Enhancement of Impingement Cooling in a High Cross Flow Channel Using Shaped Impingement Cooling Holes

Impingement systems are common place in many turbine cooling applications. Generally these systems consist of a target plate that is cooled by the impingement of multiple orthogonal jets. While it is possible to achieve high target surface heat transfer with this configuration, the associated pressure drop is generally high and the cooling efficiency low. Furthermore, especially in large impingement arrays, the buildup of cross flow from upstream jets can be significant and results in deflection of downstream impingement jets reducing the resultant heat transfer coefficient distribution. This paper presents a computational and experimental investigation into the use of shaped elliptical or elongated circular impingement holes designed to improve the penetration of the impinging jet across the coolant passage. This is of particular interest where there is significant cross flow. Literature review and computational investigations are used to determine the optimum aspect ratio of the impingement jet. The improved heat transfer performance of the modified design is then tested in an experimental rig with varying degrees of cross flow at engine representative conditions. In all cases, a 16% increase in the Nusselt number on the impingement target surface in the downstream half of the cooling passage was achieved. Under the first four impingement holes, a Nusselt number enhancement of 28–77% was achieved, provided no additional cross flow was present in the passage. When appropriately aligned, a significant reduction in the stress concentration factor caused by the addition of a hole can be achieved using this design.