scholarly journals Buoyancy-Induced Flow and Heat Transfer in Compressor Rotors

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Tang ◽  
Mark R. Puttock-Brown ◽  
J. Michael Owen
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Temperature Rise ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Radial Clearance ◽  
Rotating Disks ◽  
Compressor Blades ◽  
Nusselt Numbers ◽  
Flow And Heat Transfer ◽  
Induced Flow ◽  
Buoyancy Induced Flow

The buoyancy-induced flow and heat transfer inside the compressor rotors of gas-turbine engines affects the stresses and radial growth of the compressor disks, and it also causes a temperature rise in the axial throughflow of cooling air through the center of the disks. In turn, the radial growth of the disks affects the radial clearance between the rotating compressor blades and the surrounding stationary casing. The calculation of this clearance is extremely important, particularly in aeroengines where the increase in pressure ratios results in a decrease in the size of the blades. In this paper, a published theoretical model—based on buoyancy-induced laminar Ekman-layer flow on the rotating disks—is extended to include laminar free convection from the compressor shroud and forced convection between the bore of the disks and the axial throughflow. The predicted heat transfer from these three surfaces is then used to calculate the temperature rise of the throughflow. The predicted temperatures and Nusselt numbers are compared with measurements made in a multicavity compressor rig, and mainly good agreement is achieved for a range of Rossby, Reynolds, and Grashof numbers representative of those found in aeroengine compressors. Owing to compressibility effects in the fluid core between the disks—and as previously predicted—increasing rotational speed can result in an increase in the core temperature and a consequent decrease in the Nusselt numbers from the disks and shroud.

Measurement and Analysis of Buoyancy-Induced Heat Transfer in Aero-Engine Compressor Rotors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Jackson ◽  
Dario Luberti ◽  
Hui Tang ◽  
Oliver J. Pountney ◽  
James A. Scobie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Outer Region ◽  
Conjugate Problem ◽  
Radial Temperature ◽  
Nusselt Numbers ◽  
Induced Flow ◽  
Aero Engines ◽  
Inner Region ◽  
Buoyancy Induced Flow

Abstract The flow inside cavities between co-rotating compressor discs of aero-engines is driven by buoyancy, with Grashof numbers exceeding 1013. This phenomenon creates a conjugate problem: the Nusselt numbers depend on the radial temperature distribution of the discs, and the disc temperatures depend on the Nusselt numbers. Furthermore, Coriolis forces in the rotating fluid generate cyclonic and anti-cyclonic circulations inside the cavity. Such flows are three-dimensional, unsteady and unstable, and it is a challenge to compute and measure the heat transfer from the discs to the axial throughflow in the compressor. In this paper, Nusselt numbers are experimentally determined from measurements of steady-state temperatures on the surfaces of both discs in a rotating cavity of the Bath Compressor-Cavity Rig. The data are collected over a range of engine-representative parameters and are the first results from a new experimental facility specifically designed to investigate buoyancy-induced flow. The radial distributions of disc temperature were collected under carefully-controlled thermal boundary conditions appropriate for analysis using a Bayesian model combined with the equations for a circular fin. The Owen-Tang buoyancy model has been used to compare predicted radial distributions of disc temperatures and Nusselt numbers with some of the experimentally determined values, taking account of radiation between the interior surfaces of the cavity. The experiments show that the average Nusselt numbers on the disc increase as the buoyancy forces increase. At high rotational speeds the temperature rise in the core, created by compressibility effects in the air, attenuates the heat transfer and there is a critical rotational Reynolds number for which the Nusselt number is a maximum. In the cavity, there is an inner region dominated by forced convection and an outer region dominated by buoyancy-induced flow. The inner region is a mixing region, in which entrained cold throughflow encounters hot flow from the Ekman layers on the discs. Consequently, the Nusselt numbers on the downstream disc in the inner region tend to be higher than those on the upstream disc.

Theoretical Model of Buoyancy-Induced Heat Transfer in Closed Compressor Rotors

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Tang ◽  
J. Michael Owen
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Gravitational Acceleration ◽  
Centripetal Acceleration ◽  
Closed Cavity ◽  
Nusselt Numbers ◽  
Industrial Gas Turbines ◽  
Induced Flow ◽  
Cooling Air ◽  
Buoyancy Induced Flow

The cavities between the rotating compressor discs in aeroengines are open, and there is an axial throughflow of cooling air in the annular space between the centre of the discs and the central rotating compressor shaft. Buoyancy-induced flow occurs inside these open rotating cavities, with an exchange of heat and momentum between the axial throughflow and the air inside the cavity. However, even where there is no opening at the centre of the compressor discs — as is the case in some industrial gas turbines — buoyancy-induced flow can still occur inside the closed rotating cavities. The closed cavity also provides a limiting case for an open cavity when the axial clearance between the cobs — the bulbous hubs at the centre of compressor discs — is reduced to zero. Bohn and his co-workers at the University of Aachen have studied three different closed-cavity geometries, and they have published experimental data for the case where the outer cylindrical surface is heated and the inner surface is cooled. In this paper, a buoyancy model is developed in which it is assumed that the heat transfer from the cylindrical surfaces is analogous to laminar free convection from horizontal plates, with the gravitational acceleration replaced by the centripetal acceleration. The resulting equations, which have been solved analytically, show how the Nusselt numbers depend on both the geometry of the cavity and its rotational speed. The theoretical solutions show that compressibility effects in the core attenuate the Nusselt numbers, and there is a critical Reynolds number at which the Nusselt number will be a maximum. For the three cavities tested, the predicted Nusselt numbers are in generally good agreement with the measured values of Bohn et al. over a large range of Raleigh numbers up to values approaching 1012. The fact that the flow remains laminar even at these high Rayleigh numbers is attributed to the Coriolis accelerations suppressing turbulence in the cavity, which is consistent with recently-published results for open rotating cavities.

Numerical Analysis of Buoyancy-Induced Flow and Heat Transfer in an Enclosure With Vents

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. V. Calmidi ◽  
S. B. Sathe
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Printed Circuit Board ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Electronics Cooling ◽  
Circuit Board ◽  
Set Top Box ◽  
Flow And Heat Transfer ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Induced Flow ◽  
Buoyancy Induced Flow

Abstract This paper reports a numerical study of buoyancy-induced flow and heat transfer in an enclosure with vents. The geometry closely resembles a “set-top-box” application frequently encountered in electronics cooling applications. The heat generating module is modeled as a planar heat source placed on a conducting printed circuit board (PCB). Full 3D and simplified 2D conjugate heat transfer models accounting for conduction and radiation in the solids and conduction and convection in the fluid were used Experiments performed to validate the 3D model have shown excellent comparisons with numerical results. A parametric study involving vent size, power dissipation, number of high conductivity power planes in the PCB has been performed with both the 3D and the 2D models. Although the quantitative results obtained from both types of analyses are similar only under certain conditions, qualitatively, the 2D analysis can be used to obtain useful insights into the complex overall transport mechanisms.

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