Turbulent Flow Velocity Between Rotating Co-Axial Disks of Finite Radius

Abstract

The turbulent flow between two rotating co-axial disks is driven by frictional forces. The prediction of the velocity field can be expected to be very sensitive to the turbulence model used to describe the viscosity close to the walls. Numerical solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations, using a k–ε turbulence model derived from Lam and Bremhorst, are presented and compared with experimental results obtained in two different configurations: a rotating cavity and the outflow between a rotating and stationary disk. The comparison shows good overall agreement with the experimental data and substantial improvements over the results of other analyses using the k–ε models. Based on this validation, the model is applied to the flow between counterrotating disks and it gives the dependence of the radial variation of the tangential wall shear stress on Rossby number.