Pressure Drop Measurements of the Flow through Eccentric Cylinders with Rotating Inner Cylinders

Abstract

We previously investigated the pressure drop in an annulus with a rotating inner cylinder under fully developed conditions and reported that there is a noticeable increase in axial resistance associated with the onset of Taylor vortices for laminar flow of axial-flow Reynolds number above 100. On the other hand, in the case with no axial flow, it has been reported that the flow between eccentric cylinders with a rotating inner cylinder is more stable to the disturbance of Taylor vortex type than the flow between concentric cylinders. However there is no investigation of axial resistance connected with the development of Taylor vortices in the flow between eccentric rotating cylinders with axial flow. We measured the pressure drop in the eccentric annulus with a rotating inner cylinder under fully developed conditions, using water and glycerine-water solutions. And in this paper the relation between pressure drop and a few parameters, such as rotating Reynolds number, axial-flow Reynolds number, eccentricity ratio and clearance ratio, is investigated experimentally in connection with the development of Taylor vortices.