On the steady laminar boundary-layer flow over the family of rotating tori

Abstract

We present the laminar boundary layer flow over the standard tori rotating in an otherwise quiescent incompressible fluid. The mean flow equations are derived by using a specific form of the toroidal–poloidal coordinate system. A pseudo-spectral collocation method mixed with the first-order Euler scheme is employed to solve the related steady mean flow equations. A fixed aspect ratio R is defined as the ratio of radii of the torus and its tube that distinguishes each fixed torus within the general family of standard tori. Tori of spindle type turn into a sphere when the aspect ratio R=0 and thus the mean flow results for the rotating sphere are consistently reproduced. The influence of aspect ratio R on the steady mean velocity components and the wall shear stresses are presented in detail. In a precise manner, the mean flow results for each rotating torus are explainable in a consistent way to the already established case of steady laminar boundary layer flow over the rotating sphere. The significance of the current work is discussed in terms of the hydrodynamic instabilities of boundary layer flows over the family of rotating tori.