Study of the Convective Heat Transfer in a Rotating Coolant Channel

Abstract

An experimental and theoretical study of convective heat transfer in a rotating coolant channel was inspired by the potential application to cooled turbine rotor blades. The flow that circulates into the internal cavity of the blade is subjected to Coriolis and centrifugal forces, in addition to pressure and friction forces. In this study, the channel is a rectangular-sectioned duct that rotates around an orthogonal axis. The experimental rig is composed of a vacuum enclosure, which includes an electric furnace, and the test section, heated by radiative flux. The temperatures of the wall test section are measured with thermocouples and the infrared pyrometer technique still under development. The convective heat transfer coefficients are determined with transient or steady-state techniques. It is shown that Coriolis acceleration has a beneficial influence on mean heat transfer. Locally, along the pressure side, the transfer increases strongly and on the contrary along the suction side, it decreases slightly. These effects are analyzed theoretically with a Navier-Stokes three dimensional (with mixing length model of turbulence) and explained by the influence of Coriolis force, which induces a secondary flow and distorts the velocity and temperature profiles. Experimental and theoretical results are presented and discussed.