FLOW PHENOMENA IN SWIRL CHAMBERS

Results are presented from two different swirl chambers. One of the pr actical directions for this study is simulation of cooling passages lo cated near the leading edges of turbine blades where screw-shaped, swi rling flows are generated to enhance heat transfer. Flow visualization results are given at Reynolds numbers ranging from 900 to 19,000, alo ng with example surveys of mean velocity components, static pressure, and total pressure. Arrays of Carder vortices are evident along the co ncave surface of the chamber, in addition to a second array in the she ar layer located a short distance from the wall. As Reynolds number in creases, vortex pair unsteadiness increases, the number of vortex pair s across the span increases, and interactions between adjacent vortex pairs becomes more intense, chaotic, and frequent. With axial flow com ponents in the swirl chambers, skewness, unsteadiness, and three-dimen sionality of the larger Gortler vortices become even more pronounced a s they continuously intermingle with smaller Gortler vortex pairs.