LES Study of Flow Between Shrouded Co-rotating Disks

Large eddy simulations of turbulent flow between shrouded co-rotating disks, representing a simplified model of a hard disk drive, are performed. The computation domain surrounds a complete disk and is bounded at top and bottom by half a disk. Therefore, it is possible to compute the fluctuating pressure field surrounding the middle disk. Also, the influence of the shroud geometry is taken into account by comparing a flat shroud wall and a wall with rib chambers. In the flat shroud case, the fluctuating pressure on the upper- and lower-surface of a disk indicates a strong correlation with fluid motion travelling across the disk-tip clearance region. However, in the ribbed shroud case the organized flow structure that is observed in the flat shroud case disappears and the fluctuating pressure acting on the surface of the disk is remarkably diminished.