Abstract

The focus of the present study is to understand the effect of Rayleigh number on a high Rossby number flow in a high-pressure compressor inter-disk cavity. These cavities form between the compressor disks of a gas turbine engine, and they are an integral part of the internal air cooling system. We perform highly resolved large-eddy simulations for two Rayleigh numbers of 0.76 × 108 and 1.54 × 108 at a fixed Rossby number of 4.5 by solving the compressible Navier–Stokes equations. The results show a flow structure dominated by a toroidal vortex in the inner region of the cavity. In the outer region, the flow is observed to move radially outwards by Ekman layers formed on the side disks and to move radially inwards through the central core region of the cavity. An enhancement in the intensity of the radial flares is observed in the outer region of the cavity for the high Rayleigh number case with no perceivable effect in the inner region. The near-shroud region is mostly dominated by the centrifugal buoyancy-induced flow and the wall Nusselt number calculated at the shroud is in close agreement with centrifugal buoyancy-induced flow without an axial bore flow.

References

1.
Epstein
,
A. H.
,
2014
, “
Aeropropulsion for Commercial Aviation in the Twenty-First Century and Research Directions Needed
,”
AIAA J.
,
52
(
5
), pp.
901
911
.
2.
Owen
,
J. M.
, and
Long
,
C. A.
,
2015
, “
Review of Buoyancy-Induced Flow in Rotating Cavities
,”
ASME J. Turbomach.
,
137
(
11
), p.
111001
.
3.
Farthing
,
P.
,
Long
,
C.
,
Owen
,
J.
, and
Pincombe
,
J.
,
1992
, “
Rotating Cavity With Axial Throughflow of Cooling Air: Flow Structure
,”
ASME J. Turbomach.
,
114
(
1
), pp.
237
246
.
4.
Farthing
,
P.
,
Long
,
C.
,
Owen
,
J.
, and
Pincombe
,
J.
,
1992
, “
Rotating Cavity With Axial Throughflow of Cooling Air: Heat Transfer
,”
ASME J. Turbomach.
,
114
(
1
), pp.
229
236
.
5.
Bohn
,
D. E.
,
Deutsch
,
G. N.
,
Simon
,
B.
, and
Burkhardt
,
C.
,
2000
, “
Flow Visualisation in a Rotating Cavity With Axial Throughflow
,”
ASME Turbo Expo 2000
,
Munich, Germany
,
May 8–11
, ASME Paper No. 2000-GT-0280.
6.
Owen
,
J. M.
, and
Powell
,
J.
,
2006
, “
Buoyancy-Induced Flow in a Heated Rotating Cavity
,”
ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power
,
128
(
1
), pp.
128
134
.
7.
Owen
,
J. M.
,
Abrahamsson
,
H.
, and
Lindblad
,
K.
,
2007
, “
Buoyancy-Induced Flow in Open Rotating Cavities
,”
ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power
,
129
(
4
), pp.
893
900
.
8.
Long
,
C.
,
Miché
,
N.
, and
Childs
,
P.
,
2007
, “
Flow Measurements Inside a Heated Multiple Rotating Cavity With Axial Throughflow
,”
Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow
,
28
(
6
), pp.
1391
1404
.
9.
Sun
,
Z.
,
Lindblad
,
K.
,
Chew
,
J. W.
, and
Young
,
C.
,
2007
, “
LES and RANS Investigations Into Buoyancy-Affected Convection in a Rotating Cavity With a Central Axial Throughflow
,”
ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power
,
129
(
2
), pp.
318
325
.
10.
Atkins
,
N. R.
, and
Kanjirakkad
,
V.
,
2014
, “
Flow in a Rotating Cavity With Axial Throughflow at Engine Representative Conditions
,”
ASME Turbo Expo 2014
,
Dusseldorf, Germany
,
