Acta Mechaniea 83, 9--24 (1990)

ACTA

MECHANICA

@ by Springer-Verlag i999

Numerical solution of laminar flow generated in an annulus by rotating screens

E. Kit and E. Mazor, Tel-Aviv, Israel (I~eeeived August 3, 1989; revised September 9, 1989)

Summary. The governing equation and the appropriate boundary condition describing stationary laminar flow in a curved channel and in an annulus with one (upper) and two (upper and lower) rotating screens, were solved numerically by finite-difference method. In the curved channel multiple solutions were obtained in accordance with the predictions of previous theoretical and experimental investigations. In contrast to that, no multiple solutions were found for the flow in an annulus, neither with two nor with one rotating screen. The numerically computed axial velocity distributions in annulus were compared to the corresponding experimental profiles measured in a turbulent flow of a homogeneous fluid created in annulus by one or two rotating screens. The qualitative agreement between the results was unexpectedly good.

1 Introduction
Starting from the pioneering work of Kato and Phillips [1], annular tank (annulus) was widely used for investigation of entrainment across the density interface. Shear stress to the flow was imparted by a rotating screen; it was assumed that the flow in the mixed layer is basically one-dimensional. However, in the papers by Scranton and Lindberg [2] and Deardorff and Yoon [3] it was established that curved walls geometry of the annulus affects considerably the structure of the flow and leads to radial stratification of turbulence. This stratification of turbulence in the annulus may be caused by two sources: a) rapid decrease of the velocity near the walls, resulting in a stabilizing distribution of angular momentmn near the inner wall, which dumps the turbulence in that region, and destabilizing stratification close to the outer wall, enhancing turbulence there; b) the secondary eireuIation which Mways presents in the mixed layer due to curvature. This circulation prevents a downwards vertical transport of shear stress and adveets turbulence towards the outer wall. I n the recent work of C h a i e t al. [4] the semi-equilibrium turbulent energy model was used to describe the flow pattern in the mixed layer. The effects of the radial stratification of turbulence were taken in account in this model, but the advective transport by secondary flow was neglected. The results concerning the entrainment, obtained from this twodimensional model, were in a satisfactory agreement with experimental results. The model, however, was unable to catch the most striking features of the velocity field neither in the mixed layer of density stratified flow nor in homogeneous flow in annulus, as they were obtained in the experiments. The experimental profiles of the axial velocity in the radial direction demonstrate higher level of asymmetry, with an appearance of so called velocity "tongue" in the vicinity of the outer layer and accompanying inflection point.

10

E. Kit and E. Mazor

I t is natural to attribute the absence of these features in the velocity field, calculated from the model, to the fact that it neglects the secondary circulation. Incorporation of this secondary circulation into the turbulent model makes it essentially more complicated and renders the interpretation of results very difficult. At the first stage it would thus be instructive to start with a constant viscosity, in other words, with a laminar flow in the annulus. Here we can take advantage of a very similar case of fully developed laminar flow in curved channel, which was investigated very carefully and numerous experimental and numerical papers were devoted to this issue, starting from the work of Dean [5]. Here we will only refer to those papers which are directly 1elated to the present work. Starting from the work of Dean, the existence of a secondary flow pattern consisting of a pair of counterrotating vortices in a curved duct is well established. Joseph et al. [6] were the first to report on a new secondary flow regime with four vortices, which was observed at Dean numbers above 100. In the work of Cheng et al. [7] numerical solutions in curved rectangular channel were obtained for aspect ratios 0.5, 1, 2, and 5, and Dean numbers ranging from 5 to 715. These authors also found that an additional counter-rotating pair of vortices may appear near the central outer region of the channel, in addition to the familiar secondary flow, depending on the aspect ratio. They related this phenomenon to Dean's centrifugal instability problem. Similar results were obtained by Ghia and Sokhey [8] in their study of developing laminar flow in rectangular curved duct. The Dean number for the transition to the secondary flow with four vortices was found to be in this work about 143. The development of laminar flow in a 180 ~ section of a curved square duct was studied using Laser-Doppler Anemometry by Hille et al. [9]. In their very detailed experiments it was found that in addition to always appearing vortex pair in secondary flow for Dean numbers between 150 and 300 there exists a second vortex pair with opposing sense of circulation near the outer wall. In a recent work of Winters [10], a bifurcation study of a laminar flow in a curved channel of rectangular cross-section was performed. This paper shows that for a square cross section the transition is a result of a complex structure of multiple, symmetrical and asymmetrical solutions. Both two and four cells were found in two distinct ranges of axial pressure gradient for a square cross-section of a curved channel. In the present work the algorithm suggested by Cheng et al. [7] was adopted for the numerical solution of the flow in curved channel and in annulus. In order to find the multiple solutions in the case of the flow in curved channel, special treatment became necessary. The results were compared with the existing numerical and experimental data. The numerically computed axial velocity profiles in annulus were compared with turbulent velocity from a real annulus experiment. From the qualitative point of view, the agreement between the experimental and the numerical results appears to be surprisingly good.

