Film cooling effectiveness in the presence of internal hole random roughness: A comprehensive analysis

Film cooling, with its excellent cooling performance, is widely applied in the active thermal protection design of aerospace propulsion systems. However, during manufacturing and service, film holes are affected by drilling processes and particle deposition, leading to significant deviations between the actual cooling structures and the original design. These deviations primarily manifest as hole blockage and increased surface roughness, which may cause cooling degradation. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the film cooling performance under structural damage and the jet-mainstream mixing mechanisms of damaged holes. This study focuses on internal roughness as a form of structural damage by investigating three levels of hole roughness—Ra = 3.1 μm (Film hole I), Ra = 35.9 μm (Film hole II), and Ra = 64.9 μm (Film hole III). The selected roughness levels and blowing ratios correspond to the practical range encountered in turbine cooling. The film cooling effectiveness distribution is measured using pressure-sensitive paint technology, and numerical simulations are conducted to analyze the flow field and support the experimental results. The results indicate that cooling degradation caused by internal roughness is mainly reflected in the reduction of high cooling effectiveness areas and the deterioration of cooling performance near the film hole exit. However, increased roughness also leads to an expansion of the film coverage in the spanwise, enhancing cooling performance downstream. Flow field analysis reveals that internal roughness increases the inhomogeneity of coolant velocity distribution inside the hole, strengthening the counter-rotating vortex pair and causing jet lift-off, which reduces the high cooling effectiveness area. Additionally, roughness-induced disturbances enhance turbulence intensity, promoting jet-mainstream mixing and increasing the overall film coverage.