Effect of endwall cooling on secondary flows in turbine stator vanes

An experimental investigation was performed to determine the effect of endwall cooling on the secondary flow behavior and the aerodynamic performance of a core-turbine stator vane. The investigation was conducted in a cold-air, full-annular cascade, where three-dimensional effects could be obtained. In one configuration, the cooling holes were oriented so that the coolant was injected in line with the inviscid streamline direction. In another configuration, the coolant was injected at an angle of 15 deg to the inviscid streamline direction and oriented toward the vane pressure surface. Total-pressure surveys were taken downstream of the stator vanes over a range of cooling flows. Changes in the total-pressure contours downstream of the vanes were used to obtain the effect of endwall cooling on the secondary flows in the stator. Comparisons are made between the two cooled-endwall configurations and with the results obtained previously for solid (uncooled) endwalls.