A numerical study of the similarity of fully developed laminar flows in orthogonally rotating rectangular ducts and stationary curved rectangular ducts of arbitrary aspect ratio

 The present study showed that a quantitative analogy of fully developed laminar flow in orthogonally rotating rectangular ducts and stationary curved rectangular ducts of arbitrary aspect ratio could be established. In order to clarify the similarity of the two flows, the dimensionless parameters K _LR=Re/(Ro)^1/2 and the Rossby number, Ro=w _m /Ωd _h , in a rotating straight duct were used as a set corresponding to the Dean number, K _LC=Re/λ^1/2, and curvature ratio, λ=R/d _h , in a stationary curved duct. Under the condition that the value of the Rossby number and the curvature ratio was large enough, the flow field satisfied the `asymptotic invariance property'; there were strong quantitative similarities between the two flows such as in the friction factors, flow patterns, and maximum axial velocity magnitudes for the same values of K _LR and K _LC. Based on these similarities, it is possible to predict the flow characteristics in rotating ducts by considering the flow in stationary curved ducts, and vice versa. Received: 10 September 2001 / Accepted: 13 May 2002