Study of an Optimized Trench Film Cooling Configuration Using Scale Adaptive Simulation and Infrared Thermography

In the present paper, a narrow, angled trench layout is proposed and numerically optimized. In the optimization process the trench width and depth as well as the edge contour were varied. For each design, the optimizer automatically created the geometry and a structured hexahedral mesh. Then, six blowing ratios from M = 1 to 6 were evaluated based on RANS computations. The spatial average and the standard deviation of the film cooling effectiveness served as objective variables for the optimizer. One novel configuration was studied in more detail and compared to a trench with a depth of 0.75 hole diameters D and a cooling hole angle of α = 30 deg. For both configurations unsteady simulations using the hybrid SAS turbulence model were carried out and validated against infrared thermography measurements of the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. The match between SAS and experiment is improved compared to RANS computations with the realizable k-ε-model. The optimized configuration yields a significant improvement of the film cooling performance. The swept shape of the trench promotes the lateral spreading of the coolant, while the decreased trench width reduces the mixing of cooling air and hot free-stream gas in the region between the cooling holes.