Friction Drag on Bladed Disks in Housings as a Function of Reynolds Number, Axial and Radial Clearance, and Blade Aspect Ratio and Solidity

Extra losses from partial admission operation of a gas turbine occur both in the nozzle flow arc and away from it. The latter have been related to the theory of fluid flow over a rotating disk expressing a dimensionless moment coefficient as a function of Reynolds number. By direct measurements of drag torque, the moment coefficient has been determined over a range of Reynolds number from 2.0 × 10⁴ to 4.5 × 10⁶ for several aspect ratios, axial and radial shroud clearances, and solidities. Losses increase with increasing aspect ratio. Small increases from minimum practical clearance have little effect, but blade pumping losses become severe at radial and axial clearances of the order of half the disk radius. Typical changes in solidity have only small effects on losses.