Film Cooling Effectiveness and Heat Transfer Near Deposit-Laden Film Holes

Experiments were conducted to determine the impact of synfuel deposits on film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer. Scaled up models were made of synfuel deposits formed on film-cooled turbine blade coupons exposed to accelerated deposition. Three distinct deposition patterns were modeled: a large deposition pattern (max deposit peak ≅ 2 hole diameters) located exclusively upstream of the holes, a large deposition pattern (max deposit peak ≅ 1.25 hole diameters) extending downstream between the cooling holes, and a small deposition pattern (max deposit peak ≅ 0.75 hole diameter) also extending downstream between the cooling holes. The models featured cylindrical holes inclined at 30 degrees to the surface and aligned with the primary flow direction. The spacing of the holes were 3, 3.35, and 4.5 hole diameters respectively. Flat models with the same film cooling hole geometry and spacing were used for comparison. The models were tested using blowing ratios of 0.5–2 with a turbulent approach boundary layer and 0.5% freestream turbulence. The density ratio was approximately 1.1 and the primary flow Reynolds number at the film cooling row location was 300,000. An infrared camera was used to obtain the film cooling effectiveness from steady state tests and surface convective heat transfer coefficients using transient tests. The model with upstream deposition caused the primary flow to lift off the surface over the roughness peaks and allowed the coolant to stay attached to the model. Increasing the blowing ratio from 0.5 to 2 only expanded the region that the coolant could reach and improved the cooling effectiveness. Though the heat transfer coefficient also increased at high blowing ratios, the net heat flux ratio was still less than unity, indicating film cooling benefit. For the two models with deposition between the cooling holes, the free stream air was forced into the valleys in line with the coolant holes and degraded area-averaged coolant performance at lower blowing ratios. It is concluded that the film cooling effectiveness is highest when deposition is limited to upstream of the cooling holes. When accounting for the insulating effect of the deposits between the film holes, even the panels with deposits downstream of the film holes can yield a net decrease in heat flux for some cases.