Understanding the flow from a cooling hole is very important to be able to properly control film cooling of turbine blades. For this purpose, large eddy simulation (LES) investigation of the flow inside a cylindrical film cooling hole is presented in this paper. Two different geometries, with different hole metering lengths, are investigated at a blowing ratio of 0.5. The main flow structure in the hole are the hairpin vortices that originate from a shear layer formed due to flow separation near the hole entry. The comparison of these hairpin vortices in the two cases with different hole metering length is presented in detail. The results show that in case of the hole with longer length the hairpin vortices dissociate within the hole itself. In such a case a uniform flow is seen at the hole exit. However, when the hole length is significantly decreased, it is shown that these vortices exit the hole and effect the vortex structures outside the hole, thereby accounting for the reduction in film cooling effectiveness. Overall, these results bring forth one other major reason for the reduction in film cooling effectiveness with reduction in hole length, i.e. the exit of in-hole hairpin vortices into the crossflow.
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