15. Heat Transfer in Rotating Flows

Convective heat transfer in rotating flows is of great technical and scientific importance. Two kinds of configurations, namely, bodies of revolution spinning in a fluid and rotor-stator disk systems, are considered in this chapter. In many cases, not only centrifugal but also Coriolis force contributions play a significant role, and the boundary layer flow is essentially three dimensional. In this case, the rotating flow and heat transfer cannot be described by a simple change of the reference frame and very complex and unexpected phenomena can be found. A substantial difficulty is given by the fact that the number of input parameters is typically rather large in case of rotating systems subjected to an outer forced flow. Then, not only the rotational Reynolds number and the Prandtl number are important for the resulting heat transfer but also the translational Reynolds number and further input variables like angle of incidence or partial admission factors. In this chapter, experimental, theoretical, and recent numerical methods are reviewed. The following discussion is limited to an incompressible Newtonian fluid. Selected results of current research projects are discussed, too. The phenomena arising from natural convection or heat transfer in a rotating fluid heated from below might be found in Chap.​ 16, “Natural Convection in Rotating Flows.​”