New Facility to Study Unsteady Wake Effects on Turbine Airfoil Heat Transfer

A significant portion of the SSME aerothermal loads program is directed at the heat transfer effects of the unsteady flows, particularly wakes, that occur naturally in turbomachinery. Although these phenomena occur in all turbomachines, we feel they will be more severe in the SSME turbines because of the high heat transfer associated with the very high Reynolds numbers over the SSME airfoils.