The Effect of Disk Geometry on Heat Transfer in a Rotating Cavity With a Radial Outflow of Fluid

1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. Farthing ◽  
J. M. Owen

Flow visualization and heat transfer measurements have been made in a cavity comprising two nonplane disks of 762 mm diameter and a peripheral shroud, all of which could be rotated up to 2000 rpm. “Cobs,” made from a lightweight foam material and shaped to model the geometry of turbine disks, were attached to the center of each disk. Cooling air at flow rates up to 0.1 kg/s entered the cavity through the center of the “upstream” disk and left via holes in the shroud. The flow structure was found to be similar to that observed in earlier tests for the plane-disk case: a source region, Ekman layers, sink layer, and interior core were observed by flow visualization. Providing the source region did not fill the entire cavity, solutions of the turbulent integral boundary-layer equations provided a reasonable approximation to the Nusselt numbers measured on the heated “downstream” disk.

1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Long ◽  
J. M. Owen

Flow visualization and heat transfer measurements have been made in the cavity between two corotating discs. The discs were 762 mm in diameter and could be rotated up to 2000 rpm. Air, at flow rates up to 0.1 kg/s, entered the cavity through either a central hole 76 mm in diameter or a porous inner shroud 380 mm in diameter; in both cases, the air left via holes in an outer shroud attached to the periphery of the discs. Flow visualization confirmed that Ekman-layer flow could occur: A source region, Ekman layers, sink layers, and interior core were observed. A simple theoretical model provided estimates of the size of the source region that were in satisfactory agreement with the observations. At sufficiently high rotational speeds, where Ekman layers form over much of the surface of each disc, measured Nusselt numbers were in reasonable agreement with values computed from the momentum-and energy-integral equations.


1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Ong ◽  
J. M. Owen

Solutions of the differential boundary-layer equations, using the Keller-box scheme and the Cebeci-Smith eddy-viscosity model for turbulent flow, have been used to predict the Nusselt numbers on the disks of a heated rotating cavity with a radial outflow of cooling air. Computed Nusselt numbers were in satisfactory agreement with analytical solutions of the elliptic equations for laminar flow and with solutions of the integral equations for turbulent flow. For a wide range of flow rates, rotational speeds, and disk-temperature profiles, the computed Nusselt numbers were in mainly good agreement with measurements obtained from an air-cooled rotating cavity. It is concluded that the boundary-layer equations should provide solutions accurate enough for application to air-cooled gas turbine disks.


Author(s):  
P. R. Farthing ◽  
C. A. Long ◽  
R. H. Rogers

An integral theory is used to model the flow, and predict heat transfer rates, for corotating compressor discs with a superposed radial inflow of air. Measurements of heat transfer are also made, both in an experimental rig and in an engine. The flow structure comprises source and sink regions, Ekman-type layers and an inviscid central core. Entrainment occurs in the source region, the fluid being distributed into the two nonentraining Ekman-type layers. Fluid leaves the cavity via the sink region. The integral model is validated against the experimental data, although there are some uncertainties in modelling the exact thermal conditions of the experiment. The magnitude of the Nusselt numbers is affected by the rotational Reynolds number and dimensionless flowrate; the maximum value of Nu is found to occur near the edge of the source region. The heat transfer measurements using the engine data show acceptable agreement with theory and experiment. This is very encouraging considering the large levels of uncertainty in the engine data.


1990 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Morse ◽  
C. L. Ong

The paper presents finite-difference predictions for the convective heat transfer in symmetrically-heated rotating cavities subjected to a radial outflow of cooling air. An elliptic calculation procedure has been used, with the turbulent fluxes estimated by means of a low Reynolds number k-ε model and the familiar ‘turbulence Prandtl number’ concept. The predictions extend to rotational Reynolds numbers of 3.7 × 106 and encompass cases where the disc temperatures may be increasing, constant or decreasing in the radial direction. It is found that the turbulence model leads to predictions of the local and average Nusselt numbers for both discs which are generally within ± 10% of the values from published experimental data, although there appear to be larger systematic errors for the upstream disc than for the downstream disc. It is concluded that the calculations are of sufficient accuracy for engineering design purposes, but that improvements could be brought about by further optimization of the turbulence model.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 364-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Wilson ◽  
R. Pilbrow ◽  
J. M. Owen

