Investigations on the Influence of Rib Orientation Angle on Film Cooling Performance of Compound Holes

To investigate the effects of the inclined ribs on internal flow structure in film hole and the film cooling performance on outer surface, experimental and numerical studies are conducted on the effects of rib orientation angle on film cooling of compound cylindrical holes. Three coolant channel cases, including two ribbed cross-flow channels (135° and 45° angled ribs) and the plenum case, are studied under three blowing ratios (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0). 2D contours of film cooling effectiveness as well as heat transfer coefficient were measured by transient liquid crystal measurement technique (TLC). The steady RANS simulations with realizable k-ε turbulence model and enhanced wall treatment were performed. The results show that the spanwise width of film coverage is greatly influenced by the rib orientation angle. The spanwise width of the 45° rib case is obviously larger than that of the 135° rib case under lower blowing ratios. When the blowing ratio is 1.0, the area-averaged cooling effectiveness of the 135° rib case and the 45° rib case are higher than that of the plenum case by 38% and 107%, respectively. With the increase of blowing ratio, the film coverage difference between different rib orientation cases becomes smaller. The 45° rib case also produces higher heat transfer coefficient, which is higher than the 135° rib case by 3.4–8.7% within the studied blowing ratio range. Furthermore, the discharge coefficient of the 45° rib case is the lowest among the three cases. The helical motion of coolant flow is observed in the hole of 45° rib case. The jet divides into two parts after being blown out of the hole due to this motion, which induces strong velocity separation and loss. For the 135° rib case, the vortex in the upper half region of the secondary-flow channel rotates in the same direction with the hole inclination direction, which leads to the straight streamlines and thus results in lower loss and higher discharge coefficient.