The structure of the Stewartson layers in a gas centrifuge

The structure of the Stewartson Esup(1/4)-layer (E being the Ekman number) in a compressible gas contained in a rapidly rotating cylinder is investigated for the case in which the end plates of the cylinder are thermally insulated. It was found by Matsuda and Hashimoto (J. Fluid. Mech.; 78:337 (1976)) that the Esup(1/4)-layer could not have a relevant structure in the ordinary configuration in which the Esup(1/4)-layer meets the end plates through its Ekman extension of thickness Esup(1/2). In this paper the Esup(1/4) x Esup(1/4) square region, in addition to the Ekman extension, is considered. The heat generation due to the radial fluid motions in the Ekman extension causes the temperature fields in the Esup(1/4) x Esup(1/4) square region through which heat is conducted to the side wall of the cylinder. Numerical calculations were made to obtain the temperature fields, which are shown in several figures. (author)