Total Pressure Losses in Rotor Systems With Radial Inflow

Gas turbines with a splined-disc rotor design allow the compressor bleed pressure to be adapted precisely to the requirements of rotor cooling air systems in which the cooling air is routed through the spaced between the rotating discs.Calculation of such flows is extremely difficult; particularly so if the flow is directed radially inward. In such cases the circumferential component of the absolute velocity can be very high and can thus lead to pronounced total pressure losses.The paper gives a brief description of the flow phenomena, and details in the calculation methods cited in the literature.Navier–Stokes calculations were carried out for the flow through a model test bed engine. The results are compared with experimental data.A simple calculation model is discussed and its result compared with test data.The model predicts the flow pattern more accurately than the Navier-Stokes calculations, and this paper shows that the simple model can be improved further.Copyright © 2000 by ASME