Rotor blades experience very high centrifugal forces that can be used to pump air to the outboard region of the blade through an internal duct, which can be used for flow control. Analysis or design of such systems requires accurate prediction capability. To validate current Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulation methodologies, an experiment was performed using a rotating pipe, and simulation results were compared to the measured data. A quasi-one-dimensional code was also compared to experiment as a lower-order simulation tool for faster solutions. The test and simulations include several combinations of steady inlet and exit conditions as well as an unsteady inlet valve operation at several rotational speeds. The quasi-one-dimensional code showed good correlation for steady inlet and exit conditions with boundary conditions obtained from experiment. Navier–Stokes methods also showed good agreement with measured data for pressure and mass flow rate at most conditions, while properly capturing complex flow features including separation, secondary swirl flow, and tip-flow interactions. The kinetic-eddy simulation and the Spalart–Allmaras turbulence models were tested to examine solution sensitivity under the complex flow environment. The two turbulence models showed similar results, except when the inlet valve was closed, in which case the kinetic-eddy simulation model showed better correlation.


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    Title :

    Numerical and Experimental Study of Centrifugally Driven Flow Inside a Rotating Duct


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Journal of Aircraft ; 54 , 3 ; 1098-1108


    Publication date :

    2017-05-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English