Supervisory team: Dr James Scobie, Dr Hui Tang, Professor Gary Lock
Project enquiries: Dr James Scobie James [Email Address Removed]
PROJECT:
Future generations of aero-engines are targeting ever greater overall pressure ratios (OPR) to improve efficiency and meet environmental legislation. The OPR of compressors have increased from 30:1 in the 1970s to 60:1 in current engine designs, with plans to increase to 70:1 to meet Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research and Innovation in Europe (ACARE) targets by 2025. This creates a challenge to the designer: higher OPR require smaller compressor blades in the last stages of the high-pressure compressor (HPC); this increases the sensitivity of the compressor efficiency and stability margin to the blade tip clearance across the flight cycle (idle, take-off, climb, cruise, descent and approach).
To calculate (and control) these small clearances for transient and steady conditions, it is necessary to determine the heat transfer for the co-rotating compressor discs. However, inside the cavity between the discs the flow is buoyancy-induced which creates a strongly conjugate problem: the heat transfer coefficients depend on the temperature distribution of the discs, and the disc temperature depends on the heat transfer coefficients. Further, Coriolis forces in the rotating fluid create cyclonic and anti-cyclonic circulations inside the cavity, and as such flows are three-dimensional, unsteady and unstable, the heat transfer from the discs to the air is difficult to compute and measure.
A new world-class test facility, designed to study buoyancy-induced flow in compressor cavities, has been constructed at the University of Bath over the past four years in collaboration with Rolls-Royce [1]. The Turbomachinery Research Centre (TRC) are seeking a suitable PhD candidate to join the project team and conduct experimental heat transfer measurements in the recently commissioned rig. The data generated will be used to validate theoretical models, which in turn will be incorporated into design procedures at the company for the next generation of engines [2]. This position is jointly funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Rolls-Royce plc.
CANDIDATE:
Applicants should hold, or expect to receive, a first class Engineering undergraduate Masters degree or MSc distinction (or non-UK equivalent). Due to the funding source the position is open to UK applicants only, or EU applicants who have lived in the UK for three or more years where the primary reason was not education.
APPLICATIONS:
Formal applications should be made via the University of Bath’s online application form for a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Please ensure that you state the full project title and lead supervisor name on the application form.
https://samis.bath.ac.uk/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login?process=siw_ipp_app&code1=RDUME-FP01&code2=0015
More information about applying for a PhD at Bath may be found here:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/how-to-apply-for-doctoral-study/
Anticipated start date: 1st April 2021 or sooner
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