2 Governing equations and description of algorithm

Following Cheng et al. [7], we consider a set of nondimensional equations of stationary motion in a curved channel with a rectangular cross-section of width a, height b, aspect ratio y = b/a and radius of curvature R (Fig. 1). The hydraulic diameter D = 2ab/(a ~, b) is chosen as a characteristic length for normalization; velocities are normalized b y v/D and pressure by ~2/D~ where u is the kinematic viscosity and Qis the density of the fluid.

Flow generated in an annulus by rotating screens

~[1

b 0 U

\
. , , , ~ - -

"

\\
-I

Fig. 1. Coordinate system for curved channel and annulus: ~ is the angular velocity of screens, ws is their linear velocity

Then, the governing equations are as follows: Vorticity transport equation for secondary flow

u--~ +v

8y

r(l+x/r)

~x + r ( l + x / r ) 2 w ~Y -- ~x-~ + ~y~

(1)

where u, v, w are dimensionless velocity components in x, y and z direction correspondingly, and vorticity ~ = ( ~ v / ~ x - ~u/~y)/(1-[-x/r); r = R / D is the dimensionless radius of curvature. Stream function -- vorticity equation
1 ~b

(1 + x/r) ~ ~ =

~ x 2 + ~y2] +

r(1 + x/r) ~--'x

(2)

where the relations between the secondary flow velocity components and stream function are

1 + x/r ~y

and

v = - - 1 + x/r ~--x"

Axial m o m e n t u m equation
~w 3w uw u--~ +V-~y + r(l+x/r) ~p ~w ~2w 1 + x/r ~z + ---~ ~x + ~y~
1 ~w w

--

+ r(1 + x/r) The boundary condition at fixed walls

9x

r2(1 + x/r) e 9

(3)

~x

~y

~ =

w =

o.

(4)

The boundary condition at the axis of s y m m e t r y , y : 0 ~x ~y~ ~y : ~ = O. (5)

12

E. Kit and E. Mazor

The boundary condition at rotating screens (upper and lower) in annulus differs from Eq. 4 only by nonzero value of axial velocity:
w = ~9. r (6)

where X2 is the nondimensional angular velocity of each screen. Due to the adopted procedure of rendering the variables dimensionless the mean value of axial nondimensional velocity w across the section represents the flow Reynolds number, Re = @ ~- WD/v, where W is the mean value of the dimensional axial velocity W across the section ; the Dean number K was defined as Re/r ~ The torque distribution at different walls and flietion factor / were obtained by ealculat.ion of shear stress along the walls. Note t h a t in calculations of the friction factor in annulus only fixed walls were taken into account. The governing equations and the corresponding boundary conditions Eqs. (1)--(6) were solved b y finite-difference method in a manner very similar to t h a t suggested b y Cheng et al. [7]. I n order to look for multiple solutions, we used the so called "cold" and " h o t " starting conditions. [[hese conditions describe the initial velocity field neccssary to start the iterations for solving the Eqs. (1)--(3). "Cold" starting conditions were obtained by solving the axial m o m e n t u m Eq. (3) for a chosen pressure gradient ~p/~z assuming t h a t the secondary velocities u and v are zero. As a " h o t " starting condition for a new value of pressure gradient ~p/Oz ~ A(Op/Oz) we choose the velocity field which was obtained as a final solution for pressure gradient ~p/~z. The decrement A(~p/~z) of the pressure gradient could be chosen either positive or negative depending on its' starting value. In most of our computations the mesh size of 40 20 was chosen for a square cross-section. The convergence criterion defined as a m a x i m u m value of the difference between the input and outp u t values of w and ~b for each iteration cycle was 10 -4, compared to 10 -a in the work of Cheng et al.

