Flow field inside a leading edge cooling channel with turbulence promoters in rotating conditions

The present work deepens the analysis of the flow field inside a triangular equilateral channel with turbulence promoters, perpendicular to the radial direction, on both leading and trailing sides, under rotation and both isothermal and nonisothermal conditions (i.e. with centrifugal buoyancy forces). Simulations have been performed at constant Re¼10,000, Ro¼0–0.2–0.6, and Bo¼0–0.08–0.7, the latter corresponding to 80C temperature difference between fluid and walls. These conditions match those of the particle image velocimetry measurements, used for comparison against predictions. After proper validation, the numerical modeling helped with the assessment of the flow field evolution along the radial extension of the cooling channel. It has been possible to determine the path of the coolant throughout the channel and localize where the heat transfer would have been enhanced/decreased by secondary flow structures, with respect to the stationary case. Furthermore, a rather Bo-independency of the flow field in this kind of geometry has been confirmed. The analysis presented in this paper finds support from the thermal data available from the open literature, which is rich of thermal analysis indeed, but lacks a detailed description of internal flow fields.