Measurement and Analysis of Flow in a Pre-Swirled Cooling Air Delivery System

Abstract

Measurements and analysis for a pre-swirl cooling air delivery system are reported here. The experimental rig used is representative of aero-engine conditions, having 18 pre-swirl nozzles, 72 receiver holes, capable of speeds up to 11 000 rpm, and giving differences between total temperature upstream of the pre-swirl nozzles and relative total temperature measured in the receiver holes of up to 26K. Pressure and temperature measurements are reported. An elementary model is developed for calculation of the cooling air delivery temperature. This accounts for the pre-swirl nozzle velocity coefficient, moments on the stationary and rotating surfaces in the pre-swirl chamber, and flows through the inner and outer seals to the chamber. The model is shown to correlate the measurements well for a range of disc speeds and pre-swirl velocity to disc speed ratios.