3 Numerical computation results

3.1 Flow in a curved channel
State diagram presenting the dependence of Reynolds number on the pressure gradient for a curved channel with a square cross-section obtained by a procedme described in the previous section, is shown in Fig. 2. Solutions obtained using the "cold" starting conditions are presented by a solid line, while solutions computed when the " h o t " starting condition were applied, are drawn by a dashed line. I t is important to note that the transition from a solution with two vortices in the flow to a solution with four vortices occurs for the first time at Dean number K = 147, compared to K = 150 obtained in the experiments of Hille et al. [8]. The transition back to a flow with two vortices occurs in our computation at K ~ 270, while Hi]le et al. reported t h a t in their experiments this critical value of K = 300. Since it is unclear from their description of the experiments what type of starting conditions they used the possible variation of this condition may explain this small discrepancy between the critical values of Dean number. Another reason m a y be attributed to different values of curvature: r = 4 in our computations and r = 6.5 in their experiments. Five regions of multiple solutions (hysteresis) were obtained when " h o t " conditions were used in our numerical calculations cf. Fig. 2. Three of them (in the pressure gradient

Flow generated in an annulus by rotating screens

8 --

13

7-

r=4 7-=1

/
3

//
/z /

0
o

J 3- /7
2/, t , I
1

Fig. 2. The variation oi Reynolds number with pressure gradient for curved channel with square cross-section; r = 4~
4 5

9p

z /10000

ranges 13500 < --Op/~z < 14000, 30000 < --~p/~z < 41500, 41500 < --~p/'~z < 43000) were obtained with increasing pressure gradient and the other two, in the range 23500 < --~p/Oz < 30000 and 11000 < --~p/~z < 13500, with the decreasing pressure gradient. I t is interesting to note t h a t in the range 30000 < --@/~z < 41500 multiple solutions were obtained with " h o t " starting conditions for both increasing and decreasing pressure gradients. Solutions were usually obtained for half eloss-seetion, assuming s y m m e t r y about the horizontal axis. Some of the computations were made for the full cross-section, especially in the range of 15000 < --@/~z < 23000, where a solution with four vortices only exists. No s y m m e t r y breaking was obtained in these calculations. In order to facilitate comparison with other authors, some integral parameters of the flow, like friction factor / multiplied by R e / . I{e, and torque distribution, were computed and presented on Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 as a function of Dean number. The collapse of the results fol / . Re in Fig. 3, obtained for different values of aspect ratio and curvatures, is surprisingly good and proves t h a t even for high values of K it can be used as an appropriate representative parameter for the flow in a curved channel. For a weak curvature r -- 100, the torque distribution is close to uniform for low values of K. With increasing K, the torque at the inner wall decreases while increasing at the outer wall, so t h a t their ratio approaches the value of about 4 (Fig. 4). For a str)ng curvature, r = 4, the torque at the inner wall is notably smaller than at the outer wail'even for low K and the ratio between them increases with increasing Dean numbers. The axial velocity distribution for the cross-section is shown in Figs. 5 a and 5 b for the same normalized pressure gradient ~p/~z = --30000, but for different number of vortices in the secondary flow, 2 vortices in Fig. 5 a and 4 vortices in Fig. 5 b. I t can be seen from these Figures t h a t in the flow with 4 vortices there is a pronounced valley in velocity distri-

14

E. Kit and E. Mazor

45 I
55
n.-

Symbol

45-

SymboL xx --~x,~ xx

6 -x 15 --A xX

4 -x 0 --A 35 - I O 0 _ n

150-n

"-

~
25 15~

r~
~- 25

/'~'I (b) I 2oo

K

(a) I ZOO
K

50_

I 400

I 600

~ 4oo

I 600

Fig. 3. T h e v a r i a t i o n o f / . R e w i t h D e a n n u m b e r K for c u r v e d c h a n n e l w i t h c r o s s - s e c t i o n s of differe n t a s p e c t r a t i o s : a y = 1; b y = 0.5

