Rotating Annulus Component Performance Characterisation Based on CFD Analyses
FloMASTER is a 1-D thermo-fluids system simulation tool and its component models depend on the characterisation data of the component performance. Such performance data is mainly based on data banks established from extensive tests exemplified by the books like “Internal Flow” by Miller [1] and “Handbook of Hydraulic Resistance” by Idelchik [2]. One of the key components of the gas turbine secondary air system is the rotating annulus. However, reliable data and correlations for performance characteristics like pressure loss coefficient, torque coefficient, windage and heat transfer for this component are rare and non-existent in the open literature for the case of both walls rotating simultaneously, which is becoming more common in today’s multi-spool military aero engines. To overcome this challenge of lack of reliable performance data and correlations, in this paper the Mentor Graphics 3D CFD tool “FloEFD” is used to model both inner wall rotating and outer wall rotating annulus flow, and to verify the 3D CFD results of performance data in terms of pressure loss coefficient and torque coefficient versus some published test data in the open literature. It is shown that the CFD gives results on pressure loss and torque coefficients that are in good agreement with test data based correlations used in FloMASTER. This demonstrates that 3D CFD can be used as a powerful tool for verifying the existing 1D model, extending the 1D model performance data range and generating new performance data for developing new components where such data is not available from open literature. A future project is to extend this approach to provide performance data for rotating annuli with both walls rotating. Such data will form the basis for developing a new component model for a rotating annulus with both walls rotating.