Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T05:04:33.787Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Radial Flow without Swirl between Parallel Discs*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2016

P. S. Moller*
Affiliation:
McGill University, Canada
Get access

Summary

An understanding of radial flow between confined boundaries is of practical importance in the design of radial diffusers and air bearings. This study presents a combined experimental and theoretical analysis of radial flow, without swirl, between parallel discs using air at incompressible speeds.

Emphasis is placed on the pressure distribution sufficiently far downstream of the channel inlet for the entry conditions to be unimportant. However, a study is also made of the main features of the flow near the inlet, particularly within the annular separation bubble.

It is shown, for both turbulent and laminar flow, that a similarity solution is possible only in special cases where certain terms in the equations of motion can be neglected. Approximate solutions are obtained for the turbulent and the laminar radial pressure distributions using an integral momentum method. Both theories agree well with experiment. The critical Reynolds number for reverse transition is found to be approximately the same as that for flow in twodimensional channels and circular pipes. With the flow separating at the channel inlet, it is established that both a suitably chosen, minimum pressure coefficient of the separation bubble and the reattachment distance are functions only of the channel width for a given inlet pipe diameter and are independent of Reynolds number and the diameter of the discs.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society. 1963

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This paper is abstracted from a M.Eng. thesis of the same title presented to McGill University in 1961.

References

1. Licht, L. and Fuller, D. D. A Preliminary Investigation of an Air-Lubricated Hydro static Thrust Bearing. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Paper 54-LUB-18, 1954.Google Scholar
2. Woolard, H. W. A Study of the Flow in a Narrowly-Spaced Radial Diffuser. Master of Science Thesis, Graduate School of the University of Buffalo, N.Y., 1954.Google Scholar
3. Benenson, D. and Bott, J. F. Two-Dimensional Laminar Boundary-Layer Flow Within a Radial Diffuser. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Paper 61-WA-193, 1961.Google Scholar
4. Livesey, J. L. Inertia Effects in Viscous Flows. International Journal of Mechanical Science, Vol. 1, p. 84, 1960.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Morgan, D. G. and Saunders, A. An Experimental Investigation of Inertia Effects in Viscous Flow. International Journal of Mechanical Science, Vol. 2, p. 8, 1960.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Sternberg, J. The Transition from a Turbulent to a Laminar Boundary Layer. B.R.L. Report 906, Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, 1954.Google Scholar
7. Spreeman, K. P. and Sherman, I. R. Effect's of Ground Proximity on the Thrust of a Simple Downward-Directed let Beneath a Flat Surface. N.A.C.A. T.N. 4407, 1958.Google Scholar
8. Welantz, L. F. A Suction Device Using Air Under Pressure. Journal of Applied Mechanics. Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Vol. 78, p. 269, June 1956.Google Scholar
9. Paivanas, J. A. A Study of the Flow in a Radial Diffuser. Master of Science Thesis, University of Buffalo, N.Y., June 1955.Google Scholar
10. Paivanas, J. A. and Ranov, T. Experimental Investigation of the Flow of Air in a Radial Diffuser, Part I. Report on Research Project, University of Buffalo, N.Y., 1956.Google Scholar
11. Hofmann, A. Die Energieumsetzung in saugrohrähnlicherweiterten Düsen. Mitteilungen, Hydraulischen Institut, Technische Hochschule, Munchen, Heft 4, 1931.Google Scholar
12. Brown, W. B. and Bradshaw, G. R. Method of Designing Vaneless Diffusers and Experimental Investigation of Certain Undetermined Parameters. N.A.C.A. T.N. 1426, 1947.Google Scholar
13. Brown, W. B. Friction Coefficients in a Vaneless Diffuser. N.A.C.A. T.N. 1311, 1947.Google Scholar
14. Nikuradse, J. Turbulente Strömung in nicht kreisformigen Rohren.Ingenieur-Archiv, Vol. 1, p. 306, 1930.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Schiller, L. Über den Stromungswiderstand von Rohren verschiedenen Querschnitts und Rauhig keitsgrades. Zeitschrift fur angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik, Vol. 3, p. 2, 1923.Google Scholar
16. Naumann, A. Druckverlust in Rohren nichtkreisformigen Querschnittes bei hohen Gesch-windigkeiten. Zeitschrift für angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik, Vol. 36, Sonderheft (special issue), p. 25, 1956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17. Savage, S. B. Private Communications, 1962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Southwell, R. V. and Vaisey, G. Fluid Motions Characterized by Free Streamlines. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A., 240, 117161, 1947.Google Scholar
19. Bourque, C. and Newman, B. G. Reattachment of a Two-Dimensional Incompressible Jet to an Adjacent Rat Plate. Aeronautical Quarterly, Vol. XI, p. 231, August 1960.Google Scholar