Similarity analysis of model experiments for film cooling in gas turbines

This report investigates our present ability to predict the thermal performance of film cooling arrangements used to protect the hot components of gas turbines. The required information is usually obtained by model experiments carried out at near room temperature as opposed to the high temperature encountered in the gas turbines. Dimensional or similarity analysis is used to develope the functional relationships for film effectiveness and convective heat transfer and the use of mass transfer experiments with foreign gas injection and naphthalene sublimation based on the heat-mass transfer analogy is discussed. The law of superposition is used to describe the combined effects of film cooling, surface convection or radiation and frictional heating. An order of magnitude estimate indicates to what extent local temperature gradients are alleviated in the cooled walls by internal heat conduction.