Influence of a weak superposed centripetal flow in a rotor-stator system for several pre-swirl ratios

Abstract

The present study is devoted to the influence of a superposed radial inflow in a rotor-stator cavity with a peripheral opening. The flow regime is turbulent, the two boundary layers being separated by a core region. An original theoretical solution is obtained for the core region, explaining the reason why a weak radial inflow has no major influence near the periphery of the cavity but strongly affects the flow behavior near the axis. The validity of the theory is tested with the help of a new set of experimental data including the radial and tangential mean velocity components, as well as three components of the Reynolds stress tensor measured by hot-wire anemometry. The theoretical results are also in good agreement with numerical results obtained with the Fluent code and experimental data from the literature.