3~ ~
FF-

~P ~:booc~

-o ~176 ~176176176176 ~ ~176

-x x xxxX XlXX i ' ~

J XxxxX x~X~ 2 5 ~xxx xx xxX

(a)
I~ ~W 0 nr 0 F-

(b)
--A

~,~ (c)
i
600 0

a ~ ~
, 50 [ 200 I 400 I 600

aa,~a,~~
0
y 200 I 400

i
200 K

I
400

1
600

F i g . 4. T o r q u e b a l a n c e a t d i f f e r e n t w a l l s : /k - - i n n e r wall, - - o u t e r wall, [] - - u p p e r a n d lower walls of c u r v e d c h a n n e l as a f u n c t i o n of D e a n n u m b e r for t h r e e v a l u e s of r: a r = 4, b r = 10, e r ~ 100

(o)

(b)

A~
of

F i g . 5. A x i a l v e l o c i t y d i s t r i b u t i o n in a s q u a r e c r o s s - s e c t i o n of c u r v e d c h a n n e l a t a p / ~ z = --30000, l e a d i n g to m u l t i p l e s o l u t i o n s w i t h d i f f e r e n t n u m b e r of v o r t i c e s in s e c o n d a r y flow: a t w o v o r t i c e s , b four vortices

Flow generated in an annulus by rotating screens

15

bution in tile central band of cross-section in the vicinity of the outer wall. A more detailed picture of the velocity field m a y be obtained from I~'ig. 6, where axial velocity profiles along the horizontal and the vertical lines are presented. Results are shown at different vertical and horizontal locations for five values of pressure gradient in the case of strong curvature (r = 4). In Fig. 7 the stream functions of the secondary flow are plot:ted for the same flow conditions. The most striking result here is a very high level of asymmetJ:y of the velocity profile in the radial direction. When the secondary flow becomes stronger, the asymmetry of the axial velocity profile increases, leading to a formation of the so called "tongue" in the region near to the outer wall, where most of the velocity discharge occurs. In the major part of the cross-section the flow velocity is decaying very slowly towards the inner wall, Fig. 6, and at the transitmn between the "tongue" region and the remaining part of the velocity profile appears an reflection point. The veloeity profile in the vertical direction for high values of K (at least in central part of the cross-section) is much more homogeneous than for small values of K, Fig. 6. All these results m a y be explained by the fact t h a t the secondary flow leads to a very high momentum transport, so that away from the solid walls it becomes dominant and takes over the transport caused by viscosity.

2.0

y=5/8

2.0

'

x=5/4

1.5 l.O 0.50 0

--0.

> 1.5' ~t.O 84

0 50 -0.25
=

Y AXIIS

0.0

0.25

0.50

Vf.0-

114

i.5t.00.50
0 -0.50 -

iio
0.0
._;

0.125
x=

0.25

0.375

0.50

112
"'~

~'"

,~.o.

-.%....~
""""x.~i
0.~75 0.50

"'0,:"

,
-0.25

,
O. 0

x ^>~Is
O. 25

"~
O. 50

0.50

0.0

0.~25

0.25

_] 2.O7y=18 .~._.
I 0 /

~2"~
\ '.~1

x=l14

'

.."..~

"it

Ift" l/ H .... ____

1k

--0.50

--0 . ~5

0.0

0"25

0"50

li0 1 ,
O: 0

l 0 "1~25 l

0"25

0.375

0"50

Fig. 6. Axial velocity profiles in the radial and vertical directions at various positions of cross-section of curved channel with r = 4 for the following values of --gp/gz" 500, - - - - - - ; 6000, ............ ; 20000, - . . . . . . ; 30000, ,30000, -- 9 --; 90000, . . . . .

16

E. Kit and E. Mazor

Very similar results were obtained for smaller curvature (r = 10 and r = 100), at least at high values of K. At low values of K, for r = 100, the axial velocity profiles have very symmetrical form.

