Study on the Axial Thrust of the Radial Flow Turbomachinery

Abstract

The flow along a rotating disk enclosed within a cylindrical chamber is studied theoretically and experimentally in order to make clear the effect of radial inward leakage flow on axial thrust generated by the flow between an impeller shroud and a casing of turbomachine. Axial thrust has been found to be strongly influenced by the angular momentum which the leakage flow carries in at the disk tip rather than by the leakage flow rate. When the axial space between the rotor and the stator is constant, the axial thrust is expressed as a function of angular momentum. The disk friction torque decreases with the increase of angular momentum of the leakage flow.