Velocity Behavior of Complex Flows induced by Corotating Disk Stacks in a Non-axisymmetric Enclosure

Abstract

We investigated complex behavior of rotating flow induced by a pair of corotating disks mounted in a non-axisymmetric enclosure. A flow model used in the experiment was equipped with a shroud opening and an arm-like obstacle, which was inserted into the area of rotating flow. Refractive index matching was applied to the working fluid. We measured two-dimensional velocity fields in planes parallel to the disks using particle image velocimetry. The measurement was performed at four different angles of the arm insertion at two different image planes. The circumferential component of the flow velocity exhibits local accelerations and decelerations caused by the shroud opening and arm insertion during the revolution of the disks. Both of the shroud opening and the arm insertion were found to induce the flow behavior, but in different mechanisms and regions of the flow.