The Effect of Land Taper Angle on Trailing Edge Slot Film Cooling

Trailing edge slot film cooling is a widely used method of protecting the thin trailing edge of turbine blades from hot gas impingement. The structures that separate the slots, known as “lands,” come in a variety of configurations which can be broadly classified as either “tapered” or “straight.” This paper examines the effect of the land taper angle on the mixing of the coolant flow with the main flow by comparing three configurations: a case with straight lands, a previously reported case with slightly tapered lands, and a case with strongly tapered lands. In each case, the slot width and the land width at the plane of the slot exit are kept constant. For each configuration, the mean volumetric coolant concentration distribution and three-component velocity field were measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. It is shown that the land taper angle has a strong effect on the mean flow features and coolant surface effectiveness. Furthermore, the impact of the lands configuration on the flow field and concentration distribution is seen not just in the cutback region, but also in the wake of the blade.