Dimensional and Mechanical Similarity Analysis of the Flow in Rotating Liquid Film Reactor

Xue Li, Lanxi Xu, Jingjing Zhang, Wanli Lan

Department of Mathematics, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.

DOI: 10.4236/ojfd.2013.32004                

Abstract

 

A rotating liquid film reactor (RLFR) is a device of two coaxial rotating conical cylinders with the inner cone rotating and the outer one stationary. A complete mathematical model for the flow between the conical cylinders is built and a dimensional analysis is carried out. It is proved that at each point of the flow field the dimensionless pressure and velocity of the flow are determined by parameters: Reynolds number (Re), aspect ratio (Γ), radius ratio (η) and wall inclination angle (α). Furthermore, a sufficient and a necessary condition are derived from mechanical similarity between RLFR and a manufacturing equipment geometrically similar to RLFR. Finally, a numerical simulation for the distribution of pressure and velocity is performed. The results may provide a theoretical basis for experiment method and numerical simulation of the flow in a RLFR-like device.

Keywords

Rotating Liquid Film Reactor (RLFR); Coaxial Rotating Conical Cylinder; Mechanical Similarity;Reynolds Number; Dimensional Analysis

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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