June 16–20
, ASME Paper No. GT2014-27174.
11.
Puttock-Brown
,
M.
,
Rose
,
M.
, and
Long
,
C.
,
2017
, “
Experimental and Computational Investigation of Rayleigh–Bénard Flow in the Rotating Cavities of a Core Compressor
,”
ASME Turbo Expo 2017
,
Charlotte, NC
,
June 26–30
, ASME Paper No. GT2017-64884.
12.
Owen
,
J. M.
, and
Tang
,
H.
,
2015
, “
Theoretical Model of Buoyancy-Induced Flow in Rotating Cavities
,”
ASME J. Turbomach.
,
137
(
11
), p.
111005
.
13.
Pitz
,
D. B.
,
Chew
,
J. W.
, and
Marxen
,
O.
,
2019
, “
Effect of an Axial Throughflow on Buoyancy-Induced Flow in a Rotating Cavity
,”
Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow
,
80
, p.
108468
.
14.
Touber
,
E.
, and
Sandham
,
N. D.
,
2009
, “
Large-Eddy Simulation of Low-Frequency Unsteadiness in a Turbulent Shock-Induced Separation Bubble
,”
Theor. Comput. Fluid Dyn.
,
23
(
2
), pp.
79
107
.
15.
Sandberg
,
R. D.
, and
Sandham
,
N. D.
,
2006
, “
Nonreflecting Zonal Characteristic Boundary Condition for Direct Numerical Simulation of Aerodynamic Sound
,”
AIAA J.
,
44
(
2
), pp.
402
405
.
16.
Sandberg
,
R.
,
2015
, “
Compressible-Flow DNS With Application to Airfoil Noise
,”
Flow Turbul. Combust.
,
95
(
2–3
), pp.
211
229
.
17.
Sandberg
,
R. D.
,
Michelassi
,
V.
,
Pichler
,
R.
,
Chen
,
L.
, and
Johnstone
,
R.
,
2015
, “
Compressible Direct Numerical Simulation of Low-Pressure Turbines—Part I: Methodology
,”
ASME J. Turbomach.
,
137
(
5
), p.
051011
.
18.
Pichler
,
R.
,
Sandberg
,
R. D.
,
Laskowski
,
G.
, and
Michelassi
,
V.
,
2017
, “
High-Fidelity Simulations of a Linear HPT Vane Cascade Subject to Varying Inlet Turbulence
,”
ASME Turbo Expo 2017
,
Charlotte, NC
,
June 26–30
, ASME Paper No. GT2017-63079.
19.
Leggett
,
J.
,
Priebe
,
S.
,
Shabbir
,
A.
,
Michelassi
,
V.
,
Sandberg
,
R.
, and
Richardson
,
E.
,
2018
, “
Loss Prediction in an Axial Compressor Cascade at Off-Design Incidences With Free Stream Disturbances Using Large Eddy Simulation
,”
ASME J. Turbomach.
,
140
(
7
), p.
071005
.
20.
Saini
,
D.
,
Chung
,
D.
, and
Sandberg
,
R. D.
,
2018
, “
Direct Numerical Simulations of Centrifugal Buoyancy Induced Flow in a Closed Rotating Cavity
,”
Proceedings of 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference
,
Adelaide, Australia
,
Dec. 10–13
.
21.
Saini
,
D.
, and
Sandberg
,
R. D.
,
2020
, “
Simulations of Compressibility Effects in Centrifugal Buoyancy-Induced Flow in a Closed Rotating Cavity
,”
Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow
,
85
, p.
108656
.
22.
Nicoud
,
F.
, and
Ducros
,
F.
,
1999
, “
Subgrid-Scale Stress Modelling Based on the Square of the Velocity Gradient Tensor
,”
Flow Turbul. Combust.
,
62
(
3
), pp.
183
200
.
23.
Pfitzner
,
M.
, and
Waschka
,
W.
,
2000
, “
Development of an Aeroengine Secondary Air System Employing Vortex Reducers
,”
22nd ICAS Congress
,
Harogate, UK
,
Aug. 27–Sept. 1
.
24.
Childs
,
P. R.
,
2010
,
Rotating Flow
,
Elsevier
,
Oxford, UK
.
25.
Pitz
,
D. B.
,
Chew
,
J. W.
, and
Marxen
,
O.
,
2019
, “
Large-Eddy Simulation of Buoyancy-Induced Flow in a Sealed Rotating Cavity
,”
ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power
,
141
(
2
), p.
021020
.
You do not currently have access to this content.