Experimental Investigation of the Pressure Drop in a Sink-Swirl Flow Within Two Disks

The flow between two disks has received much attention due to its significant relevance to technical applications in many areas, such as turbomachinery, heat exchangers, valves, bearings, lubrication, viscometry, and power transmission systems. Most of research deals with the flow over a rotating disk, between a stationary and a rotating disk, over both disks rotating, and between two stationary disks with pure radial flow. Few works deal with inlet swirl flow between two stationary disks. The present paper deals with the influence of swirl generators on the pressure drop in inward-swirl flow imparted between two stationary disks with aspect ratio (defined as the disk diameter/gap height ratio) equal to 60. Dimensional analysis suggests that the dimensionless pressure drop to be a function of the Reynolds number, the aspect ratio, and the inlet flow angle. Measurements confirm the finding.