Effect of Freestream Turbulence Intensity on Film Cooling Jet Structure and Surface Effectiveness Using PIV and PSP

An experimental investigation of film cooling jet structure using two-dimensional particle image velocimetry (PIV) has been completed for cylindrical, simple angle (θ=35 deg) film cooling holes. The PIV measurements are coupled with detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions on the flat plate obtained using a steady state, pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Both the flow and surface measurements were performed in a low speed wind tunnel where the freestream turbulence intensity was varied from 1.2% to 12.5%. With this traditional film cooling configuration, the blowing ratio was varied from 0.5 to 1.5 to compare the jet structure of relatively low and high momentum cooling flows. Velocity maps of the coolant flow (in the streamwise direction) are obtained on three planes spanning a single hole: centerline, 0.25D, and 0.5D (outer edge of the film cooling hole). From the seeded jets, time averaged, mean velocity distributions of the film cooling jets are obtained near the cooled surface. In addition, turbulent fluctuations are obtained for each flow condition. Combining the detailed flow field measurements obtained using PIV (both instantaneous and time averaged) with detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions on the surface (PSP) provides a more complete view of the coolant jet-mainstream flow interaction. Near the edge of the film cooling holes, the turbulent mixing increases, and as a result the film cooling effectiveness decreases. Furthermore, the PIV measurements show the increased mixing of the coolant jet with the mainstream at the elevated freestream turbulence level resulting in a reduction in the jet to effectively protect the film cooled surface.