An experimental study on aerodynamic characteristics of hypergravity centrifugal facility

Abstract Centrifugal modelling is widely recognized as a valuable approach in various fields, including slope and high dam engineering, geotechnical earthquake engineering, deep-sea engineering, and advanced material preparation research. Zhejiang University is building the Centrifugal Hypergravity Interdisciplinary Experiment Facility (CHIEF), poised to become the largest and fastest hypergravity centrifuge worldwide. A comprehensive analysis of the internal airflow characteristics is imperative for the effective design of the centrifuge, including velocity distribution and resultant aerodynamic forces induced by high-speed air rotation inside the centrifuge chamber. Such an analysis is pivotal to the design of critical aspects such as motor selection, vibration control, and chamber design. This work reveals the air velocity distribution and the velocity ratio between air and the centrifuge arm in a scaled-down hypergravity facility. Various working pressures (30–101 kPa) and arm velocity (200-1000g) are investigated. Air velocity is obtained, and the velocity ratio is 0.62–0.64. Moreover, the theoretical estimation of the wind resistance power is higher than the experimental results obtained. Additionally, the pressure difference between both sides of the heat exchanger and the top plate is analysed for safety consideration. The largest pressure difference is 5.83 kPa across the top plate, and in order to prevent resonance, the frequency doubling of the rotating arm should be paid attention in accordance to the spectrum analysis. This study serves as a valuable reference for investigating airflow characteristics in rotating machines and the designing large hypergravity facilities.