Analysis of Shroud and Disc Heat Transfer in Aero-Engine Compressor Rotors

Author(s):  
Richard Jackson ◽  
Hui Tang ◽  
James Scobie ◽  
Oliver J Pountney ◽  
Carl Sangan ◽  
...  

Abstract Heat transfer within the rotating compressor cavity of an aero_engine is predominantly governed by buoyancy, which can be characterised by the Grashof number. Unsteady and unstable buoyancy_induced flow structures influence the temperatures and stresses in the compressor rotors, and these affect the radial growth of the discs. In addition, the heat transfer from the discs and shroud increases the temperature of the throughflow of cooling air. This paper contains two connected parts. First, a heat transfer correlation for the shroud of a rotating cavity was determined from steady_state heat flux measurements collected in the Bath Compressor_Cavity Rig at engine_simulated conditions. The Nusselt numbers were based on the cavity air temperature adjacent to the shroud, which was predicted using the Owen_Tang buoyancy model. Heat transfer from the shroud was consistent with free convection from a horizontal plate in a gravitational field. Maximum likelihood estimation was used with a Rayleigh_Benard equation to correlate the shroud Nusselt number with the local Grashof number. Secondly, an energy balance was used to calculate the enthalpy rise of the axial throughflow from the measured disc and shroud heat fluxes. Disc fluxes were derived from radial distributions of measured steady_state disc temperatures using a Bayesian model and the equations for a circular fin. The calculated throughflow temperature rise was consistent with direct thermocouple measurements. The complex, three_dimensional flow near the cavity entrance can result in enthalpy exchange penetrating upstream in the throughflow, and rotationally_induced flow can create upstream axial flow in the outer part of the annulus.

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.


Author(s):  
Michael Wilson ◽  
Robert Pilbrow ◽  
J. Michael Owen

Conditions in the internal-air system of a high-pressure turbine stage are modelled using a rig comprising an outer pre-swirl chamber separated by a seal from an inner rotor-stator system. Pre-swirl nozzles in the stator supply the “blade-cooling” air, which leaves the system via holes in the rotor, and disc-cooling air enters at the centre 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 disc-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 pre-swirl 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 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.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Pilbrow ◽  
H. Karabay ◽  
M. Wilson ◽  
J. M. Owen

In most gas turbines, blade-cooling air is supplied from stationary preswirl nozzles that swirl the air in the direction of rotation of the turbine disk. In the “cover-plate” system, the preswirl nozzles are located radially inward of the blade-cooling holes in the disk, and the swirling airflows radially outward in the cavity between the disk and a cover-plate attached to it. In this combined computational and experimental paper, an axisymmetric elliptic solver, incorporating the Launder–Sharma and the Morse low-Reynolds-number k–ε turbulence models, is used to compute the flow and heat transfer. The computed Nusselt numbers for the heated “turbine disk” are compared with measured values obtained from a rotating-disk rig. Comparisons are presented, for a wide range of coolant flow rates, for rotational Reynolds numbers in the range 0.5 X 106 to 1.5 X 106, and for 0.9 < βp < 3.1, where βp is the preswirl ratio (or ratio of the tangential component of velocity of the cooling air at inlet to the system to that of the disk). Agreement between the computed and measured Nusselt numbers is reasonably good, particularly at the larger Reynolds numbers. A simplified numerical simulation is also conducted to show the effect of the swirl ratio and the other flow parameters on the flow and heat transfer in the cover-plate system.


2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 404-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Cui ◽  
X. Y. Huang ◽  
C. Y. Liu

An experimental study was conducted on the heat transfer characteristics of flow through a porous channel with discrete heat sources on the upper wall. The temperatures along the heated channel wall were measured with different heat fluxes and the local Nusselt numbers were calculated at the different Reynolds numbers. The temperature distribution of the fluid inside the channel was also measured at several points. The experimental results were compared with that predicted by an analytical model using the Green’s integral over the discrete sources, and a good agreement between the two was obtained. The experimental results confirmed that the heat transfer would be more significant at leading edges of the strip heaters and at higher Reynolds numbers.


