LETTERS IN HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER Pergamon Press

Vol. I, pp. 131 - 138, 1974 P r i n t e d in the United S t a t e s

APPLICATION OF THE ENERGY-DISSIPATION MODEL OF TURBULENCE

TO THE CALCULATION OF FLOW NEAR A SPINNING DISC

B.E. Launder and B . I . Sharma

Department o f Mechanical E n g i n e e r i n g
I m p e r i a l C o l l e g e o f S c i e n c e and T echnol ogy, London SW7 2BX

( C o m m u n i c a t e d by D.B. Spalding and J. Ho Whitelaw)

Introduction

In t h e l a s t few y e a r s a number o f models o f t u r b u l e n t h e a t and momentum

t r a n s p o r t have been d e v e l o p e d i n which t h e e f f e c t i v e t r a n s p o r t c o e f f i c i e n t s
are r e l a t e d to local values of c e r t a i n t u r b u l e n t c o r r e l a t i o n s ; these correla-
t i o n s a r e computed s i m u l t a n e o u s l y w i t h t h e mean f i e l d v a r i a b l e s . Models o f
t h i s kind a c h i e v e s i g n i f i c a n t l y greater breadth of applicability t han do sim-
p l e r approaches bas e d on mean-flow q u a n t i t i e s alone. One o f t h e more s u c c e s s -
f u l o f t h e s e newer approaches i s t h e e n e r g y - d i s s i p a t i o n model d e v e l o p e d by
Jones and Launder ( 1 , 2 ) . Its o r i g i n a t o r s applied i t to the c a l c u l a t i o n of
numerous boundary l a y e r flows w i t h s e v e r e streamwise p r e s s u r e g r a d i e n t or s u r -
f a c e mass t r a n s f e r . No a p p l i c a t i o n s have been r e p o r t e d , however, o f i t s use
t o p r e d i c t s w i r l i n g f l o w s , an omission t h a t t h e p r e s e n t n o t e r e m e d i e s . The
flow c o n s i d e r e d ( t h a t g e n e r a t e d by a r o t a t i n g d i s c i n a q u i e s c e n t atmosphere)
p r o d u c e s v e r y high g r a d i e n t s o f s w i r l v e l o c i t y i n t h e v i c i n i t y of the disc
which i n t u r n b r i n g s t o prominence terms i n t h e k i n e t i c e n e r g y and d i s s i p a t i o n
e q u a t i o n s t h a t have f o r m e r l y been a b s e n t o r o f o n l y small i m p o r t a n c e . This
a p p l i c a t i o n t h u s p r o v i d e s a t e s t o f t h e g e n e r a l i t y o f t h e model f o r an impor-
tant class of f l u i d flows.

The T u r b u l e n c e Model
The t u r b u l e n t t r a n s p o r t c o e f f i c i e n t s UT and r T a r e o b t a i n e d from t h e
f o l l o w i n g system o f d i f f e r e n t i a l and a u x i l i a r y e q u a t i o n s ; explanation of the

131
132 B.]E. L a u n d e r and B . I . Sharma Vol. 1, No. 2

o r i g i n of the equations is provided in r e f s (1,2).

Turbulent viscosity: UT = cp pk2/e (1)

T u r b u l e n t t he r m a l o r
mass d i f f u s i v i t y : FT = PT/0.9p (23
( i . e . T u r b u l e n t P r a n d t l / S c h m i d t number = 0.9)
Turbulence k i n e t i c energy equation:

L - ~ j

+ + r - pe - zU (3)

Turbulence energy dissipation equation:

pU ~ + pV 8y r 8y + ~T

+ 2.o o / + r (4)

where c - 0 . 0 9 exp [ - 3 . 4 / ( 1 + RT/50)2] (S)

c2 ~ 1.92 [1.0 - 0.3 expC-R2T)] (6)

and RT ~ 0k2/pE, the turbulent Reynolds number.

The other empirical coefficients take the following uniform values:

cI = 1.44; ok = 1 . 0 ; ~E = 1 . 3 .

