Large eddy simulation of the 7-7-7 shaped film cooling hole at axial and compound angle orientations

Shaped film cooling holes are used extensively for film cooling in gas turbines due to their superior performance in keeping coolant attached to the surface, relative to cylindrical holes. However, fewer studies have examined the impact of the orientation of the shaped hole axis relative to the main flow direction, known as a compound angle. A compound angle can occur intentionally due to manufacturing, or unintentionally due to changes in the main flow direction at off-design conditions. In either case, the compound angle causes the film cooling jet to roll up into a strong streamwise vortex that changes the lateral distribution of coolant, relative to the pair of vortices that develop from an axially oriented film cooling hole. In this study, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) using the Wall-Adapting Local Eddy Viscosity (WALE) model was performed on the publicly available 7-7-7 shaped film cooling hole, at two orientations (0°, 30°) and two blowing ratios (M=1, 3). Laterally-averaged film effectiveness was largely unchanged by a compound angle at a blowing ratio of 1, but improved at a blowing ratio of 3. For both blowing ratios, the lateral distribution of film was more uniform with the addition of a 30° compound angle. Both wall normal and lateral turbulent convective heat transfer was increased by the addition of a compound angle at both blowing ratios.