Experimental Investigation of the Fluid Motion in a Cylinder Driven by a Flat-Plate Impeller

The flow field in a cylindrical container driven by a flat-bladed impeller was investigated using particle image velocimetry (PIV). A range of Reynolds numbers (0.005–7200), based on the container radius $rw$⁠, were investigated using four Newtonian fluids: water $(Re=7200,6800)$⁠, 85/15 glycerin/water mixture $(Re=108)$⁠, pure glycerin $(Re=8)$⁠, and corn syrup $(Re=0.02,0.005)$⁠. Two impellers with a radius of $0.43rw$ and $0.95rw$ were used to drive the flow. The $0.43rw$ impeller was shown to generate a vortex near the tip of the blades. The peak magnitude of the vortices and the size of the vortices in the radial direction decreased with increasing Reynolds number. Additionally, the vortex generated at the high Reynolds number was unsteady with a trailing shear layer that periodically shed vorticity into the flow field. The structure of the flow in the region between the blade and the cylinder wall showed a Reynolds number dependence, though the two lowest Reynolds number (0.02 and 8) flows investigated had quantitatively similar flow structures. These cases were found to have a closed region of reverse flow between the blade tip and the cylinder wall. No recirculating flow was indicated for the $Re=108$ and 7200 cases. These data indicate that there may be a critical condition below which there is little dependence in the flow structure on the Reynolds number.