Turbulent Flow Between Coaxial Cylinders With the Inner Cylinder Rotating

Turbulent flow in an annular gap between coaxial cylinders with the inner cylinder rotating is studied. It is shown that the circumferential and axial flows are independent of each other after the moment of momentum of the axial through flow acquires its final value along certain initial distance of the duct. This implies the applicability of Dorfman’s solution of the momentum equation (developed for a purely circumferential motion) to the system with axial through flow; the moment coefficient is a function of circumferential flow only, being insensitive to the possible existence of Taylor vortices. Using a mixing length profile identical to that used by Dorfman, an analytic solution of the energy equation, which includes dissipation function, is found for a simplified model of Couette flow with crossflow and with constant heat flux at the boundaries. The correlation between the two flow models is assessed. The influence of the thickness of the laminar sublayer and of the mixing length profile on the solution of the momentum and energy equations is quantified.