3.2 N u m e r i c a l solutions m a n n u l u s

Since the chosen algorithm has been very successful in resolving the laminar flow in a curved channel, we applied it to compute the flow in annulus with one o1' two rotating screens. Note that experiments in an annulus with two rotating screens were performed for the first time in the Laboratory for Stratified Flow Studies, Tel-Aviv University; these results were reported in Chai [11] and in Chai and Kit [12]. As it was already stressed in the previous chapter, the govelning equations for curved channel and for annulus are the same, and only the boundary conditions for these two types of flow are different. I t was therefore natural to look for multiple solutions and hysteresis in this case too. However, as it can be

"~__E:_ 500

~)z

"~.__EP =-6OOO 9z
F

0.5

-0.5

0
X

0.5

-0.5

0.5

OP =- 2 0 0 0 0 9z 0.5

"~P 9z

=-30000
I

-0.5

0
X

0.5

0.5

D 0
X

0.5

~P=-3oooo
~z 0.5
I I I

O._E= - 9 0 0 0 0 ~z
I 1

-0.5

0.5

-0.5

0
X

0.5

Fig. 7. Secondary flow streamlines in curved channel; r = 4

Flow generated in an annulus by rotating screens

17

seen from the state diagram presented at the Fig. 8, no multiple solutions were obtained neither for the flow in annulus with one rotating screen, nor for the flow ia annulus with two rotating screens. If the appearance of an additional vortex pair in the curved channel at higher values of Dean number m a y be interpreted as some kind of instability, the lack of such an instability in annulus reminds the situation with the flow stability in straight channels. I t is well known that linear stability analysis shows that the plane Poiseuille flow is unstable, in contrast to Couette flow, which is absolutely stable (cf. Schlichting [13], p. 465 and p. 480). The maximum value of nondimensional angular velocity, obtained before the solution started to diverge, was 500 for the flow with two rotating screens, thus being essentially higher than the corresponding critical value of 250 for the flow with one rotating screen. The friction coefficients for the flow in annulus with one and two rotating screens are presented in ]?ig. 9 as a function of Dean number. Again, the collapse of the results obtained for different flow condition, like curvatule and aspect ratio, for the both cases of annulus flow was more than reasonable (Figs. 9a, b). As in the case of the flow in curved channel, it indicates that Dean number remains an appropriate parameter for the annulus flow even at high values of K. As it can be seen from Figs. 10, 11, the redistribution of torque with increasing K in annulus appears to be even more dramatic then in the curved channel. At small values of K, the torque at the inner wall is almost equal to that at the outer wall, at least in the annulus with weak curvature, r = 100 for annulus with two rotating screens and r = 150 for annulus with one rotating screen. At high Dean numbers, however, the ratio between these two values of torque becomes very high and approaches the value of 8. This result implies that the momentum transport in annulus, which is caused by the secondary flow vortices, is even more important than that in the case of the flow in a curved channel.

1"2F Two rotating screens ~ 1.0 r=5 ,

Y=] ~

/
/

One rotating screen 0.8 o o a:: 0.4 0.2 r=Z5 .u= /

/
/

0.6

/ z/
/
I I I I

3 ,G/IO0

Fig. 8. The variation of Reynolds number with angular velocity of one rotating screen, r = 7.5, y ~ 0.5 and two rotating screens, r = 5, y ~ 1 ; the width a and the dimensional radius of curvature J R are the same in both cases

18 r

E. K i t a n d E. M a z o r

r
45
7.5 --

Symbol.
x
45

Symbol. 5
-x

lO

--A --[3 Z~

A Z~ x

15 55 _150
CD

-z~ -a
X

I00 35

I:K 25
X

25

(o)
15

(b)

50

200

400

I
600

5
0

I
200

I
400

I
600

K
rotating screens 6O
X X X X X X

Yig. 9. T h e v a r i a t i o n of ] 9 R e w i t h D e a n n u m b e r K for a n n u l u s w i t h a one r o t a t i n g s c r e e n a n d b t w o

X x

z o
~m rr 159 1

40 A Ll

Z~

ZI
A

Z~

Z~ A

uJ 2 0 or n* o p0

(a)
D El

(b)
r'l

--=
Q []

(c)
D

n
T

[]

