A numerical analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer between two rotating disks with induced porous medium

Abstract

In this article, fluid flow between rotating disks is a fundamental topic in fluid dynamics and has various practical applications in engineering and technology. The primary motivation for studying fluid flow between two rotating disk includes its applications in heat exchanger design, generating energy, designing aircraft components like helicopter blades, propellers, wind turbine rotors, fluid pumping, stirring, etc. Authors have considered radially stretching and rotating disks simultaneously under the spiraling motion of a couple stress fluid. This type of motion is developed by radial stretching in addition to the disk’s uniform rotation. This study gives information about the effect of various physical parameters on radial, tangential velocities, and temperature profiles. The similarity transformation resulted in coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations from the constitutive flow rules of nonlinear partial differential equations. For getting numerical solutions, the authors have used the in-build NDSolve command in MATHEMATICA software, which uses the finite difference method for discretizing and solving differential equations. The outcomes of the above study depict how the fluid flow pattern between the rotating disks is affected by Darcy’s parameter, and other parameters, like Prandtl number, rotation parameter, stretching parameter, couple stress parameter, etc. on the flow, have been thoroughly analyzed, with the physical relevance illustrated. Radial and tangential velocity profiles decrease whenever the Darcy parameter increases. An increase in rotation parameter enhances the radial and tangential velocity due to rotation of the disks.