A numerical study of the similarity of fully developed turbulent flows in orthogonally rotating square ducts and stationary curved square ducts

A numerical study of a quantitative analogy of fully developed turbulent flow in a straight square duct rotating about an axis perpendicular to that of the duct and a stationary curved duct of square cross‐section was carried out. In order to compare the two flows, the dimensionless parameters K_TR=Re^1/4/√Ro and the Rossby number, Ro=w_m/Ωd_h, in the rotating straight duct flow corresponded to K_TC=Re^1/4/√λ and the curvature ratio, λ=R/d_h, in the stationary curved duct flow, so that they had the same dynamical meaning as those parameters for fully developed laminar flow. For the large values of Ro or λ, the flow field satisfied the “asymptotic invariance property”; there were strong quantitative similarities between the two flows, such as in the flow patterns and friction factors for the same values of K_TR and K_TC. Based on these similarities, it is possible to predict the flow characteristics in rotating ducts by considering the flow in stationary curved ducts, and vice versa.