50

150

250

50

150

250

50

150

250

K
--

K
o u t e r w a l l , /k -- b o t t o m of a n n u l u s 7,5, b r = 15,

F i g . 10. T o r q u e b a l a n c e a t d i f f e r e n t w a l l s : [] - - i n n e r wall, e r = 150

[] 70 -rn

w i t h one r o t a t i n g s c r e e n as a f u n c t i o n of D e a n n u m b e r for t h r e e v a l u e s of r : a r =

[] [3 O D O 0

z
0 lm

0
-D 0

n
[]

0~

I'-

50--

(Q)
I,LI Of n" 3 0 - 0 I-X
X x x x

(b)
x x

X X X __ x x

(c)

iX
200

XlX
400

xl
600 0

!
200

I
400

I
600 0

I
200

I
400

;
600

F i g . 11. T o r q u e b a l a n c e a t d i f f e r e n t w a l l s : X - - i n n e r w a l l , [] - - o u t e r w a l l of a n n u l u s w i t h t w o r o t a t i n g s c r e e n a s a f u n c t i o n of D e a n n u m b e r for t h r e e v a l u e s of r: a r = 5, b r = 10, e r = 100

Flow g e n e r a t e d in a n annulus b y r o t a t i n g screens

19

T h e a x i a l v e l o c i t y d i s t r i b u t i o n i n t h e c r o s s - s e c t i o n of a n n u l u s w i t h o n e r o t a t i n g s c r e e n is p r e s e n t e d i n t h e F i g . 1 2 a , a n d w i t h t w o r o t a t i n g s c r e e n s i n F i g . 1 2 b . I n t h e c a s e of t w o rotating s c r e e n s , t h e v e l o c i t y d i s t r i b u t i o n is a l m o s t h o m o g e n e o u s i n t h e m o s t of cross-

~n

B(

A:

of Fig. 12. Axial velocity distribution for a n annulus a t .(2 = 200 with a one r o t a t i n g screen, b two r o t a t i n g screens

/~
2.0

1.5J 1.0

/
r/"

.. :.:.~," i \
x A~Is
0.25 .50

0.50 ,

AX,IS
0.75

ii .0

-0.50

-0.25

0.0

0.0

0.25

0.50

~
o.,o -I
0 ~ , -o.50-0.25
"

