Flow in Rotating Cylinder of a Gas Centrifuge

Abstract

Thermal convection and weak forced flows in a rotating cylinder were studied theoretically to find the mass velocity distributions in a gas centrifuge. Compressibility of the gas is taken into account in the form of a density stratification in the radial direction. First of all, a scaling analysis was made to verify the dominance of Coriolis force in the field of flow. The result of this analysis indicated that the body of the fluid in the centrifuge is composed of inviscid cores separated by a viscous layer concentric to the axis of rotation, and enveloped by other viscous layers lining the side and end faces of the cylinder. The transport of the gas from the feed ports to the discharge ports is made through these viscous layers.
The thermal convection has its largest component near the side wall in the form of a recirculating flow, and its pattern is controlled by the temperature distribution of the wall. These theoretical results were verified in part by an experiment devised to permit visual observation of the air flow in a rotating cylinder.