In the internal air system of gas turbine engines or generators, a large variety of different types of annular channels with rotating cylinders are found. Even though the geometry is very simple, the flow field in such channels can be completely three-dimensional and also unsteady. From the literature it is well-known that the basic two-dimensional flow field breaks up into a pattern of counter-rotating vortices as soon as the critical speed of the inner cylinder is exceeded. The presence of a superimposed axial flow leads to a helical shape of the vortex pairs that are moving through the channel. For the designer of cooling air systems there are several open questions. Does the formation of a Taylor-vortex flow field significantly affect the convective heat transfer behavior of the channel flow? Is there a stability problem even for high axial Reynolds-numbers and where is the location of the stability boundary? After all, the general influence of rotation on the heat transfer characteristics has to be known. By the results of flow field and heat transfer measurements, the impact of rotation and the additional influence of Taylor-vortex formation on the heat transfer characteristics in annular channels with axial throughflow will be discussed. The flow field was investigated by time-dependant LDA-measurements, which revealed detailed information about the flow conditions. By a spectral analysis of the measured data, the different flow regimes could be identified. Based on these results, the heat transfer from the hot gas to the rotating inner shaft was determined with a steady-state method. Thus, the influence of the different physical phenomena such as rotation with and without Taylor-vortex formation or the flow development could be separated and quantified. Finally, correlations of the measured results were derived for technical applications.

The fluid flow in gas turbine rim seals and the sealing effectiveness are influenced by the interaction of the rotor and the stator disk and by the external flow in the hot gas annulus. The resulting flow structure is fully 3-dimensional and time-dependant. The requirements to a sufficiently accurate numerical prediction for front and back cavity flows are discussed in this paper. The results of different numerical approaches are presented for an axial seal configuration. This covers a full simulation of the time-dependant flow field in a 1.5 stage experimental turbine including the main annulus and both rim cavities. This configuration is simplified in subsequent steps in order to identify a method providing the best compromise between a sufficient level of accuracy and the least computational effort. A comparison of the computed cavity pressures and the sealing effectiveness with rig test data shows the suitability of each numerical method. The numerical resolution of a large scale rotating structure that is found in the front cavity is a special focus of this study. The existence of this flow pattern was detected first by unsteady pressure measurements in test rig. It persists within a certain range of cooling air massflows and significantly affects the sealing behaviour and the cavity pressure distribution. This phenomenon is captured with an unsteady calculation using a 360 deg. computational domain. The description of the flow pattern is given together with a comparison to the measurements.

In the internal air system of gas turbine engines or generators, a large variety of different types of annular channels with rotating cylinders are found. Even though the geometry is very simple, the flow field in such channels can be completely three-dimensional and also unsteady. From the literature it is well-known, that the basic two-dimensional flow field breaks up into a pattern of counter-rotating vortices, as soon as the critical speed of the inner cylinder is exceeded. The presence of a superimposed axial flow leads to a helical shape of the vortex pairs, which are moving through the channel. For the designer of cooling air systems there are several open questions. Does the formation of a Taylor-vortex flow field significantly affect the convective heat transfer behaviour of the channel flow? Is there a stability problem even for high axial Reynolds-numbers and where is the location of the stability boundary? After all, the general influence of rotation on the heat transfer characteristics has to be known. By the results of flow field and heat transfer measurements, the impact of rotation and the additional influence of Taylor-vortex formation on the heat transfer characteristics in annular channels with axial throughflow will be discussed. The flow field was investigated by time-dependant LDA-measurements, which revealed detailed information about the flow conditions. By a spectral analysis of the measured data, the different flow regimes could be identified. Based on these results, the heat transfer from the hot gas to the rotating inner shaft was determined with a steady-state method. Thus, the influence of the different physical phenomena such as rotation with and without Taylor-vortex formation or the flow development could be separated and quantified. Finally, correlations of the measured results were derived for technical applications.

A method of estimating the turbine rim seal ingestion rates was developed using the time-dependent pressure distributions on the hub of turbines and a simple-orifice model. Previous methods use the time-averaged pressure distribution downstream of the vanes to estimate seal ingestion. The present model uses the pressure distribution near the turbine hub, obtained from 2D time-dependent stage calculations, and a simple-orifice model to estimate the pressure-driven ingress of gas-path fluid into the turbine disk cavity and the egress of cavity fluid to the gas path. The time-dependent pressure distribution provides the influence of both the vane wakes and the bow wave from the blade on the pressure difference between the hub pressure at an azimuthal location and the cavity pressure. Results from the simple-orifice model are used to determine the effective Cd that matches the cooling effectiveness at radii near the rim seal with the amount of gas-path-ingested flow required to mix with the coolant flow. Cavity ingestion data from rim seal ingestion experiments in a 1.5-stage turbine and numerical simulations for a 1 vane, 2-blade sector of the 16-vane, 32-blade turbine were used to evaluate the method. The experiments and simulations were performed for close-spaced and wide-spaced half stages between both the vane and blade and between the blade and a trailing teardrop-shaped strut. The comparison of the model with a single Cd for axial gap seals and the experiments showed a reasonable agreement for both close- and wide-spaced stages.

Experimental and numerical results of the flow through orifices in rotating disks are presented, with emphasis on basic physical phenomena. It is shown that rotational effects strongly influence the massflow discharged, a phenomenon that cannot be modeled by a stationary setup. The study includes the determination of discharge coefficients under variation of the length-to-diameter ratio, pressure ratio, and rotational speed. The pressure ratio covers low as well as critical values, the maximum rotational speed is 10,000 rpm, which is equivalent to a tangential velocity of 110 m/s. In order to understand the flow structure, local flow velocities were measured by means of a two-dimensional Laser-Doppler Velocimeter. Phase-resolved measurements have been carried out in front of and behind the orifices. A three-dimensional Finite-Volume Code with body-fitted coordinates in a rotating frame of reference is employed for the numerical analysis and the verification of its possibilities and limitations. The results reveal a very complex flow field, which is dominated by high velocity gradients in close vicinity to the orifices. The comparison of the computational solutions with the experimental data shows good agreement. Based on the measurements in combination with the numerical solution, a detailed insight into the physical properties of the flow is achieved.