Power Number Calculations for a Taylor-Couette Flow

The classical problem of Taylor-Couette flow between rotating concentric cylinders under laminar flow conditions is studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. The flow between concentric cylinders with the inner cylinder rotating and the outer cylinder stationary for a Newtonian fluid has been calculated for a range of Reynolds numbers, radius ratios, length to diameter ratios using the CFD code CFX. The predicted tangential velocity profiles have been found to agree well with analytical profiles in the Couette flow regime and the transition from Couette flow to Taylor vortex flow has also been correctly predicted. Results for the power number show that it varies inversely with Reynolds number in the Couette flow regime and as Re -n where n ~ 0.7 in the Taylor vortex flow. These results agree well with the experimental data of Sinevic et al (1). A new correlation is proposed to calculate the power number for the Couette flow and the Taylor vortex flow regimes.