Influence of Flow Structure on Shaped Hole Film Cooling Performance

Shaped holes are used on modern turbine blades for their higher performance and greater lateral coolant spreading compared to classic streamwise angled holes. This study incorporates measurements and observations from a shaped hole geometry undertaken at ETH Zurich in which a row of laterally expanded diffusely shaped holes is compared to the classic row of streamwise round holes. Infrared measurements provide high-resolution data of the adiabatic effectiveness and three dimensional velocity measurements are carried out through stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry. Both experiments are run for similar operating conditions allowing a comparison to be made between the flow structure and the thermal performance. The adiabatic effectiveness is seen to be higher for shaped holes compared to cylindrical holes: in particular the laterally averaged values are higher due to a larger lateral spreading of the coolant. The work presented here shows the first results on the limited influence of the density ratio on the thermal performance. The performance is also influenced by the vortical structure. The typical counter-rotating vortex pair which is completed by another pair of anti-kidney vortices is observed with their strength being clearly reduced compared to the example with cylindrical holes. The doubled structure and the reduced strength change the behavior of the jet, explaining the higher performance of a jet with shaped holes. The vertical motion leading to lift-off is reduced, so the jet remains close to the surface even at high blowing rates. The goal of this article is to present data for the thermal performance and flow field of shaped holes and then explain the relationship between the two.