Abstract
This investigation deals with the spin-up flows in a circular container of aspect ratio, 2.0. Shear front is generated in the transient spin-up process and propagating from the side wall to the central axis in a rotating container. Propagation of the shear front to the axis in a rotating container means the region acquires an angular momentum transfer from the solid walls. Propagating speed of the shear front depends on the apparent viscosity of polymer solution. Two kinds of polymer solutions are considered as a working fluid: one is CMC and the other is CTAB solution. CMC solution has larger apparent viscosity than that of water, and CTAB shows varying apparent viscosities depending on the applied shear rates. Transient and spatial variations of the apparent viscosities of the present polymer solutions (CTAB and CMC) cause different speeds of the propagating shear front. In practice, CMC solution that has larger values of apparent viscosity than that of water always shows rapid approach to the steady state in comparison of the behavior of the flows with water. However, for the CTAB solution, the speed of the propagating of the shear front changes with the local magnitude of its apparent viscosity. Consequently, the prediction of Wedemeyer's model quantitatively agrees with the present experimental results.
