Effect of Rotation and Coolant Throughflow on the Heat Transfer and Temperature Field in an Enclosure

Measurements were performed to determine the local heat transfer coefficients along the heated shroud of a shrouded parallel disk system. The temperature field within the enclosure formed by the shroud and the disks was also measured. One of the disks was rotating, whereas the other disk and the shroud were stationary. Coolant air was introduced into the enclosure through an aperture at the center of the stationary disk and exited through a slot at the rim of the rotating disk. The coolant entrance-exit arrangement differed from that of previous studies, with the additional difference that the incoming coolant stream was free of rotation. The coolant flow rate, the disk rotational speed, and the aspect ratio of the enclosure were varied during the experiments. The heat transfer coefficients were found to be increasingly insensitive to the absence or presence of rotation as the coolant flow rate increased. There was a general increase of the transfer coefficients with increasing coolant flow rate, especially for low rotational speeds. The temperature field in the enclosure differed markedly depending on the relative importance of rotation and of coolant throughflow. When the latter dominates, the temperature in the core is relatively uniform, but in the presence of strong rotation there are significant nonuniformities. A comparison was made between the present Nusselt number results and those of prior experiments characterized by different coolant entrance—exit arrangements. The positioning of the coolant exit slot relative to the direction of the boundary layer flow on the shroud emerged as an important factor in the comparison.