9 3.0

2.0

x=l/2
J 0.25

_7.C~.~,~.. ~'..
I Y A~S"" 0.50 0.75 ..+

t.0

, x"v~ 0.0 o.25

0.50
I
I

\1

0.0
3.0

i.O

2.0

1.5-

y= I/4

~~~
o

I x =1/4

0.50 0 Y

t0]
~ ,
0.0 -o.~ o.o o.~ o.~o

%~..~..~
,
0.25 0.50

//

YX-'-x~ ~J
0.75

...".

/
,
~.0

-0.50

Fig. 18. Axial velocity profiles in t h e radial a n d t h e vertical directions a t various positions of crosssection of a n n u l u s w i t h one r o t a t i n g screen, r ~ 7:5, for following values of t9: 5, -- - - ; 100, 9........... ; 200, - . . . . . ; 250, -- . . . .

20
,9/,=5
I I I
I

E. Kit and E. Mazor

9, : I00
I I

tD

0 -0.5

I 0
x

I 0.5 -0.5

0.5

Q,:.200
I I [

=250

y _

0 -0.5

0
x

0.5

-0.5

0
x

O.5

Fig. 14. S e c o n d a r y flow s t r e a m l i n e s in a n n u l u s wi~h o n e r o t a t i n g s c r e e n , r = 7.5

section, and only near the wall we can again see a "tongue" of velocity. On the contrary, in the case of one rotating screen the axial velocity is gradually decreasing towards the inner wall, Fig. 12 a. Mo~e details about the actual axial velocity profiles and corresponding stream functions of the secondary flow can be obtained from the Figs. 13, 14, describing the flow in annulus with one rotating screen, and from Figs. 15, 16 for the flow with two rotating screens. The velocity "tongue" and existence of an inflection point in the vicinity of the outer wall in annulus, especially for the ease of one rotating screen, is even more pronounced than in the curved channel flow. I t is interesting to note that the velocity profile in the vertical direction (Fig. 16, x = 0) is non-monotonous and there is a dip in the velocity profile in the close vicinity of the axis of symmetry. Again, such behavior of the velocity profile can only be explained by the fact that the momentum tlansport is mostly due to the secondary flow vortices. In the experiments in annulus the flow is usually turbulent, consequently the turbulent viscosity across the cross-section depends on the flow regime. However, if the momentum transport is mainly due to the secondary flow, the actual distribution of turbulent viscosity will play only & minor role in determining the final shape of the axial velocity profile in annulus. Thus, a qualitative comparison of the velocity profiles obtained in our numerical computations, which are based on an ssumption of constant viscosity, with actual experimental velocity profiles in annulus ca n be made. Results of such comparison are presented i n Fig. 17, where both experimentai':velocities and those obtained in numerical computations were normalized by the screen velocity. The quantitative agreement is not very saris-

Flow generated in an annulus by rotating screens

21

~
i

.2.0

y:

5/8
.~

~.5 i

......... __ ~2.~ ,
0.0

....

.17.::~;:A
X ^XiIS
0.25

".

2.5

x: 5/4
..'/

2.0 t.5-

i.o-

0"50V/
0

,
-0.25

"l
0.50

0.50 0

~.:....~.~
i 0. t25 i Y A~S 0.25 0.375 i 0.50

-0.50

0.0

2.o-i y : l / 4

.5

X:l/2

-~ t.51

.~-.~~
..--~.'.-:-~. -~--'--~--.

I ,/'/ 0.50I r
o I"
-0.50

t.0

\:'~ d
,~
O. 50

".,

50 0.0 2.5 i 0.125 i Y AXrLS"" ! 0.25 0.375 0.50

,
-0.25

,
O. 0

x^u
O. 25

2.0
>
<

]
/

Y : I/8

j ] x : I/4 ii ~ 2 . 0 1

1.5 1
t.0

r 7 ~.~.~.,~Z . . . . ,,~ // ."/ "~. "'.)}

o . 5o -I I / . . ' . /

~ . :.,\

050 4 " : : : ~
0.0 0.125

-,~~'
Y
iT

o Y
-0.50 -0.25

=
0.0 0.25 0.50

0.25

0.375

0.50

Fig. 15. Axial velocity profiles in the radial and the vertical directions at various positions of crosssection of annulus with two rotating screen, r = 7.5, for following values of D: 5, - - . -- ; 100, 9 ........ ; 200. - . . . . . ; 500, -- -- --

f a c t o r y , b u t q u a l i t a t i v e l y , t h e m a i n f e a t u r e s of t h e v e l o c i t y profile, like s t r o n g velocity a s y m m e t r y , a p p e a r a n c e of v e l o c i t y " t o n g u e " in t h e v i c i n i t y of the o u t e r wall a n d existence of inflection p o i n t , were c a u g h t c o r r e c t l y b y t h e n u m e r i c a l model. E v e n n o n - m o n o t o n o u s b e h a v i o r of t h e v e l o c i t y profile in t h e c e n t r a l p a r t of cross-section (Fig. 17 b) was o b t a i n e d .

4 Concluding remarks T h e g o v e r n i n g e q u a t i o n s d e s c r i b i n g s t e a d y l a m i n a r flow in a n n u l u s with one or two r o t a t i n g screens, were solved b y finite-difference m e t h o d . I n order to check t h e a l g o r i t h m applied in t h e p r e s e n t work, a d v a n t a g e was t a k e n of a large b u l k of n u m e r i c a l a n d e x p e r i m e n t a l d a t a k n o w n f r o m t h e l i t e r a t u r e for a similar p r o b l e m of t h e flow in curved c h a n n e l w i t h a r e c t a n g u l a r cross-section. B y using a special p r o c e d u r e of " c o l d " a n d " h o t " conditions for initial v e l o c i t y distrib u t i o n s in t h e process of i t e r a t i o n s , m u l t i p l e solutions were o b t a i n e d for t h e flow in a curved

