Heat transfer and effectiveness on the film cooled tip and inner rim surfaces of a turbine blade

Detailed heat/mass transfer coefficients and film-cooling effectiveness were measured on the tip and inner rim surfaces of a rotor blade with a squealer rim. The blade was a two-dimensional version of a modern first-stage gas turbine rotor blade with a squealer rim. The experimental apparatus was equipped with a linear cascade of three blades, the axial chord length (C_x) of which was 237 mm with a turning angle of 126°. The mainstream Reynolds number based on the axial chord was 1.5×10₅. The turbulence intensity level at the cascade inlet was approximately 12%. Measurements were made at three different rim heights (H) of about 3%, 6%, and 9% of the axial chord length. The tip clearance (C) ranges were 1-3% of the axial chord length. Also, three different types of blade tip surfaces were equipped with a single row of film-cooling holes along the camber line, near the pressure and the suction side rim. In particular, a coolant was injected at an incline of 45° from near the suction side film cooling holes. The film cooling experiments were done with a fixed tip clearance and rim height at 1% and 6% of the axial chord length. The blowing rate was fixed at 1.5. High heat transfer rates were observed near the leading edge on the tip surface in some cases, due to the reattachment of tip leakage flow. The peak values moved toward the suction-side edge, and the magnitude and area of high heat transfer increased near the leading edge as the tip clearance increased. The heat transfer decreased on the tip surface with increases in the rim height. In the film-cooling cases, the high heat transfer and film-cooling effectiveness region appeared near the film-cooling holes.