Detailed Film Cooling Measurements on a Cylindrical Leading Edge Model: Effect of Free-Stream Turbulence and Coolant Density

Detailed heat transfer coefficient and film effectiveness distributions are presented on a cylindrical leading edge model using a transient liquid crystal technique. Tests were done in a low-speed wind tunnel on a cylindrical model in a crossflow with two rows of injection holes. Mainstream Reynolds number based on the cylinder diameter was 100,900. The two rows of injection holes were located at ±15 deg from stagnation. The film holes were spaced four hole diameters apart and were angled 30 and 90 deg to the surface in the spanwise and streamwise directions, respectively. Heat transfer coefficient and film effectiveness distributions are presented on only one side of the front half of the cylinder. The cylinder surface is coated with a thin layer of thermochromic liquid crystals and a transient test is run to obtain the heat transfer coefficients and film effectiveness. Air and CO₂ were used as coolant to simulate coolant-to-mainstream density ratio effect. The effect of coolant blowing ratio was studied for blowing ratios of 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2. Results show that Nusselt numbers downstream of injection increase with an increase in blowing ratio for both coolants. Air provides highest effectiveness at blowing ratio of 0.4 and CO₂ provides highest effectiveness at a blowing ratio of 0.8. Higher density coolant (CO₂) provides lower Nusselt numbers at all blowing ratios compared to lower density coolant (air). An increase in free-stream turbulence has very small effect on Nusselt numbers for both coolants. However, an increase in free-stream turbulence reduces film effectiveness significantly at low blowing ratios for both coolants.