A fundamental study has been performed to examine the disintegration of oil films emerging from radial holes in a rotating hollow cylinder. The configuration investigated is an abstraction of one of the droplet generation sources in an aeroengine bearing compartment; similar configurations may also occur inside gearboxes. The paper aims to contribute to both the determination of directly applicable droplet characteristics and the establishment of a database that can be used for the development of droplet generation models. Similar to a prior paper on droplet generation processes at the rim of a rotating disk (Glahn, A. et al., 2000, “Droplet Generation by Disintegration of Oil Films at the Rim of a Rotating Disk,” ASME Paper No. 2000-GT-0279.) the near-term objectives of the study are (i) to determine droplet sizes under relevant aeroengine bearing compartment operating conditions, and (ii) to measure individual droplet diameter/velocity relationships. The long-term objective is to incorporate this information into advanced CFD-based design tools. Therefore, special emphasis has been directed towards a correlation of test results that enables determination of boundary conditions for a two-phase (oil droplets/air) simulation of lubrication system components. Based on the results of the present paper, droplet flow boundary conditions in terms of mean diameter, standard deviation of the diameter distribution, starting velocity, and flow angle are available for oil droplets generated by disintegration of oil films emerging from rotating radial holes and rotating disks.

Issue Section:
Gas Turbines: Heat Transfer and Turbomachinery
Keywords:
aerospace engines, drops, size measurement
Topics:
Cylinders, Drops, Flow (Dynamics), Rotating disks
1.
Zimmermann, H., Kammerer, A., Fischer, R., and Rebhahn, D., 1991. “Two-Phase Flow Correlations in Air/Oil Systems of Aero Engines,” ASME Paper No. 91-GT-54.
2.
Wittig
,
S.
,
Glahn
,
A.
, and
Himmelsbach
,
J.
,
1994
, “
Influence of High Rotational Speeds on Heat Transfer and Oil Film Thickness in Aero Engine Bearing Chambers
,”
ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power
,
116
(
2
), pp.
395
–
401
.
3.
Chew, J., 1996, “Analysis of the Oil Film on the Inside Surface of an Aero-Engine Bearing Chamber Housing,” ASME Paper No. 96-GT-300.
4.
Glahn
,
A.
, and
Wittig
,
S.
,
1996
, “
Two-Phase Air Oil Flow in Aero Engine Bearing Chambers—Characterization of Oil Film Flows
,”
ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power
,
118
(
3
), pp.
578
–
583
.
5.
Glahn, A., Busam, S., and Wittig, S., 1997, “Local and Mean Heat Transfer Coefficients along the Internal Housing Walls of Aero Engine Bearing Chambers,” ASME Paper No. 97-GT-261.
6.
Busam, S., Glahn, A., and Wittig, S., 1999, “Internal Bearing Chamber Wall Heat Transfer as a Function of Operating Conditions and Chamber Geometry,” ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, accepted for publication.
7.
Glahn
,
A.
, and
Wittig
,
S.
,
1999
, “
Two-Phase Air Oil Flow in Aero Engine Bearing Chambers—Assessment of an Analytical Prediction Method for the Internal Wall Heat Transfer
,”
Int. J. Rotating Mach.
,
5
(
3
), pp.
155
–
165
.
8.
Zaidi, S. H., Ishaq G., Aroussi A., and Azzopardi, B. J. 1998. “Two-Phase Flow Study Around a Rotating Liquid Film Using Laser Techniques,” Proceedings of the VSJ-SPIE98, Dec. 6–9, Yokohama, Japan.
9.
Glahn
,
A.
,
Kurreck
,
M.
,
Willmann
,
M.
, and
Wittig
,
S.
,
1996
, “
Feasibility Study on Oil Droplet Flow Investigations Inside Aero Engine Bearing Chambers—PDPA Techniques in Combination with Numerical Approaches
,”
ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power
,
118
(
4
), pp.
749
–
755
.
10.
Glahn, A., Busam, S., Blair, M. F., Allard, K. L., and Wittig, S., 2000, “Droplet Generation by Disintegration of Oil Films at the Rim of a Rotating Disk,” ASME Paper No. 2000-GT-279.
11.
Bachalo
,
W. D.
, and
Houser
,
M. J.
,
1984
, “
Phase Doppler Spray Analyzer for Simultaneous Measurements of Drop Size and Velocity Distributions
,”
Opt. Eng.
,
23
, pp.
583
–
590
.
12.
Willmann
,
M.
,
Glahn
,
A.
, and
Wittig
,
S.
,
1997
, “
Phase-Doppler Particle Sizing with Off-Axis Angles in Alexander’s Darkband
,”
Part. Part. Syst. Charact.
,
14
(
3
), pp.
122
–
128
.
13.
Hinze, J. O., and Milborn, H., 1950, “Atomization of Liquids by Means of a Rotating Cup,” Journal of Applied Mechanics, pp. 145–153.
14.
Lefebvre, A. H., 1989, Atomization and Sprays, Hemisphere, Washington, DC.
Copyright © 2003
 by ASME
You do not currently have access to this content.