Numerical Simulation of Confined Swirling Flow of Viscoelastic Fluid due to Partially Rotating Disc

In order to investigate the secondary flow patterns of viscoelastic swirling flows in a cylindrical casing with a partially rotating disc, the numerical simulation of the confined swirling flow was performed at low Reynolds numbers, in which the Giesekus model was used as a constitutive equation. The Giesekus model parameters were obtained for polyacrylamide solutions whose concentrations were from 0.025 wt% to 0.2 wt%. The aspect ratio of the distance H between the casing end wall and the rotating disk to the container radius R-c was fixed to H/R-c = 2.0. The ratio of rotating disc radius R-d to R-c, sigma = R-d/R-c, was 0.4, 0.6 and 1.0. Five kinds of secondary flow patterns, which were classified using the Reynolds and elastic numbers, were observed, which was almost independent of the sigma.