The boundary layer over turbine blade models with realistic rough surfaces

The impact of turbine blade surface roughness on aerodynamic performance and heat loads is well known. Over time, as the turbine blades are exposed to heat loads, the external surfaces of the blades become rough. Also, for film-cooled blades, surface degradation can have a significant impact on film-cooling effectiveness. Many studies have been conducted on the effects of surface degradation/roughness on engine performance but most investigations have modeled the rough surfaces with uniform or two-dimensional roughness patterns. The objective of the present investigation is to conduct measurements that will reveal the influence of realistic surface roughness on the near-wall behavior of the boundary layer. Measurements have been conducted at the Matched-Index-of-Refraction (MIR) Facility at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory with a laser Doppler velocimeter. A flat plate model of a turbine blade has been developed that produces a transitional boundary layer, elevated freestream turbulence and an accelerating freestream in order to simulate conditions on the suction side of a high-pressure turbine blade. Boundary layer measurements have been completed over a smooth plate model and over a model with a strip of realistic rough surface. The realistic rough surface was developed by scaling actual turbine blade surface data that was provided by U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The results indicate that bypass transition occurred very early in the flow over the model and that the boundary layer remained unstable throughout the entire length of the test plate; the boundary layer thickness and momentum thickness Reynolds numbers increased over the rough patch; and the shape factor increased over the rough patch but then decreased downstream of the patch relative to the smooth plate case; in the rough patch case the flow experienced two transition reversals with laminar-like behavior achieved by the end of the test plate; streamwise turbulence intensity and normal turbulence intensity increased downstream of the rough patch and the skin friction coefficient varied dramatically over the rough patch, at some points more than double the local smooth plate value; and the rough patch caused the Reynolds stresses to increase in the region close the plate surface.