Numerical Investigation for a Rotating Cavity With Axial Throughflow With Both Axial Heating and Radial Heating

This paper investigates the flow and heat transfer mechanisms of the rotating compressor cavity with axial throughflow under the thermal boundary superimposed by axial and radial heating. In contrast to previous studies, which mainly focused on radial heating, the axial temperature difference increases with the increase of the single-stage compression ratio and is therefore considered in this paper. Verified numerical simulations were used for the study, and the similarities and differences caused by superimposed axial heating were analyzed by comparing situations involving both radial and axial heating, radial heating with a small temperature difference, radial heating with a medium temperature difference, and radial heating with a large temperature difference. The effect of superimposed axial heating on the flow and heat transfer in the cavity was studied under three different Rossby numbers and three different axial temperature differences. The results indicate that the superimposed axial temperature gradient alters the flow field and temperature field in the disk cavity, resulting in different Nusselt numbers for the disk and shroud compared to the case of radial heating only. At low Ro, the buoyancy driven flow is more sensitive to the thermal boundary, so the flow field variation is dominant, and the heat transfer of the high and low radius of the disk varies with different axial temperature differences. At high Ro, the pressure driven flow field is insensitive to the thermal boundary, so the temperature field variation dominates, and the heat transfer of the high and low radius of the disk changes uniformly with different axial temperature differences.