Relating Film Cooling Performance Between Ambient and Near Engine Temperatures

This thesis explores multiple topics, including the relative importance of nondimensional parameters that relate film cooling performance within different temperature regimes and the effects of internal coolant flow and coolant temperature on overall film cooling effectiveness. A Hastelloy model representative of a turbine blade was utilized for IR tests. Near engine temperatures were produced via premixed propane and air combustion in a Well-Stirred Reactor (WSR) with air supplied as the film coolant gas. Near ambient conditions used heated air for freestream flow and carbon dioxide, argon, or air as film coolant gases. It was found that even with multiple matched parameters, the high temperature cases achieved higher overall effectiveness values. The results suggest that the temperature difference between the coolant and freestream is also important, as is the internal mass flow. Test results showed that cooling effectiveness increased with hotter coolant, which is counterintuitive. Numerous improvements to the rig were also implemented