1

Module 3:
Convective heat and mass transfer

Lecture 21:
Convective Transport: Fluid Flow to a
Rotating Disk (in an infinite mass of
fluid)

NPTEL,IITKharagpur,Prof.SaikatChakraborty,DepartmentofChemicalEngineering

Consider the rotating disk in represented in cylindrical coordinates (r, , y) in Fig. 1 that rotates
with an angular velocity of . vr, v, vz are the fluid velocities along the r, , z, directions
respectively.

(at z=0)

vz

z
Fig. 1 Coordinates and velocity components for the rotating disk system.
Assumptions used for modelling the momentum transport in the fluid surrounding the
rotating disk
1. Disk is of infinite radius (no edge effects)
NPTEL,IITKharagpur,Prof.SaikatChakraborty,DepartmentofChemicalEngineering

2. Surrounding fluid is an incompressible, Newtonian fluid with constant .

3. Flow is steady state and axisymmetric
Now we write the equation of continuity for mass conservation and the Navier-Stokes equations
for momentum conservation in r, r, , z, directions in Cylindrical Co-ordinates.
Continuity equation for mass conservation:
1
1 v v
( rvr ) + + z = 0
r r
r z

(1)

Navier Stokes equations for momentum conservation (r-component)

2
r
r r

1 P
+ r
+

+z r =
r
r
t
r
z
r
1
2
1 2
2
+
( rr ) + 2 2r 2 + 2r
r
r r r
z
r

(2)
Navier Stokes equations for momentum conservation (-component)

+ + + r + = 1 P
z
r
t
r
z
r
r
r
2
2

2 r
1
1

+
+
+
+
r
r r r r 2 2 r 2
z 2

( )

(3)

NPTEL,IITKharagpur,Prof.SaikatChakraborty,DepartmentofChemicalEngineering

Navier Stokes equations for momentum conservation (z-component)

z
z

1 P
+ r z +
+ z z =
r
z
t
r
z
1 z 1 2 z 2 z
+
+ 2
r
+ 2
2
z
r r r r
(4)
In the above equation P is the dynamic pressure.
P =

Dynamic
Pressure

p
Thermodynaic
Pressure

(5)

Hydrostatic
Pressure

Von Karman separation of variables

The solution can be of the form of = rg ( z ) , r = rf ( z ) , z = h ( z ) , P = p ( z )
If these expressions are substituted into the equation, above, one obtains
2 f + h' = 0
f 2 g 2 + hf ' = f ''
2 fg + hg ' = g ''
hh '+ P ' = h ''

(6)

where prime ( ') denotes differentiation w.r.t z

NPTEL,IITKharagpur,Prof.SaikatChakraborty,DepartmentofChemicalEngineering

Boundary conditions are derived from the fact that

= r, r = 0, z = 0 on the surface of the disk and = 0, r = 0 far away from the surface

Hence

h = f = 0, g = at z = 0
f = g = 0 at z

Also P needs to be specified at the same point.

Lets define dimensionless variables

J=z

, P = , = rG, r = rF , z = rH

2F + H ' = 0

(7)

F 2 G 2 + HF ' = F ''

(8)

2 FG + HG ' = G ''

(9)

HH '+ P ' = H ''

(10)

With H = F = 0, G = 1 at J = 0
F = G = 0 at J
System (7)-(10) can be solved numerically to obtain F, H and G (See fig. 1).
Having H, ' can be obtained from (10) as

NPTEL,IITKharagpur,Prof.SaikatChakraborty,DepartmentofChemicalEngineering

1
P = P ( 0 ) + H ' H 2
2

(11)

For small distance, from the disk

1
H = 0.51023J 2 + J 3 0.10267 J 4 + .....
3

(12)

For large distances from the disk

H = 0.88447 + 2.112exp ( 0.88447 J ) + .....

(13)

These expressions are useful, since the normal velocity vz is important for calculating the rate of
heat or mass transfer to the rotating disk. The fact that vz vz ( r ) has important consequences
for heat or mass flux uniformity along the disk surface (see fig. below)

NPTEL,IITKharagpur,Prof.SaikatChakraborty,DepartmentofChemicalEngineering

Fig.2 Velocity profile for a rotating disk.

NPTEL,IITKharagpur,Prof.SaikatChakraborty,DepartmentofChemicalEngineering