Flow Phenomena of Partially Enclosed Rotating Disks

Abstract

The flow of air in the space between a rotating disk and a stationary side wall placed parallel to its surface has been investigated over a range of Reynolds numbers from 3 × 105 to 6 × 106 at clearance-to-diameter ratios from 0.0125 to 0.0625. When the size of the stationary side wall was larger than the diameter of the rotating disk the flow in the gap was found to be periodic; several distinct and separate inflow and outflow regions were observed to rotate in the same direction as the disk, but at a slower speed. The number of flow regions was found to be a function of the disk speed and the gap size. The frictional torque on the housing was also measured and the effect of source flow on the flow pattern was studied qualitatively.