The independent variables r and y are respectively the radial distance from
the disc axis and the normal distance from the disc surface. The correspond-
ing velocities are U and V; V@ denotes the circumferential velocity. All
other notation is the same as in ref (1,2).
The above system of equations differ from that in (1) and (2) in two
respects:
Vol. I, No. Z SPINNING DISC 133

(i) Extra source terms involving gradients of (Vo/r) appear in the equations
for k and c. Their appearance is due to the conversion of the cartesian-
tensor from of these equations to the present coordinate frame. The 7 are
not ad hoc terms.
(ii) The Reynolds number functions c and c 2 and the coefficient c I are
slightly different. This is the result of an overall reoptimisation of
coefficients reported in (3). We repeated the computation of some of the

50 50

• ERIAN [6] R ¢ = 9 9 3 x l o 5
40 -\
\
k %
3O 3O

y~
2O 20

IO

02 O 4 06 08 iO 12
Ve/T~ UITo~

Fig. i
Turbulent flow velocity profiles near a spinning disc

flows studied in (1,2) with the present coefficients: there were no sig-
nificant differences in the results from those originally reported.

Solution of Equations

The above system of equations have been solved simultaneously with

that governing the mean flow: i.e. the radial and angular momentum equa-
tions, the continuity equation and (for problems of heat or mass diffusion)
134 B.E. L a u n d e r and B.I. Sharma Vol. 1, No. 2

t h e e n t h a l p y o r chemical s p e c i e s e q u a t i o n . The mean-flow e q u a t i o n s a r e gi ven

i n t h e Appendix t o g e t h e r with t h e boundary c o n d i t i o n s . The p r e c i s e form i s
g i v e n in ( 4 ) . The n u m e r i c a l s o l v i n g scheme used i n b a s i c a l l y t h e P a t a n k a r -
Spalding (5) p r o c e d u r e m o d i f i e d f o r t h e i n c l u s i o n o f s w i r l as o u t l i n e d i n
(4 ). S e v e n t y nodes were used t o span t h e boundary l a y e r w i t h a s u b s t a n t i a l
c o n c e n t r a t i o n v e r y n e a r t h e wall ( t h i s i s about 60% more t han a r e needed t o
obtain grid-independent results when t h e m i x i n g - l e n g t h model i s u s e d ) . The
forward s t e p used was t y p i c a l l y 15% o f t h e boundary l a y e r t h i c k n e s s l e a d i n g
t o computer times p e r run o f about 50 s on a CDC 6600 computer.

Discussion of Results

Some p r e d i c t e d c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the rotating-disc flow a r e compared

w i t h e x p e r i m e n t a l d a t a in F i g s . 1-3. The c a l c u l a t e d r a d i a l and c i r c u m f e r e n -
tial velocity profiles a r e s e e n , from F i g. 1 t o be c l o s e l y in agreement with
Erian's (6) e x p e r i m e n t a l d a t a . The m i x i n g - l e n g t h r e s u l t s from (4) a r e a l s o
shown: a l t h o u g h h e r e agreement with experi m ent i s a l s o r e a s o n a b l y s a t i s f a c -
tory, the radial velocity falls to zero f a s t e r than e x p e r i m e n t s u g g e s t s due
to the t u r b u l e n t v i s c o s i t y falling t o zero t oo q u i c k l y n e a r t h e o u t e r edge.

• THEODORSEN [8] MLH

-- X KREITH [7] K-E:

CM

O.OI

0002 I I I I
5 6
IO IO
1"2 ~ / v

Fig. 2
Torque coefficient for spinning disc
Vol. 1 No. 2 SPINNING DISC 135

The c o r r e s p o n d i n g v a r i a t i o n of torque coefficient w i t h Reynolds number

i s shown in F i g . 2. The Reynolds number a t which t r a n s i t i o n o c c u r s must be
p r o v i d e d (when t h e r a d i a l d i s t a n c e i s so small t h a t t h e s p i n Reynolds number
i s l e s s th an R e t r a n s t h e flow i s t a k e n as l am i nar and o n l y t h e mean flow
equations are solved). Following our p r a c t i c e i n (4) we have adopted t h e
v a l u e o f R etr an s t h a t seemed t o be s u g g e s t e d by any p a r t i c u l a r apparatus; not
surprisingly there is a significant variation in Retran s from one apparatus
to another due presumably to minor variations in geometry and in surface fin-
ish. The predicted variation of torque coefficient with Reynolds number is
closely in line with the measured behaviour, the line representing predicted
behaviour falling roughly mid-way between the data of Kreith (7) and Theodorsen
and Regier (8).
Heat and mass transfer predictions are shown in Fig. 3. There is
extremely close agreement with Cobb's measured mean Nusselt numbers over the
full range of the experiments; the data of McComas lie about 7% below this.
Agreement with the naphthalene diffusion data of Tien (ii) and Kreith (12)
is not quite as satisfactory, however. While there is close agreement with
experiment for spin Reynolds numbers up to 4 x 105 , beyond this the data
rise progressively faster than the predictions indicate. The same kind of
discrepancies were noted in (4) where the mixing length hypothesis was used.
It does not seem possible to identify the cause of the disagreement in the
absence of measured profiles of species concentration near the disc.

