Experimental and numerical investigation on the role of holes arrangement on the heat transfer in impingement/effusion cooling schemes

•Two impingement/effusion geometries with staggered arrangement have been studied.•Strong jet-jet interactions and secondary flows occur for dense array geometries.•Effusion holes can deviate impingement jets for sparse array geometries.•In any case effusion holes increase heat transfer with respect to impingement alone.•A good agreement between experiments and scale resolving CFD analysis was obtained. In the present work, two different impingement/effusion geometries have been investigated, both having staggered hole configuration and an equal number of impingement and effusion holes. The first geometry, which is designed in case of low coolant availability, has impingement hole pitch-to-diameter ratios of 10.5 in both orthogonal directions, a jet-to-target plate spacing of 6.5 hole diameters, with effusion holes inclined of 20° with respect to the target surface. The second geometry, which is designed in case of high coolant availability, has impingement hole pitch-to-diameter ratios of 3.0, a jet-to-target plate spacing of 2.5 diameters and normal effusion holes. For each geometry, two relative arrangements between the impingement and effusion holes have been investigated, as well as various Reynolds numbers for the sparser geometry. The experimental investigation has been performed by applying a transient technique, using narrow band thermochromic liquid crystals (TLCs) for surface temperature measurement. A CFD analysis has also been performed in order to support interpretation of the results. Results show unique heat transfer patterns for every investigated geometry. Weak jet-jet interactions have been recorded for the sparser array geometry, while intense secondary peaks and a complex heat transfer pattern are observed for the denser one, which is also strongly influenced by the presence and position of effusion holes. For both the geometries, effusion holes increase heat transfer with respect to impingement-only, which can be mainly attributed to a reduction in flow recirculation for the sparser geometry and to the suppression of spent coolant flow for the denser one.