This paper presents detailed measurements of the film-cooling effectiveness for three single, scaled-up film-cooling hole geometries. The hole geometries investigated include a cylindrical hole and two holes with a diffuser shaped exit portion (i.e. a fanshaped and a laidback fanshaped hole). The flow conditions considered are the crossflow Mach number at the hole entrance side (up to 0.6), the crossflow Mach number at the hole exit side (up to 1.2), and the blowing ratio (up to 2). The coolant-to-mainflow temperature ratio is kept constant at 0.54. The measurements are performed by means of an infrared camera system which provides a two-dimensional distribution of the film-cooling effectiveness in the nearfield of the cooling hole down to x/D = 10. As compared to the cylindrical hole, both expanded holes show significantly improved thermal protection of the surface downstream of the ejection location, particularly at high blowing ratios. The laidback fanshaped hole provides a better lateral spreading of the ejected coolant than the fanshaped hole which leads to higher laterally averaged film-cooling effectiveness. Coolant passage crossflow Mach number and orientation strongly affect the flowfield of the jet being ejected from the hole and, therefore, have an important impact on film-cooling performance.

This paper presents detailed measurements of the film-cooling effectiveness for three single, scaled-up film-cooling hole geometries. The hole geometries investigated include a cylindrical hole and two holes with a diffuser-shaped exit portion (i.e., a fan-shaped and a laid-back fan-shaped hole). The flow conditions considered are the crossflow Mach number at the hole entrance side (up to 0.6), the crossflow Mach number at the hole exit side (up to 1.2), and the blowing ratio (up to 2). The coolant-to-mainflow temperature ratio is kept constant at 0.54. The measurements are performed by means of an infrared camera system, which provides a two-dimensional distribution of the film-cooling effectiveness in the near field of the cooling hole down to x/D = 10. As compared to the cylindrical hole, both expanded holes show significantly improved thermal protection of the surface downstream of the ejection location, particularly at high blowing ratios. The laidback fan-shaped hole provides a better lateral spreading of the ejected coolant than the fan-shaped hole, which leads to higher laterally averaged film-cooling effectiveness. Coolant passage cross-flow Mach number and orientation strongly affect the flowfield of the jet being ejected from the hole and, therefore, have an important impact on film-cooling performance.

One viable option to improve cooling methods used for gas turbine blades is to optimize the geometry of the film-cooling hole. To optimize that geometry, effects of the hole geometry on the complex jet-in-crossflow interaction need to be understood. This paper presents a comparison of detailed flowfield measurements for three different single, scaled-up, hole geometries all at a blowing ratio and density ratio of unity. The hole geometries include a round hole, a hole with a laterally expanded exit, and a hole with a forward-laterally expanded exit. In addition to the flowfield measurements for expanded cooling hole geometries being unique to the literature, the testing facility used for these measurements was also unique in that both the external mainstream Mach number (Ma∞ = 0.25) and internal coolant supply Mach number (Mac = 0.3) were nearly matched. Results show that by expanding the exit of the cooling holes, the penetration of the cooling jet as well as the intense shear regions are significantly reduced relative to a round hole. Although the peak turbulence levels for all three hole geometries was nominally the same, the source of that turbulence was different. The peak turbulence level for both expanded holes was located at the exit of the cooling hole resulting from the expansion angle being too large. The peak turbulence level for the round hole was located downstream of the hole exit where the velocity gradients were very large.

One viable option to improve cooling methods used for gas turbine blades is to optimize the geometry of the film-cooling hole. To optimize that geometry, effects of the hole geometry on the complex jet-in-crossflow interaction need to be understood. This paper presents a comparison of detailed flowfield measurements for three different single, scaled-up hole geometries, all at a blowing ratio and density ratio of unity. The hole geometries include a round hole, a hole with a laterally expanded exit, and a hole with a forward-laterally expanded exit. In addition to the flowfield measurements for expanded cooling hole geometries being unique to the literature, the testing facility used for these measurements was also unique in that both the external mainstream Mach number (Ma∞ = 0.25) and internal coolant supply Mach number (Mac = 0.3) were nearly matched. Results show that by expanding the exit of the cooling holes, both the penetration of the cooling jet and the intense shear regions are significantly reduced relative to a round hole. Although the peak turbulence level for all three hole geometries was nominally the same, the source of that turbulence was different. The peak turbulence level for both expanded holes was located at the exit of the cooling hole resulting from the expansion angle being too large. The peak turbulence level for the round hole was located downstream of the hole exit where the velocity gradients were very large.

This study evaluates the impact of typical cooling hole shape variations on the thermal performance of fan-shaped film holes. A comprehensive set of experimental test cases featuring 16 different film-cooling configurations with different hole shapes have been investigated. The shape variations investigated include hole inlet-to-outlet area ratio, hole coverage ratio, hole pitch ratio, hole length, and hole orientation (compound) angle. Flow conditions applied cover a wide range of film blowing ratios M=0.5 to 2.5 at an engine-representative density ratio DR=1.7. An infrared thermography data acquisition system is used for highly accurate and spatially resolved surface temperature mappings. Accurate local temperature data are achieved by an in situ calibration procedure with the help of thermocouples embedded in the test plate. Detailed film-cooling effectiveness distributions and discharge coefficients are used for evaluating the thermal performance of a row of fan-shaped film holes. An extensive variation of the main geometrical parameters describing a fan-shaped film-cooling hole is done to cover a wide range of typical film-cooling applications in current gas turbine engines. Within the range investigated, laterally averaged film-cooling effectiveness was found to show only limited sensitivity from variations of the hole geometry parameters. This offers the potential to tailor the hole geometry according to needs beyond pure cooling performance, e.g., manufacturing facilitations.