Calculation of Turbulent Flow for an Enclosed Rotating Cone

Abstract

Prediction of the flow in the cavity between a rotating cone and an outer stationary cone with and without throughflow is considered. A momentum-integral method and a finite difference method for solution of the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations with a mixing-length model of turbulence are applied. These two methods have previously been validated for flow between corotating and rotor–stator disk systems, but have not been properly tested for conical systems. Both methods have been evaluated by comparing predictions with the experimental measurements of other workers. There is good agreement for cone half-angles greater than or equal to 60 deg but discrepancies are evident for smaller angles. “Taylor-type” vortices, the existence of which has been postulated by other workers and which are not captured by the present steady, axisymmetric models, may contribute to these discrepancies.