Steady flow generated by the differential rotation of a porous disk of finite thickness

When a body of fluid bounded by a porous disk of finite thickness is disturbed from a state of rigid rotation by an enhanced (or reduced) angular velocity of the disk, a few authors followed Darcys model and observed that the centrifugal pumping occurs through the entire porous layer regarded as a convection zone. The shear stress can develop only at the edge of the porous layer. We use a porous disk of high permeability that allows the fluid in the porous disk to deform in response to the changing angular velocity. Based on the Birkmans model, we solve for the steady non-linear flow and observe that there arises (i) a convection zone of nearly uniform angular velocity at the boundary (within the porous layer) and (ii) a transition zone adjacent to the convection zone which provides a smooth transition to the interior. This makes the model relevant to some astrophysical situations as described by some authors [1, 3]. The two point boundary value problem is solved subject to the boundary conditions, the far field conditions, and the matching conditions at the fluid-porous medium interface. The solution is obtained using a numerical procedure known as the method of Adjoints.Received: June 13, 2002; revised: July 7, 2003