Action mechanism of axial flow on windage loss in open shaft‐type gap with CO2

Abstract

Abstract The windage loss in rotor‐stator gap has an important effect on rotating machinery, especially with higher rotational speed and fluid density. However, the mechanism of axial flow on windage loss in open shaft‐type gap is hardly studied in most literature. To clarify it, the influences of axial Reynolds number Reu and rotational Reynolds number Reω on skin friction coefficient Cf are investigated, and flow characteristics are analyzed with different gap geometry, radius ratio η. First, the results reveal that the Cf remains constant when Reu is less than 2.8 × 104 and increases rapidly as Reu when Reu ≥ 2.8 × 104, which indicates that the effect of axial velocity u on Cf is negligible for low Reu. The positive relative deviation Δ suggests that the axial flow makes windage loss and Cf rise. Besides, a larger number of Taylor vortexes fill with gap when the effect of the centrifugal force is larger than that of the inertial force, but they gradually disappear as Reu. Subsequently, the Cf and Δ increase as η, highlighting that the effect of u on windage loss and Cf is more prominent for larger η. The fact that vorticity near walls is larger than that at the center of gap reveals that windage loss arises from the interaction between walls and fluid rather than the dissipation with fluid itself. Finally, the model of Cf in shaft‐type gap is proposed in different Reω ranges based on numerical results, and the maximum sum of squares error of 1.02 × 10−5 and minimal R2 of 0.969 satisfy the requirement of fitting accuracy and indicate that the fitting model can accurately predict Cf. The conclusions significantly help predict windage loss in open shaft‐type gap with axial flow, and further improve the design for generators of supercritical CO2 turbine‐alternator‐compressor unit.

Keywords

• axial flow
• shaft‐type gap
• skin friction coefficient
• windage loss