Thermal field measurements for a shaped hole at low and high freestream turbulence intensity

Shaped holes are increasingly selected for airfoil cooling in gas turbines due to their superior performance over that of cylindrical holes, especially at high blowing ratios. The performance of shaped holes is regarded to be the result of the diffused outlet, which slows and laterally spreads coolant, causing coolant to remain close to the wall. However, few thermal field measurements exist to verify this behavior at high blowing ratio or to evaluate how high freestream turbulence alters the coolant distribution in jets from shaped holes. The present study reports measured thermal fields, along with measured flowfields, for a shaped hole at blowing ratios up to three at both low and high freestream turbulence intensities of 0.5% and 13.2%. Thermal fields at low freestream turbulence intensity showed that the coolant jet was initially attached, but far downstream of the hole the jet lifted away from the surface due to the counter-rotating vortex pair. Elevated freestream turbulence intensity was found to cause strong dilution of the coolant jet and also increased dispersion, almost exclusively in the lateral as opposed to the vertical direction. Dominance of lateral dispersion was due to the influence of the wall on freestream eddies, as indicated from changes in turbulent shear stress between the low and high freestream turbulence cases.