An Experimental Study of Mist/Air Film Cooling With Fan-Shaped Holes on an Extended Flat Plate—Part II: Two-Phase Flow Measurements and Droplet Dynamics

Abstract

A phase Doppler particle analyzer (PDPA) system is employed to measure the two-phase mist flow behavior including flow velocity field, droplet size distribution, droplet dynamics, and turbulence characteristics. Based on the droplet measurements made through PDPA, a projected profile describing how the air–mist coolant jet flow spreads and eventually blends into the hot main flow is prescribed for both cylindrical and fan-shaped holes. The mist film layer consists of two layers: a typical coolant film layer (cooling air containing the majority of the droplets) and a wider droplet layer containing droplets outside the film layer. Thanks to the higher inertia possessed by larger droplets (>20 μm in diameter) at the injection hole, the larger droplets tend to shoot across the coolant film layer, resulting in a wider droplet layer than the coolant film layer. The wider droplet layer boundaries are detected by measuring the droplet data rate (droplet number per second) distribution, and it is identified by a wedge-shaped enclosure prescribed by the data rate distribution curve. The coolant film layer is prescribed by its core and its upper boundary. The apex of the data rate curve, depicted by the maximum data rate, roughly indicates the core region of the coolant film layer. The upper boundary of the coolant film layer, characterized by active mixing with the main flow, is found to be close to relatively high values of local Reynolds shear stresses. With the results of PDPA measurements and the prescribed coolant film and droplet layer profiles, the heat transfer results on the wall presented in Part I are re-examined, and the fundamental mist-flow physics are analyzed. The three-dimensional (3D) droplet measurements show that the droplets injected from the fan-shaped holes tend to spread wider in lateral direction than cylinder holes and accumulate at the location where the neighboring coolant film layers meet. This flow and droplet behavior explain the higher cooling performance as well as mist-enhancement occurs between the fan-shaped cooling holes, rather than along the hole's centerline as demonstrated in the case using the cylindrical holes.