Conditions in the internal-air system of a high-pressure turbine stage are modeled using a rig comprising an outer preswirl chamber separated by a seal from an inner rotor-stator system. Preswirl nozzles in the stator supply the “blade-cooling” air, which leaves the system via holes in the rotor, and disk-cooling air enters at the center of the system and leaves through clearances in the peripheral seals. The experimental rig is instrumented with thermocouples, fluxmeters, pitot tubes, and pressure taps, enabling temperatures, heat fluxes, velocities, and pressures to be measured at a number of radial locations. For rotational Reynolds numbers of Reφ ≃ 1.2 × 106, the swirl ratio and the ratios of disk-cooling and blade-cooling flow rates are chosen to be representative of those found inside gas turbines. Measured radial distributions of velocity, temperature, and Nusselt number are compared with computations obtained from an axisymmetric elliptic solver, featuring a low-Reynolds-number k–ε turbulence model. For the inner rotor-stator system, the computed core temperatures and velocities are in good agreement with measured values, but the Nusselt numbers are underpredicted. For the outer preswirl chamber, it was possible to make comparisons between the measured and computed values for cooling-air temperatures but not for the Nusselt numbers. As expected, the temperature of the blade-cooling air decreases as the inlet swirl ratio increases, but the computed air temperatures are significantly lower than the measured ones. Overall, the results give valuable insight into some of the heat transfer characteristics of this complex system.


1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Xin Chen ◽  
Xiaopeng Gan ◽  
J. Michael Owen

This paper describes a combined experimental and computational study of the heat transfer from an electrically-heated disc rotating close to an unheated stator. A radial outflow of cooling air was used to remove heat from the disc, and local Nusselt numbers were measured, using fluxmeters at seven radial locations, for nondimensional flow rates up to C = 9680 and rotational Reynolds numbers up to Reφ = 1.2 × 106. Computations were carried out using an elliptic solver with a low-Reynolds-number k-ε turbulence model, and the agreement between the measured and computed velocities and Nusselt numbers was mainly good.


Author(s):  
J. M. Owen ◽  
H. S. Onur

In order to gain an understanding of the conditions inside air-cooled gas-turbine rotors, flow visualization, laser-doppler anemometry and heat-transfer measurements have been made in a rotating cavity with either an axial throughflow or a radial outflow of coolant. For the axial throughflow tests, a correlation has been obtained for the mean Nusselt number in terms of the cavity gap ratio, the axial Reynolds number and rotational Grashof number. For the radial outflow tests, velocity measurements are in good agreement with solutions of the linear (laminar and turbulent) Ekman layer equations, and flow visualization has revealed the destabilizing effect of buoyancy forces on the flow structure. The mean Nusselt numbers have been correlated, for the radial outflow case, over a wide range of gap ratios, coolant flow rates, rotational Reynolds numbers and Grashof numbers. As well as the three (forced convection) regimes established from previous experiments, a fourth (free convection) regime has been identified.


1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Owen ◽  
H. S. Onur

In order to gain an understanding of the conditions inside air-cooled, gas-turbine rotors, flow visualization, laser-doppler anemometry, and heat-transfer measurements have been made in a rotating cavity with either an axial throughflow or a radial outflow of coolant. For the axial throughflow tests, a correlation has been obtained for the mean Nusselt number in terms of the cavity gap ratio, the axial Reynolds number, and rotational Grashof number. For the radial outflow tests, velocity measurements are in good agreement with solutions of the linear (laminar and turbulent) Ekman layer equations, and flow visualization has revealed the destabilizing effect of buoyancy forces on the flow structure. The mean Nusselt numbers have been correlated, for the radial outflow case, over a wide range of gap ratios, coolant flow rates, rotational Reynolds numbers, and Grashof numbers. As well as the three (forced convection) regimes established from previous experiments, a fourth (free convection) regime has been identified.


1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Morse ◽  
C. L. Ong

The paper presents finite-difference predictions for the convective heat transfer in symmetrically heated rotating cavities subjected to a radial outflow of cooling air. An elliptic calculation procedure has been used, with the turbulent fluxes estimated by means of a low Reynolds number k–ε model and the familiar “turbulence Prandtl number” concept. The predictions extend to rotational Reynolds numbers of 3.7 × 106 and encompass cases where the disk temperatures may be increasing, constant, or decreasing in the radial direction. It is found that the turbulence model leads to predictions of the local and average Nusselt numbers for both disks that are generally within ± 10 percent of the values from published experimental data, although there appear to be larger systematic errors for the upstream disk than for the downstream disk. It is concluded that the calculations are of sufficient accuracy for engineering design purposes, but that improvements could be brought about by further optimization of the turbulence model.


1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-X. Chen ◽  
X. Gan ◽  
J. M. Owen

This paper describes a combined experimental and computational study of the heat transfer from an electrically heated disk rotating close to an unheated stator. A radial outflow of cooling air was used to remove heat from the disk, and local Nusselt numbers were measured, using fluxmeters at seven radial locations, for nondimensional flow rates up to Cw = 9680 and rotational Reynolds numbers up to Reφ = 1.2 × 106 Computations were carried out using an elliptic solver with a low-Reynolds-number k–ε turbulence model, and the agreement between the measured and computed velocities and Nusselt numbers was mainly good.


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