Shroud heat transfer measurements inside a heated multiple rotating cavity with axial throughflow

Experimental measurements of heat transfer are made from the inner peripheral surface of a rotating test rig designed to be similar to a gas turbine high pressure compressor internal air system. The test rig comprises a number of annular discs sealed at their periphery by a shroud. An axial throughflow of cooling air enters the test rig and flows through the annular section between the disc bores and a central shaft. Tests were carried out for the following range of rotational speeds and axial throughflow rates: 540 < N_R < 10,800 rev/min and (corresponding to the range of rotational and axial Reynolds numbers 4 × 10⁵ < Re < 7.7 × 10⁶ and 3.3 × 10⁴ < Re_z < 2.2 × 10⁵).

The shroud Nusselt numbers are found to depend on the shroud Grashof number. They are relatively insensitive to changes in axial Reynolds number and two geometrically similar cavities give similar values of Nusselt number. The heat transfer from the shroud is governed by the mechanism of free convection. It is recommended that a modified form of a correlation for Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a gravitational force field be used, with appropriate modification, to predict shroud heat transfer.     

Boundary layer receptivity measurements on compliant surfaces

This paper describes receptivity measurements in a pre-transitional boundary layer flowing over either a rigid or a compliant surface. Fluctuating velocities and frequency spectra were determined on one rigid and nine compliant surfaces. The results showed that the near wall receptivity grows linearly with Re_θ. An empirical correlation of the gain frequency spectrum for a rigid wall was also established. For the compliant surfaces, the near wall gain is increased markedly near the leading edge of the plate due to the amplification of high and mid-frequencies. These frequencies are dissipated though as the flow progresses over the compliant surface such that the receptivity is lower on all the compliant surfaces than on the rigid surface at the trailing edge. An empirical correlation for the ratio of the gains on compliant and rigid surfaces in terms of the compliant surface coefficient ζ²/Eρ_CSL² and Re_θ was established. This correlation indicates that compliant surfaces can suppress receptivity by up to 25% for a Re_θ = 400.     

Open channel turbulent flow over hemispherical ribs

This paper reports an experimental investigation of open channel turbulent flow over hemispherical ribs. A row of ribs consists of hemispheres closely placed to one another in the spanwise direction and cover the entire span of the channel. The pitch-to-height ratio is varied to achieve the so-called d-type, intermediate and k-type roughness. The Reynolds numbers based on water depth, h, and momentum thickness, θ, of the approach flow are respectively, Re_h = 28,100 and Re_θ = 1800. A particle image velocimetry is used to obtain detailed velocity measurements in and above the cavity. Streamlines, mean velocity and time-averaged turbulent statistics are used to study the effects of pitch-to-height ratio on the flow characteristics and also to document similarities and differences between the present work and prior studies over two-dimensional transverse rods. It was observed that interaction between the outer flow and the shear layers generated by ribs is strongest for k-type and least for d-type ribs. The results also show that hemispherical ribs are less effective in augmenting flow resistance compared to two-dimensional transverse ribs. The levels of the Reynolds stresses and budget terms increase with increasing pitch-to-height ratio inside the roughness sublayer.     

Coherent fine scale eddies in turbulence transition of spatially-developing mixing layer

To investigate the relationship between characteristics of the coherent fine scale eddy and a laminar–turbulent transition, a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a spatially-developing turbulent mixing layer with Re_ω,0 = 700 was conducted. On the onset of the transition, strong coherent fine scale eddies appears in the mixing layer. The most expected value of maximum azimuthal velocity of the eddy is 2.0 times Kolmogorov velocity (u_k), and decreases to 1.2u_k, which is an asymptotic value in the fully-developed state, through the transition. The energy dissipation rate around the eddy is twice as high compared with that in the fully-developed state. However, the most expected diameter and eigenvalues ratio of strain rate acting on the coherent fine scale eddy are maintained to be 8 times Kolmogorov length (η) and :β:γ = −5:1:4 in the transition process. In addition to Kelvin–Helmholtz rollers, rib structures do not disappear in the transition process and are composed of lots of coherent fine scale eddies in the fully-developed state instead of a single eddy observed in early stage of the transition or in laminar flow.     

DNS of passive scalar transport in turbulent channel flow at high Schmidt numbers

We perform DNS of passive scalar transport in low Reynolds number turbulent channel flow at Schmidt numbers up to Sc = 49. The high resolutions required to resolve the scalar concentration fields at such Schmidt numbers are achieved by a hierarchical algorithm in which only the scalar fields are solved on the grid dictated by the Batchelor scale. The velocity fields are solved on coarser grids and prolonged by a conservative interpolation to the fine-grid.

The trends observed so far at lower Schmidt numbers Sc  10 are confirmed, i.e. the mean scalar gradient steepens at the wall with increasing Schmidt number, the peaks of turbulent quantities increase and move towards the wall. The instantaneous scalar fields show a dramatic change. Observable structures get longer and thinner which is connected with the occurrence of steeper gradients, but the wall concentrations penetrate less deeply into the plateau in the core of the channel.

Our data shows that the thickness of the conductive sublayer, as defined by the intersection point of the linear with the logarithmic asymptote scales with Sc^−0.29. With this information it is possible to derive an expression for the dimensionless transfer coefficient K⁺ which is only dependent on Sc and Re_τ. This expression is in full accordance to previous results which demonstrates that the thickness of the conductive sublayer is the dominating quantity for the mean scalar profile.     

