Investigation of Transpiration Cooling Film Protection for Gas Turbine Engine Combustion Liner Application

Abstract

Transpiration cooling as potential replacement of multi-hole effusion cooling for gas turbine engines combustion liner application is investigated by comparing their cooling film effectiveness based on the mass transfer analogy (CFEM). Pressure sensitive paint was used to measure CFEM over PM surfaces which was found to be on average 40% higher than multi-hole effusion cooling. High porosity PM with low resistance to flow movement were found to offer uneven distribution of exiting coolant, with large amounts leaving the trailing edge, leading to lopsided CFEM. Design of anisotropic PM based on PM properties (porosity, permeability, and inertia coefficient) were investigated using numerical models to obtain more uniform CFEM. Heat transfer analysis of different PM showed that anisotropic samples offered better thermal protection over isotropic PM for the same porosity. Comparison between cooling film effectiveness obtained from temperatures CFET against CFEM revealed large differences in the predicted protection. This is attributed to the assumptions made to apply CFEM, nonetheless, CFEM remains a good proxy to study and improve transpiration cooling. A method for creating a CAD model of designed PM is proposed based on critical characteristics of transpiration cooling for future use in 3D printing manufacturing.