Session: 14-01 Compressor Cavities 1

Paper Number: 127455

127455 - Flow and Heat Transfer in a Rotating Disc Cavity With Axial Throughflow at High Speed Conditions 

This research focuses on flow and heat transfer in a compressor rotating disc cavity with axial throughflow, with relatively high rotation speeds. Wall-modelled large-eddy simulations (WMLES) are conducted in the open-source CFD solver Code_Saturne. For the rotation speeds considered kinetic energy effects (as characterised by Eckert number) are significant. These are accounted for by scaling the thermal boundary conditions from static temperature to rotary stagnation temperature. The WMLES results are validated against experimental data at the highest Reynolds number available (Re_φ=3×10⁶), with very encouraging agreement, and match well with the previously published WMLES data. Excellent parallel performance of Code_Saturne is confirmed on the national high-performance computing facility. In addition, mesh sensitivity tests have shown that some relaxation of previously published mesh criteria can be made at high Reynolds number conditions. These developments have enabled WMLES at a very high, engine representative Reynolds number, and parametric studies at Re_φ=2.2×10⁶. The advantage of WMLES over unsteady Reynolds-averaged model has been confirmed at high Reynolds numbers. Parametric studies consider variations in cavity width, cob width, cob radius, and shaft radius. Variations in operating conditions include changes in Rossby number, inlet swirl ratio and disc temperature profile. Effects on shroud and disc heat transfer,  unsteadiness in the cavity, and flow structure are examined, and comparisons are made with elementary flow modelling.

Presenting Author: Ruonan Wang University of Surrey

Presenting Author Biography: Ruonan Wang is a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, University of Surrey, working with Professor John Chew, Dr Feng Gao and Dr Olaf Marxen. His research interests are high-fidelity CFD modelling of flow and heat transfer in turbomachinery using open-source solvers, especially LES and DNS on centrifugal buoyancy-induced flow in rotating disc cavities.

Authors:

Ruonan Wang University of Surrey
John Chew University of Surrey
Feng Gao Beihang University
Olaf Marxen University of Surrey