Volumetric Velocimetry Measurements of Film Cooling Jets

This paper presents volumetric velocimetry (VV) measurements for a jet in crossflow that is representative of film cooling. VV employs particle tracking to nonintrusively extract all three components of velocity in a three-dimensional volume. This is its first use in a film-cooling context. The primary research objective was to develop this novel measurement technique for turbomachinery applications, while collecting a high-quality data set that can improve the understanding of the flow structure of the cooling jet. A new facility was designed and manufactured for this study with emphasis on optical access and controlled boundary conditions. For a range of momentum flux ratios from 0.65 to 6.5, the measurements clearly show the penetration of the cooling jet into the freestream, the formation of kidney-shaped vortices, and entrainment of main flow into the jet. The results are compared to published studies using different experimental techniques, with good agreement. Further quantitative analysis of the location of the kidney vortices demonstrates their lift off from the wall and increasing lateral separation with increasing momentum flux ratio. The lateral divergence correlates very well with the self-induced velocity created by the wall–vortex interaction. Circulation measurements quantify the initial roll up and decay of the kidney vortices and show that the point of maximum circulation moves downstream with increasing momentum flux ratio. The potential for nonintrusive VV measurements in turbomachinery flow has been clearly demonstrated.