Heat Transfer and Temperature Field Experiments in a Cavity With Rotation, Recirculation, and Coolant Throughflow

Abstract

Local wall heat transfer coefficients and fluid temperature distributions were measured in a cavity consisting of a pair of parallel disks and a cylindrical shroud. One of the disks was rotating, whereas the other disk and the shroud were stationary. Coolant air entered the cavity through a central aperture in the rotating disk and exited through an annular gap at the rim of the rotating disk. The coolant flow rate, the disk rotational speed, and the cavity aspect ratio (disk separation distance to radius) were varied throughout the course of the experiments. The latter parameter took on values as large as two. The heat transfer results and the fluid isotherm maps suggested that the flow pattern within the cavity was markedly different depending upon whether the coolant stream or the pumping action of the rotating disk was predominant. The surface distributions of the heat transfer coefficients reversed the direction of their spatial variation over the range from no rotation to high rotation. However, the maximum values of the Nusselt number curves for no rotation were as high as the maximum values of the curves for corresponding cases with high rotation. The isotherm maps for the no-rotation cases revealed that the major portion of the cavity was filled with nearly isothermal fluid. On the other hand, in the presence of strong rotation, there were substantial fluid temperature variations throughout the cavity.