Transient flow near a rotating disk

Summary The solution of the time dependent flow due to the impulsive starting of a single infinite disk from rest is obtained numerically for the entire history of the transient. The primary tangential velocity exhibits a single overshoot of its steady value while the growth of the secondary flows is monotonic. The overshoot is seen to be a direct consequence of the lag in the development of the secondary flows. An analytical solution is obtained for a related linearized problem: The angular velocity of an infinite disk, initially rotating with an infinite environment, is perturbed. The oscillatory decays to the steady state, which occur in both unbounded and bounded linearized analyses, are discussed in relation to the overshoot in the impulsively started disk problem.