The effect of the rib angle orientation on the local heat transfer distributions and pressure drop in a square channel with two opposite in-line ribbed walls was investigated for Reynolds numbers from 15,000 to 90,000. The square channel composed of ten isolated copper sections has a length-to-hydraulic diameter ratio of 20; the rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio is 0.0625; the rib pitch-to-height ratio equals 10. Nine rib configurations were studied: 90 deg rib, 60 and 45 deg parallel ribs, 60 and 45 deg crossed ribs, 60 and 45 deg ∨-shaped ribs, and 60 and 45 deg ∧-shaped ribs. The results show that the 60 deg (or 45 deg) ∨-shaped rib performs better than the 60 deg (or 45 deg) parallel rib and, subsequently, better than the 60 deg (or 45 deg) crossed rib and the 90 deg rib. The ∨-shaped rib produces the highest heat transfer augmentation, while the ∧-shaped rib generates the greatest pressure drop. The crossed rib has the lowest heat transfer enhancement and the smallest pressure drop penalty.

The effect of unsteady wake flow and air (D.R. = 1.0) or CO2 (D.R. = 1.52) film injection on blade heat transfer coefficients was experimentally determined. A spoked wheel-type wake generator produced the unsteady wake. Experiments were performed on a five-airfoil linear cascade in a low-speed wind tunnel at the chord Reynolds number of 3 × 105 for the no-wake case and at the wake Strouhal numbers of 0.1 and 0.3. Results from a blade with three rows of film holes in the leading edge region and two rows each on the pressure and suction surfaces show that the Nusselt numbers are much higher than those for the blade without film holes. On a large portion of the blade, the Nusselt numbers “without wake but with film injection” are much higher than for “with wake but no film holes.” An increase in wake Strouhal number causes an increase in pressure surface Nusselt numbers; but the increases are reduced at higher blowing ratios. As blowing ratio increases, the Nusselt numbers for both density ratio injectants (air and CO2) increase over the entire blade except for the transition region where the effect is reversed. Higher density injectant (CO2) produces lower Nusselt numbers on the pressure surface, but the numbers for air and CO2 injections are very close on the suction surface except for the transition region where the numbers for CO2 injection are higher. From this study, one may conclude that the additional increases in Nusselt numbers due to unsteady wake, blowing ratio, and density ratio are only secondary when compared to the dramatic increases in Nusselt numbers only due to film injection over the no film holes case.

The effect of unsteady wake flow and air (D.R. = 0.97) or CO2 (D.R. = 1.48) film injection on blade film effectiveness and heat transfer distributions was experimentally determined. A spoked wheel type wake generator produced the unsteady wake. Experiments were performed on a five-airfoil linear cascade in a low-speed wind tunnel at the chord Reynolds number of 3 × 105 for the no wake case and at the wake Strouhal numbers of 0.1 and 0.3. A model turbine blade with several rows of film holes on its leading edge, and pressure and suction surfaces ( −0.2<X/C< 0.4) was used. Results show that the blowing ratios of 1.2 and 0.8 provide the best film effectiveness over most of the blade surface for CO2 and air injections, respectively. An increase in the wake Strouhal number causes a decrease in film effectiveness over most of the blade surface for both density ratio injectants and at all blowing ratios. On the pressure surface, CO2 injection provides higher film effectiveness than air injection at the blowing ratio of 1.2; however, this trend is reversed at the blowing ratio of 0.8. On the suction surface, CO2 injection provides higher film effectiveness than air injection at the blowing ratio of 1.2; however, this trend is reversed at the blowing ratio of 0.4. Co2 injection provides lower heat loads than air injection at the blowing ratio of 1.2; however, this trend is reversed at the blowing ratio of 0.4. Heat load ratios under unsteady wake conditions are lower than the no wake case. For an actual gas turbine blade, since the blowing ratios can be greater than 1.2 and the density ratios can be up to 2.0, a higher density ratio coolant may provide lower heat load ratios under unsteady wake conditions.

The effect of wall heat flux ratio on the local heat transfer augmentation in a square channel with two opposite in-line ribbed walls was investigated for Reynolds numbers from 15,000 to 80,000. The square channel composed of ten isolated copper sections has a length-to-hydraulic diameter ratio (L/D) of 20. The rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio (e/D) is 0.0625 and the rib pitch-to-height ratio (P/e) equals 10. Six ribbed side to smooth side wall heat flux ratios (Case 1 - q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = 1; Case 2 - q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = 3; Case 3 - q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = 6; Case 4 - q″r1/q″s = 6 and q″r2/q″s = 4; Case 5 - q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = ∞ and Case 6 - q″r1/q″s = ∞ and q″r2/q″s = 0) were studied for four rib orientations (90° rib, 60° parallel rib, 60° crossed rib, and 60° ∨-shaped rib). The results show that the ribbed side wall heat transfer augmentation increases with increasing ribbed side to smooth side wall heat flux ratios, but the reverse is true for the smooth side wall heat transfer augmentation. The average heat transfer augmentation of the ribbed side and smooth side wall decreases slightly with increasing wall heat flux ratios. Two ribbed side wall heating (Case 5 - q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = ∞) provides a higher ribbed-side-wall heat transfer augmentation than the four-wall uniform heating (Case 1 - q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = 1). The effect of wall heat flux ratio reduces with increasing Reynolds numbers. The results also indicate that the 60° ∨-shaped rib and 60° parallel rib perform better than the 60° crossed rib and 90° rib, regardless of wall heat flux ratio and Reynolds number.

