Turbine blade with showerhead film cooling holes

A process for cooling a leading edge of a turbine airfoil, the leading edge having a showerhead arrangement to discharge film cooling air from a cooling supply cavity within the airfoil, the process comprising the steps of:

• discharging cooling air from a first row of film cooling holes located at a stagnation point on the leading edge in either an upward direction or a downward direction;
• discharging cooling air from a second row of film cooling hole adjacent to the first film row of cooling holes and on the pressure side of the leading edge in the upward or downward direction opposite to the first row of film cooling holes;
• discharging cooling air from a third row of film cooling holes adjacent to the first row of film cooling holes and on the suction side of the leading edge in the direction of the second row of film cooling holes;
• and,
• extending the first row, the second row and the third row of film holes along the airfoil surface from the root to the tip.

A turbine rotor blade comprising:

• a root section with a platform;
• an airfoil section extending from the root section;
• the airfoil section having a leading edge with a pressure side wall and a suction side wall extending from the leading edge to define the airfoil section;
• a showerhead arrangement of film cooling holes connected to a cooling air supply cavity internal to the airfoil section;
• the showerhead film cooling holes including two rows of film cooling holes located in a stagnation point of the leading edge and each row of film cooling holes directed to only discharge film cooling air toward the platform end of the airfoil;
• and,
• the showerhead film cooling holes including a row of film cooling holes on the pressure side and on the suction side of and adjacent to the stagnation point both rows of film cooling holes directed to only discharge film cooling air toward the blade tip end of the airfoil;
• the rows of showerhead film cooling holes each extending along the entire airfoil surface from adjacent to the platform to a blade tip region.