• McCOMAS [9} ~ , /
COBB [IO] ~ / /
0 K I~EITH [12] X U / /

,C
0"=24
Nu
o$"
•

~ ER)
o x''O'°" MLH
i O2 - - °I /o / K -¢

...W-"

, ,r]lll I i I i Illli I i
I0 5 i0 6
T2c~/ ",,;

Fig. 3
Heat and mass transfer from a disc rotating in still air
136 B.E. L a u n d e r and B.I. S h a r m a Vol. i, No. 2

Conclusion

The main conclusion is that the k~E model of turbulence, which had
been devised (1,2) specifically to predict certain low-Reynolds-number phe-
nomena in boundary layers and duct flows, has been found to predict accurately
the flow, heat and mass transfer in the neighbourhood of a rotating disc.
The result is of significance to the problem of predicting convective heat
transfer rates in turbine discs.

Acknowledgement

This r e s e a r c h has been s u p p o r t e d by t h e S c i e n c e Research Council t h r o u g h

Grant No. B/RG/1863.

References

1. W.P. Jones and B.E. Launder, I n t . J . Heat Mass T r a n s f e r , 15, 301 (1972).

2. W.P. Jones and B.E. Launder, I n t . J . Heat Mass T r a n s f e r , 16, I l l 9 (1973).

3. B.E. Launder, A. Morse, W. Rodi and D.B. S p a l d i n g , Langley Free Shear

Flows C o n f e r e n c e , NASA SP-321 (1972).

4. M.L. K o o s i n l i n , B.E. Launder and B . I . Sharma, J . Heat T r a n s f e r , 96, 204

(1974).

5. S.V. P a t a n k a r and D.B. S p a l d i n g , Heat and Mass T r a n s f e r i n Boundary L a y e r s ,

I n t e r t e x t Books, London (1970).

6. F.F. E r i a n and Y.H. Tong, The P h y s i c s o f F l u i d s , 12, 2588 (1971).

7. F. K r e i t h , Pr oc . Heat T r a n s f e r and F l u i d Mech. I n s t . S t a n f o r d (1966).

8. T. Theodorsen and A. R e g i e r , NACA Rep. 793 (1944).

9. S.T. McComas and J . P . H a r t n e t t , 4th I n t . C o n f e r e n c e , Heat T r a n s f e r 3,

FC 7.7 (1970).

I 0 . C. Cobb and 0.A. Saunder s , Pr oc . Roy. Soc. A236, 343 (1956).

11. C.L. Tien and D.T. Campbell, J . F l u i d Mech. 17, 105 (1963).

12. F. K r e i t h , J . H . T a y l o r and J . P . Chong, J. Heat T r a n s f e r , 9__$5(1959).

Vol. i, No. 2 SPINNING DISC 137

Appendix

The following is the system of mean-flow conservation equations solved

simultaneously with equations (1-61 describing the turbulence quantities.

Streamwise momentum:

au au I a
pu ~ +pv a--f = (A1)
r ~y (~ + ~T) + p ~--

Angular momentum:

3 rV 0 a rV 0 1 3
oU ar + pV ay 3 (n + n T) Ty j (A2)
ray

Enthalpy or s p e c i e s mass f r a c t i o n (¢):

pU ~a@ + pv a@
a-f = r1 aa y Ir (r + r T) 3@
~f 3 (A3)

Boundary conditions are applied at the disc surface (y=O) and beyond
the edge of the boundary layer (y=y~) as follows:

y = O: U = k = ~ = O; V 0 = mr; ¢ = CW

y = y : U = k = e = V 0 = O; ¢ = ¢ .