Radial, Turbulent Flow of a Fluid Between Two Coaxial Disks

Abstract

An experimental study to determine the flow characteristics of an incompressible fluid in turbulent, radially outward flow between two coaxial, stationary disks was conducted employing a split film anemometer probe. Instantaneous velocity components in the radial and axial directions were measured; from these measurements, average velocity profiles, turbulence intensities, Reynolds stresses, energy spectra and probability density functions for the fluctuating components were computed. It is observed that the law of the wall may not be applicable everywhere. A criterion established earlier for reverse transition to laminar flow may be valid with a value of the constant smaller than suggested. A few other aspects of the flow are also discussed.