Effects on Heat Transfer Coefficient and Adiabatic Effectiveness in Combined Backside and Film Cooling with Short-Hole Geometry

Heat transfer experiments were done on a flat plate to study the effect of internal counter-flow backside cooling on adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient. In addition, the effects of density ratio (DR), blowing ratio (BR), diagonal length over diameter (L/D) ratio, and Reynolds number were studied using this new configuration. The results are compared to a conventional plenum fed case. Data were collected up to X/D =23 where X=0 at the holes, an S/D = 1.65 and L/D=1,2. Testing was done at low L/D ratios since short holes are normally found in double wall cooling applications in turbine components. A DR of 2 was used in order to simulate engine-like conditions and this was compared to a DR of 0.92 since relevant research is done at similar low DR. The BR range of 0.5 to 1.5 was chosen to simulate turbine conditions as well. In addition, previous research shows that peak effectiveness is found within this range. Infrared (IR) thermography was used to capture temperature contours on the surface of interest and the images were calibrated using a thermocouple and data analyzed through MATLAB software. A heated secondary fluid was used as 'coolant' in the present study. A steady state heat transfer model was used to perform the data reduction procedure. Results show that backside cooling configuration has a higher adiabatic film cooling effectiveness when compared to plenum fed configurations at the same conditions. In addition, the trend for effectiveness with varying BR is reversed when compared with traditional plenum fed cases. Yarn flow visualization tests show that flow exiting the holes in the backside cooling configuration is significantly different when compared to flow exiting the plenum fed holes. We hypothesize that backside cooling configuration has flow exiting the holes in various directions, including laterally, and behaving similar to slot film cooling, explaining the differences in trends. Increasing DR at constant BR shows an increase in adiabatic effectiveness and HTC in both backside cooling and plenum fed configurations due to the decreased momentum of the coolant, making film attachment to the surface more probable. The effects of L/D ratio in this study were negligible since both ratios used were small. This shows that the coolant flow is still underdeveloped at both L/D ratios. The study also showed that increasing turbulence through increasing Reynolds number decreased adiabatic effectiveness.