Heat Transfer and Film Cooling Effectiveness in a Linear Airfoil Cascade

A warm (315°C) wind tunnel test facility equipped with a linear cascade of film cooled vane airfoils was used in the simultaneous determination of the local gas side heat transfer coefficients and the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. The test rig can be operated in either a steady-state or a transient mode. The steady-state operation provides adiabatic film cooling effectiveness values while the transient mode generates data for the determination of the local heat transfer coefficients from the temperature–time variations and of the film effectiveness from the steady wall temperatures within the same aerothermal environment. The linear cascade consists of five airfoils. The 14 percent cascade inlet free-stream turbulence intensity is generated by a perforated plate, positioned upstream of the airfoil leading edge. For the first transient tests, five cylinders having roughly the same blockage as the initial 20 percent axial chord of the airfoils were used. The cylinder stagnation point heat transfer coefficients compare well with values calculated from correlations. Static pressure distributions measured over an instrumented airfoil agree with inviscid predictions. Heat transfer coefficients and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness results were obtained with a smooth airfoil having three separate film injection locations, two along the suction side, and the third one covering the leading edge showerhead region. Near the film injection locations, the heat transfer coefficients increase with the blowing film. At the termination of the film cooled airfoil tests, the film holes were plugged and heat transfer tests were conducted with non-film cooled airfoils. These results agree with boundary layer code predictions.