Three-Dimensional Flow Analysis and Design Improvement of Leading-Edge Film-Cooling in an Inlet Guide Vane

Numerical investigations on the film cooling of an inlet guide vane are performed with realistic geometry. The vane model comprises one vane passage, 131 shower-head cooling holes in 6 staggered rows around the vane leading edge, and a coolant supply plenum. A fully implicit coupled 3D N-S solver based on finite-volume method and incorporated with unstructured mixed grid, standard k–e turbulence model and scalable wall function is employed to obtain the numerical solution. Two film cooling configurations, named original design and modified design, are presented. The original design and no cooling case are simulated to obtain flow mechanism and heat transfer characteristics of the leading edge film cooling. In addition, the effects of the meridional endwall contours on the leading edge film cooling are considered. The film cooling characteristics and interactions between jets and mainstream around the leading edge, especially near the stagnation line, are analyzed in detail. To provide better coolant coverage on the leading edge, the cooling configuration is modified by redistributing the position and direction of some rows of holes based upon the analysis and understanding of the 3D prediction for the original design. The modified design is verified under three blowing ratios and compared with the original design.Copyright © 2006 by ASME