were varied in order to cover the typical engine conditions of these cooling systems (Re_j = 10000–40000). Experiments were compared with a numerical analysis on the same test case in order to better understand flow interaction inside the cavity. Results are reported in terms of detailed 2D maps, radial-wise and span-wise averaged values of Nusselt number.