Analysis of flow and heat transfer of viscous fluid between contracting rotating disks

The present work investigates the effects of disks contracting, rotation and heat transfer on the viscous fluid between heated contracting rotating disks. By introducing the Von Karman type similarity transformations through which we reduced the highly nonlinear partial differential equation to a system of ordinary differential equations. This system of differential equations with appropriate boundary conditions is responsible for the flow behavior between large but finite coaxial rotating and heated disks. It is important to note that the lower disk is rotating with angular velocity Q while the upper one with S Omega, the disks are also contracting and the temperatures of the upper and lower disks are T-1 and To, respectively. The agents which driven the flow are the contraction and also the rotation of the disks. On the other hand the velocity components and especially radial component of velocity strongly influence the temperature distribution inside the flow regime. The basic equations which govern the flow are the Navier Stokes equations with well known continuity equation for incompressible flow. The final system of ordinary differential equations is then solved numerically with given boundary conditions. In addition, the effect of physical parameters, the Reynolds number (Re), the wall contraction ratio (gamma) and the rotation ratio (5) on the velocity and pressure gradient, as well as, the effect of Prandtl number (Pr) on temperature distribution are also observed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.