An experimental and theoretical study of the confined vortex with high flow rate

The behavior of the flow field in the vortex chamber when the radial and tangential velocities are of equal order of magnitude at the cylindrical distributor and the Reynolds number based on chamber radius and radial velocity is of order 10,000 was investigated. A model was developed by piecing together the analyses for three regions, including the main part of the flow field, the portion near the end walls and the viscous core close to the axis of symmetry. It is shown that although the end wall secondary flow patterns persist, the end wall boundary layers may be uncoupled from the flow in the main region. An explanation for the variation in the size of the viscous core region with changes in operating parameters is presented and compared with a previous theory now used extensively in vortex modelling. A parametric analysis of the radial velocity profiles with changes in geometry was also done.