Some features of a turbulent wing–body junction vortical flow

Laser-Doppler velocimeter measurements of a wing/body junction flow field made within a plane to the side of the wing/wall junction and perpendicular both to a 3:2 elliptical nose—NACA 0020 tail wing, and a flat wall are presented. Reynolds number of the approach boundary layer was, Re_θ = 5940, and free-stream air velocity was, U_ref = 27.5 m/s. A large vortical structure residing in the outer region redirects the low-turbulence free-stream flow to the vicinity of the wing/wall junction, resulting in thin boundary layers with velocity magnitudes higher than free-stream flow. Lateral pressure gradients result in a three-dimensional separation on the uplifting side of the vortex. Additionally, a high vorticity vortical structure with opposite sense to the outer-layer vortex forms beneath the outer-layer vortex. Normal and shear stresses increase to attain values an order of magnitude larger compared to values measured in a three-dimensional boundary layer just outside the junction vortex. Bimodal histograms of the w fluctuating velocity occur under the outer-layer vortex near the wall due to the time-dependent nature of the horseshoe vortex. In such a flow the shear-stress angle (SSA) highly lags the flow-gradient angle (FGA), and the turbulence diffusion is highly altered due to presence of vortical structures.     

On the influence of near-wall forces in particle-laden channel flows

Computation of a turbulent dilute gas–solid channel flow has been undertaken to study the influence of using wall-corrected drag coefficients and of the lift force on the dispersed phase characteristics. The incompressible Navier–Stokes equations governing the carrier flow were solved by using a direct numerical simulation approach and coupled with a Lagrangian particle tracking. Calculations were performed at Reynolds number based on the wall-shear velocity and channel half-width, Re_τ ≈ 184, and for three different sets of solid particles. For each particle set, two cases were examined, in the first one the particle motion was governed by both drag and lift wall-corrected forces, whereas in the other one, the standard drag force (not corrected) was solely acting. The lift force model used represents the most accurate available expression since it accounts for weak and strong shear as well as for wall effects. For this study, we considered elastic collisions for particles contacting the walls and that no external forces were acting. Present results indicate that the use of the lift force and of the drag corrections does not lead to significant changes in the statistical properties of the solid phase, at the exception of some statistics for the high inertia particles.     

Large-eddy simulations of flow over a jet-impinged wall-mounted cube in a cross stream

We report on large-eddy simulations of flow over a heated, jet-impinged, wall-mounted cube in a cross-flow, representing a simplified case of electronics cooling. The configuration consists of an in-line array of five cubes mounted on the bottom wall of a plane channel. The central heated cube is cooled by two mutually perpendicular streams of air: a channel flow at Re_c = 4800 and a round impinging jet Re_j = 5200 issued from an orifice in the opposite upper channel wall. The study was aimed at investigating flow structures and turbulence statistics, as well as their thermal signature and heat transfer on the cube surface. The comparison with measurement in a similar, though not identical, configuration shows qualitatively good agreement despite some important differences in flow conditions. The paper outlines the method applied and presents a selection of results.     

Three-dimensional numerical study and field synergy principle analysis of wavy fin heat exchangers with elliptic tubes

Three dimensional numerical studies were performed for laminar heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of wavy fin heat exchangers with elliptic/circular tubes by body-fitted coordinates system. The simulation results of circular tube were compared with the experiment data, then circular and elliptic (e = b/a = 0.6) arrangements with the same minimum flow cross-sectional area were compared. A max relative heat transfer gain of up to 30% is observed in the elliptic arrangement, and corresponding friction factor only increased by about 10%. The effects of five factors on wavy fin and elliptic tube heat exchangers were examined: Reynolds number (based on the smaller ellipse axis, 500  4000), eccentricity (b/a, 0.6  1.0), fin pitch (F_p/2b, 0.05  0.4), fin thickness (F_t/2b, 0.006  0.04) and tube spanwise pitch (S₁/2b, 1.0  2.0). The results show that with the increasing of Reynolds number and fin thickness, decreasing of the eccentricity and spanwise tube pitch, the heat transfer of the finned tube bank are enhanced with some penalty in pressure drop. There is an optimum fin pitch (F_p/2b = 0.1) for heat transfer, but friction factor always decreases with increase of fin pitch. And when F_p/2b is larger than 0.25, it has little effects on heat transfer and pressure drop. The results were also analyzed from the view point of field synergy principle. It was found that the effects of the five factors on the heat transfer performance can be well described by the field synergy principle.     

Flow measurements inside a heated multiple rotating cavity with axial throughflow

This paper discusses experimental results from a multiple cavity test rig representative of a high pressure compressor internal air system. Measurements of the axial, tangential and radial velocity components are presented. These were made using a two component, laser doppler anemometry (LDA) system for a range of non-dimensional parameters representative of engine conditions (Re up to 4 × 10⁶ and Re_z up to 1.8 × 10⁵). Tests were carried out for two different sizes of annular gap between the (non-rotating) drive shaft and the disc bores.

The axial and radial velocities inside the cavities are virtually zero. The size of the annular gap between disc bore and shaft has a significant effect on the radial distribution of tangential velocity. For the narrow annular gap (d_h/b = 0.092), there is an increase of non-dimensional tangential velocity V/Ωr with radial location from V/Ωr < 1 at the lower radii to solid body rotation V/Ωr = 1 further into the cavity. For the wider annular gap (d_h/b = 0.164), there is a decrease from V/Ωr > 1 at the lower radii to solid body rotation further into the cavity. An analysis of the frequency spectrum obtained from the tangential velocity measurements is consistent with a flow structure in the r– plane consisting of pairs of contra rotating vortices.