Effects of Shape and Arrangement of Dimples on Film Cooling Performance Over Cutback Surface at Airfoil Trailing Edge

Trailing edge of a gas turbine blade is under very high thermal load because both sides are exposed to hot mainstream. The cooling film ejected from slots has to protect the cutback surface from the hot mainstream, and remove the heat from the surface. In this study, the film cooling performance of cutback surfaces with two types of dimples, spherical and teardrop-shaped dimples, were experimentally investigated with a transient infrared thermography method. Also, to examine the effects of arrangements, two different arrangements of the teardrop-shaped dimples, which are parallel and inclined to mainstream, were investigated. The dimples were arranged in two rows on the cutback surfaces. The Reynolds number of mainstream defined by the mean velocity and hydraulic diameter was 20,000, and profiles of local heat transfer coefficient and film cooling effectiveness on the cutback surface were measured for blowing ratios of 0.5–2.0. With the parallel teardrop-shaped dimples, reduction of the heat transfer in the upstream portion was less than that of the spherical dimples, and the heat transfer at downstream rims was higher. In the case of the inclined teardrop-shaped dimples, heat transfer enhancement at the downstream rims was higher than that of parallel one, and overall heat transfer coefficient was also higher. The film cooling effectiveness of all cases are almost equal values, namely, the dimpled surfaces could enhance heat transfer without reduction of the film cooling effectiveness; consequently significant cooling performance improvement was obtained for the teardrop-shaped dimple cases, especially with the introduction of inclined arrangement.