The influence of uneven wall temperature on the local heat transfer coefficient in a rotating, two-pass, square channel with 60 deg ribs on the leading and trailing walls was investigated for Reynolds numbers from 2500 to 25,000 and rotation numbers from 0 to 0.352. Each pass, composed of six isolated copper sections, had a length-to-hydraulic diameter ratio of 12. The mean rotating radius-to-hydraulic diameter ratio was 30. Three thermal boundary condition cases were studied: (A) all four walls at the same temperature, (B) all four walls at the same heat flux, and (C) trailing wall hotter than leading with side walls unheated and insulated. Results indicate that rotating ribbed wall heat transfer coefficients increase by a factor of 2 to 3 over the rotating smooth wall data and at reduced coefficient variation from inlet to exit. As rotation number (or buoyancy parameter) increases, the first pass (outflow) trailing heat transfer coefficients increase and the first pass leading heat transfer coefficients decrease, whereas the reverse is true for the second pass (inflow). The direction of the Coriolis force reverses from the outflow trailing wall to the inflow leading wall. Differences between the first pass leading and trailing heat transfer coefficients increase with rotation number. A similar behavior is seen for the second pass leading and trailing heat transfer coefficients, but the differences are reduced due to buoyancy changing from aiding to opposing the inertia force. The results suggest that uneven wall temperature has a significant impact on the local heat transfer coefficients. The heat transfer coefficients on the first pass leading wall for cases B and C are up to 70–100 percent higher than that for case A, while the heat transfer coefficients on the second pass trailing wall for cases B and C are up to 20–50 percent higher.

Aerodynamic flow path losses and turbine airfoil gas side heat transfer are strongly affected by the gas side surface finish. For high aero efficiencies and reduced cooling requirements, airfoil designs dictate extensive surface finishing processes to produce smooth surfaces and enhance engine performance. The achievement of these requirements incurs additional manufacturing finishing costs over less strict requirements. The present work quantifies the heat transfer (and aero) performance differences of three cast airfoils with varying degrees of surface finish treatment. An airfoil which was grit blast and Codep coated produced an average roughness of 2.33 μm, one which was grit blast, tumbled, and Aluminide coated produced 1.03 μm roughness, and another which received further post coating polishing produced 0.81 μm roughness. Local heat transfer coefficients were experimentally measured with a transient technique in a linear cascade with a wide range of flow Reynolds numbers covering typical engine conditions. The measured heat transfer coefficients were used with a rough surface Reynolds Analogy to determine the local skin friction coefficients, from which the drag forces and aero efficiencies were calculated. Results show that tumbling and polishing reduce the average roughness and improve performance. The largest differences are observed from the rumbling process, with smaller improvements realized from polishing.

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.

The effect of wall heat flux ratio on the local heat transfer augmentation in a square channel with two opposite in-line ribbed walls was investigated for Reynolds numbers from 15,000 to 80,000. The square channel composed of ten isolated copper sections has a length-to-hydraulic diameter ratio (L/D) of 20. The rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio (e/D) is 0.0625 and the rib pitch-to-height ratio (P/e) equals 10. Six ribbed side to smooth side wall heat flux ratios (Case 1—q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = 1; Case 2—q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = 3; Case 3—q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = 6; Case 4—q″r1/q″s = 6 and q″r2/q″s = 4; Case 5—q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = ∞; Case 6—q″r1/q″s = ∞ and q″r2/q″s = 0) were studied for four rib orientations (90 deg rib, 60 deg parallel rib, 60 deg crossed rib, and 60 deg V-shaped rib). The results show that the ribbed side wall heat transfer augmentation increases with increasing ribbed side to smooth side wall heat flux ratios, but the reverse is true for the smooth side wall heat transfer augmentation. The average heat transfer augmentation of the ribbed side and smooth side wall decreases slightly with increasing wall heat flux ratios. Two ribbed side wall heating (Case 5—q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = ∞) provides a higher ribbed side wall heat transfer augmentation than the four-wall uniform heating (Case 1—q″r1/q″s = q″r2/q″s = 1). The effect of wall heat flux ratio reduces with increasing Reynolds numbers. The results also indicate that the 60 deg V-shaped rib and 60 deg parallel rib perform better than the 60 deg crossed rib and 90 deg rib, regardless of wall heat flux ratio and Reynolds number.