Transonic turbine vane endwall film cooling using PSP measurement technique

This work focuses on the parametric study of film cooling effectiveness on turbine vane endwall under various flow conditions. The experiments were performed in a five-vane annular sector cascade facility in a blowdown wind tunnel. The controlled exit isentropic Mach numbers were 0.7, 0.9, and 1.0, from high subsonic to transonic conditions. The freestream turbulence intensity is estimated to be 12%. Three coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios (MFR) in the range 0.75%, 1.0%, and 1.25% are studied. N₂, CO₂, and Argon/SF₆ mixture were used to investigate the effects of density ratio (DR), ranging from 1.0, 1.5 to 2.0. There are 8 cylindrical holes on the endwall inside the passage. Pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique was used to capture the endwall pressure distribution for shock wave visualization and obtain the detailed film cooling effectiveness distributions. Both the high-fidelity effectiveness contour and the laterally (spanwise) averaged effectiveness were measured to quantify the parametric effect. This study will provide the gas turbine designer more insight on how the endwall film cooling effectiveness varies with different cooling flow conditions including shock wave through the endwall cross-flow passage.