Investigation of the fluid flow in an isolated rotor-stator system with a peripheral opening

This paper deals with an experimental, theoretical and numerical study of a turbulent flow with separated boundary layers between a rotor and a stator. The system is not subjected to any superimposed radial flow. The periphery of the cavity is opened to the atmosphere so that the solid body rotation for infinite discs is not always observed. Emphasis was placed on development of an asymptotic approach and a step-by-step method to compute the radial distribution of the core swirl ratio and the static pressure on the stator side. The theory also includes the radial and axial velocities in the core region. The numerical simulation has been conducted with the commercial CFD code Fluent 6.1. The k-omega SST turbulence model is used, with the assumption of 2D-axisymmetric and steady flow. CFD validations have been performed by comparison of the numerical results with the corresponding theoretical results. Numerical and experimental results are in good agreement with analytical solutions.