Computational Investigation of Torque on Coaxial Rotating Cones

Abstract

This article looks at a modification of Taylor–Couette flow, presenting a numerical investigation of the flow around a shrouded rotating cone, with and without throughflow, using the commercial computational fluid dynamics code FLUENT 6.2 and FLUENT 6.3 . The effects of varying the cone vertex angle and the gap width on the torque seen by the rotating cone are considered, as well as the effect of a forced throughflow. The performance of various turbulence models are considered, as well as the ability of common wall treatments/functions to capture the near-wall behavior. Close agreement is found between the numerical predictions and previous experimental work, carried out by Yamada and Ito (1979, “ Frictional Resistance of Enclosed Rotating Cones With Superposed Throughflow,” ASME J. Fluids Eng., 101, pp. 259–264; 1975, “ On the Frictional Resistance of Enclosed Rotating Cones (1st Report, Frictional Moment and Observation of Flow With a Smooth Surface),” Bull. JSME, 18, pp. 1026–1034; 1976, “ On the Frictional Resistance of Enclosed Rotating Cones (2nd Report, Effects of Surface Roughness),” Bull. JSME, 19, pp. 943–950). Limitations in the models are considered, and comparisons between two-dimensional axisymmetric models and three-dimensional models are made, with the three-dimensional models showing greater accuracy. The work leads to a methodology for modeling similar flow conditions to Taylor–Couette.