Film Cooling Effectiveness in a Gas Turbine Engine: A Review

This study was carried out to extend database knowledge about the function of film cooling holes at the end of combustor and the inlet of turbine. Using the well-known Brayton cycle, raising the turbine inlet temperature is the key to obtain higher engine efficiency in gas turbine engines. However, high temperature of the combustor exit flow causes non-uniformities. These non-uniformities lead to the reduction of expected life of critical components. Therefore, an appropriate cooling technique should be designed to protect these parts. Film cooling is one of the most effective external cooling methods. Various film cooling techniques presented in the literature have been investigated. Moreover, challenges and future directions of film cooling techniques have been reviewed and presented in this paper. The aim of this review is to summarize recent development in research on film cooling techniques and attempt to identify some challenging issues that need to be solved for future research.