22

E. Kit and E. Mazor

Q,--.5
0.5
I

9, = I00
T ~ r

y -

0 -0.5

0,5

-0.5

0.5

--2 0 0
0.5
I

f~=500
I r I

y _

0 -0.5

0
x

0.5

-0.5

0
x

0.5

Fig. 16. Secondary flow streamlines in annulus with two rotating screens, r = 5

channel, in accordance with earlier theoretical predictions. Different secondary flow patterns where thus obtained. These patterns consist of either two or four vortices, for identical pressure gradients. I n contrast to that, in an annulus, no multiple solutions were obtained for the full range of angular velocities of the screens. When the flow in an annulus was generated by one screen, the secondary flow consisted of one vortex, while in the ease of two rotating screens, only two vortices could be obtained. The m o m e n t u m transport i n the central part of the annulus cross-section is mainly due to the secondary flow. For this reason, the qualitative agreement obtained between the numerically calculated laminar velocity profiles with those measured experimentally in a turbulent flow, was so good. The important conclusion following from such an agreement is t h a t a n y turbulent model to be employed to describe the flow in an annulus, should account for the secondary flow. This explains why the relatively sophisticated turbulent model used by C h a i e t al. [4], who neglected the secondary flow, was not able to predict such important features of the flow as the appearance of a "tongue" in the vicinity of outer wall and the accompanying inflection point. Incorporation of an advanced turbulent model in order to describe the turbulent viscosity into the present set of equation will hopefully allow us to characterize much better the processes in a real annulus. The next step in the refining of the theoretical model should include the turbulent diffusion coefficient in order to evaluate the entrainment processes in
an annulus.

Flow generated in an annulus by rotating screens

23

6 --

--

r
-0.4

f
-0.2

I
0 x/a

I
0.2

f
0.4

a)

XX

,4

ot

t
-0.4

/
-0.2

l
0

r
0.2

r
O.L

b/

Fig. 17. Comparison of numerically computed (solid lines) and measured (x) velocity profiles in radial direction in annulus with a one rotating screen, y ~ 1/2 and b two rotating screens, y = i/4

References
[1] Kato, H., Phillips, O. M.: On the penetration of a turbulent layer into stratified fluid. J. Fluid Mech. 37, 643--655 (1969). [2] Scranton, D. R., Lindbcrg, W. R. : An experimental study of entraining, stress-driven, stratified flow in an annulus. Phys. Fluids. 26, 1198--1205 (1983). [3] Deardorff, J. W., Yoon, S. C. : On the use of an annulus to study mixed-layer entrainment. J. l~luid Mech. 14~, 9 7 - - t 2 0 (1984). [4] Chai, A., Hassid, S., Kit, E., Tsinober, A. : A study of a two-layer stratified flow in an annulus: experiment and model. PCH. 10, 5/6, 561--578 (1988). [5] Dean, W. R. : The stream-line motion of fluid in a curved pipe. Phil. Nag. 5, 673--695 (1928). [6] Joseph, B., Smith, E. P., Adler, R. J . : Numerical treatment of laminar flow in helically coiled tubes of square cross-section. AIChE J. ~1, 965--974 (1975). [7] Chcng, K. C., Lin, 1~. C., Ou, J. W.: Fully-developed laminar flow in curved rectangular channels. Trans. ASME I: J. Fluids Engng. 98, 41--48 (/976).

24

E. Kit and E. Mazor: Flow generated in an annulus by rotating screens

[8] Ghia, K. I~., Sokhey, J. S.: Laminar incompressible viscous flow in curved ducts of regular cross-section. Trans. ASME I: J. Fluids Engng. 99, 640--648 (1977). [9] Hille, P., Vehrenkamp, 1~., Schulz-DuBois, E. O. : The development and structure of primary and secondary flow in a curved square duct. J. Fluid Mech. 151, 219--241 (1984). [10] Winters, K. H. : A bifurcation study of laminar flow in curved tube of rectangular cross-section. J. Fluid Mech. 180, 343--369 (1987). [11] Chai, A.: Experimental investigation of mixing process in a two-layer stratified flow in an annulus. Ph.D. thesis, Tel-Aviv 1989. [12] Chai, A., Kit, E.: Experiments on entrainment in an annulus with and without velocity gradient across the density interface. Submitted for publication (1989). [13] Schlichting, H. : Boundary layer theory. McGraw-Hill 1979.

Authors' address: E. Kit and E. Mazor, Tel-Aviv University, Israel