Study on the Influence of Film Cooling on the Flow Field and Infrared Radiation Characteristics in the Divergent Section of a Nozzle

Abstract As the last part of the convergent divergent nozzle, the divergent section is exposed to high temperature and high-speed airflow and thus, it is more easily to be detected by the infrared detector. It is one of the main sources of the infrared radiation in the exhaust system. Film cooling is applied to protect the wall from hot flow and reduce the infrared radiation. In this paper, the study is conducted on a nozzle with spherical convergence flap in a turbofan engine exhaust system. The effect of film cooling on the internal flow and infrared radiation characteristics of the exhaust system in the divergent section was studied by numerical simulations. The k-ω SST turbulence model was used to simulate the flow field, and the Reverse Monte Carlo Method was employed to calculate the infrared radiation characteristics of the nozzle. Four different kinds of film hole arrangements are involved, they are cylindrical film holes in an in-line pattern, cylindrical film holes in a staggered pattern, converging-expanding film holes in an in-line pattern and converging-expanding film holes in a staggered pattern. The cylindrical film hole and the converging-expanding film hole have a round shape inlet, with an equivalent diameter of d = 5mm on the projection surface perpendicular to the axial direction. Angles between each film hole and the wall surface are 35°. The impact of the heat conduction on the wall was taken into account. The results show that with the given mass flow rate of the coolant, the lengths of the high temperature core zone of the four models with different film cooling structures are slightly shorter than the core zone of the model without cooling structures. However, no significant difference can be found for the length of the core zone of the four models. The average temperature of the wall in the divergent section decreases significantly by using film cooling. No significant difference can be found in the wall temperature distribution for the four models. In the 3∼5μm and 8∼14μm bands, the cooling technique barely affects the infrared radiation of the main exhaust jet flow, while it significantly reduces the infrared radiation of the solid wall in the divergent section, and the decreasing amplitude is from 45% to 51%. Different film hole arrangements result in similar effects on the infrared radiation of the nozzle. Overall, the usage of film cooling in the divergent section of the nozzle effectively reduces the averaged wall temperature and substantially suppresses the solid infrared radiation on the wall. However, the shape and arrangement of the film holes have no significant influence on the infrared radiation intensity and temperature of the wall in the divergent section.