Some current research in rotating-disc systems

Rotating-disc systems are used to model the flow and heat transfer that occurs inside the cooling-air systems of gas-turbine engines. In this paper, recent computational and experimental research in three systems is discussed: rotor-stator systems, rotating cavities with superposed flow and buoyancy-induced flow in a rotating cavity. Discussion of the first two systems concentrates respectively on pre-swirl systems and rotating cavities with a peripheral inflow and outflow of cooling air. Buoyancy-induced flow in a rotating cavity is one of the most difficult problems facing computationalists and experimentalists, and there are similarities between the circulation in the Earth's atmosphere and the flow inside gas-turbine rotors. For this case, results are presented for heat transfer in sealed annuli and in rotating cavities with an axial throughflow of cooling air.