Simulation of countercurrent flow in a gas centrifuge

Certain effects of geometry and configuration on the circulation patterns in a gas centrifuge can be readily explored and tested in a liquid simulator. Since the most interesting situations involve countercurrent flows, the simulator must be one in which such motion is both easy to produce and accessible for experimentation. An apparatus that seems to meet these requirements is a partially filled rotating cylinder, which has one endplate that rotates with a slightly different angular velocity. The device, shown schematically can be modified to produce source-sink or mass driven flows as well. The rotation rates, fluid volume fraction (i.e., the thickness of the fluid layer) and the fluid rheology are the main control factors to be set in any experiment