COMPARISON OF CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS OF FLAT PLATE FILM COOLING ARRAYS AGAINST EXPERIMENTAL DATA

Conjugate heat transfer (CHT) simulations were conducted for five film-cooled flat plates designed to model the pressure side of the High Impact Technologies Research Turbine First Vane (HIT RT1 V). The numerical results of the CHT analysis were compared against experimental data. The five test cases consist of one baseline geometry and four different cooling hole geometries applied to a film-cooling hole arrangement that was optimized to achieve a more uniform cooling effectiveness. This optimized film-cooling hole configuration was designed by coupling a genetic algorithm with a Navier-Stokes fluid solver, using source terms to model film holes, starting from a baseline cooling configuration. All five plates were manufactured, and surface temperature measurements were taken using infrared thermography while the plates were exposed to flow conditions similar to the pressure side of the HIT RTIV CHT simulations were carried out using unstructured meshes for both fluid and solid with all film holes fully resolved. Comparison of experimental data and simulations shows a consistent trend between the optimized configurations as well as correct predictions of the flow characteristics of each hole geometry although the absolute temperatures are underpredicted by the CHT. Both experimental measurements and CHT predictions show the optimized geometry with mini-trenched-shaped holes to give the best cooling effectiveness.