Author(s):  
Richard Jackson ◽  
Dario Luberti ◽  
Hui Tang ◽  
Oliver J Pountney ◽  
James Scobie ◽  
...  

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


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.


Author(s):  
Robert Pilbrow ◽  
Hasan Karabay ◽  
Michael Wilson ◽  
J. Michael Owen

In most gas turbines, blade-cooling air is supplied from stationary pre-swirl nozzles that swirl the air in the direction of rotation of the turbine disc. In the “cover-plate” system, the pre-swirl nozzles are located radially inward of the blade-cooling holes in the disc, and the swirling air flows radially outwards in the cavity between the disc and a cover-plate attached to it. In this combined computational and experimental paper, an axisymmetric elliptic solver, incorporating the Launder-Sharma and the Morse low-Reynolds-number k-ε turbulence models, is used to compute the flow and heat transfer. The computed Nusselt numbers for the heated “turbine disc” are compared with measured values obtained from a rotating-disc rig. Comparisons are presented, for a wide range of coolant flow rates, for rotational Reynolds numbers in the range 0.5 × 106 to 1.5 × 106, and for 0.9 < βp < 3.1, where βp is the pre-swirl ratio (or ratio of the tangential component of velocity of the cooling air at inlet to the system to that of the disc). Agreement between the computed and measured Nusselt numbers is reasonably good, particularly at the larger Reynolds numbers. A simplified numerical simulation is also conducted to show the effect of the swirl ratio and the other flow parameters on the flow and heat transfer in the cover-plate system.


Author(s):  
Ali Kosar ◽  
Yoav Peles

An experimental study has been performed on single-phase heat transfer of de-ionized water over a bank of shrouded micro pin fins 243-μm long with hydraulic diameter of 99.5-μm. Heat transfer coefficients and Nusselt numbers have been obtained over effective heat fluxes ranging from 3.8 to 167 W/cm2 and Reynolds numbers from 14 to 112. The results were used to derive the Nusselt numbers and total thermal resistances. It has been found that endwalls effects are significant at low Reynolds numbers and diminish at higher Reynolds numbers.


Author(s):  
Cassius A. Elston ◽  
Lesley M. Wright

The effect of rotation on jet impingement cooling is experimentally investigated in this study. Pressurized cooling air is supplied to a smooth, square channel in the radial outward direction. To model leading edge impingement in a gas turbine, jets are formed from a single row of discrete holes. The cooling air from the first pass is expelled through the holes, with the jets impinging on a semi-circular, concave surface. The inlet Reynolds number varied from 10000–40000 in the square supply channel. The rotation number and buoyancy parameter varied from 0–1.4 and 0–6.6 near the inlet of the channel, and as coolant is extracted for jet impingement, the rotation and buoyancy numbers can exceed 10 and 500 near the end of the passage. The average jet Reynolds number varied from 6000–24000, and the jet rotation number varied from 0–0.13. For all test cases, the jet-to-jet spacing (s/djet = 4), the jet-to-target surface spacing (l/djet = 3.2), and the impingement surface diameter-to-diameter (D/djet = 6.4) were held constant. A steady state technique was implemented to determine regionally averaged Nusselt numbers on the leading and trailing surfaces inside the supply channel and three spanwise locations on the concave target surface. It was observed that in all rotating test cases, the Nusselt numbers deviated from those measured in a non-rotating channel. The degree of separation between the leading and trailing surface increased with increasing rotation number. Near the inlet of the channel, heat transfer was dominated by entrance effects, however moving downstream, the local rotation number increased and the effect of rotation was more pronounced. The effect of rotation on the target surface was most clearly seen in the absence of crossflow. With pure jet impingement, the deflection of the impinging jet combined with the rotation induced secondary flows offered increased mixing within the impingement cavity and enhanced heat transfer. In the presence of strong crossflow of the spent air, the same level of heat transfer is measured in both the stationary and rotating channels.


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