Combined Experimental and CFD Investigation of Flat Plate Film Cooling through Fan Shaped Holes

The present paper reports the results of an experimental and computational investigation of flat plate film cooling jets discharged from three fan-shaped holes. Measurements have been carried out at near unity density ratio in a low-speed wind tunnel, at low inlet turbulence intensity, with blowing ratios (BR) of 1 and 2. Aerodynamic results have shown that the jet stays attached to the flat plate. Thermal measurements have revealed that film cooling effectiveness decreases downstream of the holes, and BR equal to 1 provides the best trade-off between cooling air consumption and thermal protection. Consequently, BR = 1 was selected for assessing the performance of different turbulence models, implemented in STAR-CCM+, according with the steady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach. Predictions from realizable k-ε (RKE), shear stress transport k-ω (SST KW) and Reynolds stress model (RSM) were compared against measurements of laterally averaged and centerline adiabatic effectiveness, as well as off-the-wall velocity maps and profiles of stress components. RSM provided the most accurate predictions.