Influence of High Mainstream Turbulence on Leading Edge Heat Transfer

The influence of high mainstream turbulence on leading edge heat transfer was studied. High mainstream turbulence was produced by a bar grid (Tu = 3.3–5.1 percent), passive grid (Tu = 7.6–9.7 percent), and jet grid (Tu = 12.9–15.2 percent). Experiments were performed using a blunt body with a semicylinder leading edge and flat sidewalls. The mainstream Reynolds numbers based on leading edge diameter were 25,000, 40,000, and 100,000. Spanwise and streamwise distributions of local heat transfer coefficients on the leading edge and flat sidewall were obtained. The results indicate that the leading edge heat transfer increases significantly with increasing mainstream turbulence intensity, but the effect diminishes at the end of the flat sidewall because of turbulence decay. Stagnation point heat transfer results for high turbulence intensity flows agree with the Lowery and Vachon correlation, but the overall heat transfer results for the leading edge quarter-cylinder region are higher than their overall correlation for the entire circular cylinder region. High mainstream turbulence tends not to shift the location of the separation-reattachment region. The reattachment heat transfer results are about the same regardless of mainstream turbulence levels and are much higher than the turbulent flat plate correlation.