Investigation of Buoyancy-Driven Heat Transfer in H.P Compressor Disc Cavities

A detailed knowledge of the flow structure and heat transfer within the rotor disc cavities is required for designing safe and efficient aero-engine compressors with a useful operating range. This paper presents the results from temperature field measurements obtained from the Multiple Cavity test facility at the University of Sussex. This emulates the secondary-air disc-cavity system in an aircraft engine high-pressure compressor. It comprises four externally heated disc-cavities and is supplied by a cool bore flow. The heat transfer is studied with the help of finite-element method using measured temperatures as boundary conditions. A validated 2D steady state heat conduction analysis methodology is also presented alongside Monte Carlo simulations. Results are presented for a range of values of Rossby number, Rotational and Axial Reynolds number and the buoyancy parameter.