Theoretical, Experimental and Numerical Investigations of the Flow Generated by a 3d Spinning Disk

The work is concerned with the numerical and experimental investigations of the flow generated by a disk in rotational motion. The main goal of the present study is to validate the 3D numerical solutions obtained with FLUENT code. Numerically computed streamlines and pressure distributions, as well as the dependence of the torque coefficient on the Reynolds number, are compared with experimental data and analytical solutions. We also analyze different techniques to put in evidence the vortical structures and the areas within the flow domain where the intensity of the vortices reach high values. We introduce a 'custom field function,'respectively the vorticity number (W0), as a key component to emphasis the local vortex intensity. One can conclude that the obtained 3D numerical solution offers a very good representation of the real phenomena and provides additional value information about the structure of the flow field. The further step is focused to introduce within the numerical code of a new 'user defined function'representing a rheological function with variable time viscosity. The final target of the study is to simulate the dynamics of a chemical reactor during the polymerization reaction.