An Experimental and Computational Investigation of Absolute Pressure Effects on Deposition in an Effusion Cooling Geometry

The effect of absolute pressure on deposition is studied in the High-Pressure Deposition Facility at The Ohio State University. Mass flow blockage trends are presented for the case of deposition in a single-wall flat plate effusion cooling geometry. Arizona Road Dust in the ranges of 0- 10 mu m and 0-3.5 mu m is delivered to a 950 K coolant flow at a pressure ratio of 1.03 at absolute pressures ranging from 1 to 15.77 atm. The primary results indicate a non-linear decrease in blockage with increasing absolute pressure. Additional targeted experimental and companion computational fluid dynamics simulations are used to elucidate the relative importance of 3 physical mechanisms responsible for the trend with pressure: (1) the increase in effusion hole discharge coefficient (2) altered particle trajectories due to reduced effective Stokes and (3) altered erosion due to reduced effective Stokes. Results reveal that blockage and sticking rates are minimally affected by the changing velocity field due to the increase in discharge coefficient, thus the increased particle drag effect on particle trajectories and erosion due to changing flow density is the primary candidate. To support these conclusions, mesh morphing simulations of a 0-10.m test are performed at 1 and 15.77 atm using the OSU Deposition Model, which captures both impact velocity and angle dependencies of deposition. The resulting structures and their unique characteristics are compared to experimental deposits, and the computational and experimental blockage histories support the conclusion that increased drag is the primary mechanism.