The flow of fluids in annular conduits has been studied for over sixty
years, however the resulted data are very scattered. In this paper the problem
is analytically solved, starting out with Navier-Stokes equations. A computer
solution is used to determine the shape of velocity profiles, the discharge and
the friction factor in a large number of concentric and eccentric annular conduits.
The effect of eccentricity on discharge is also determined for a large
range in eccentricity and b/a ratio, where a and b are the inner and outer
cylinder radii.
The results indicate that for ratios of b/a up to about 1. 25 the velocity
profile is symmetrical. However with increase in b/a ratio as well as in eccenricity the location of maximum velocity moves closer to the inner cylinder and
thus the profile is skewed. For a given ratio of b/a, the discharge is proportional
to the fourth power of a or b and thus by doubling the size the discharge
will be increased by a factor of 16.
A relation between the dimensionless discharge AQo and AR is obtained
for concentric case. For large values of AR (AR 10) the following formula:
AQo=.566 AR4.07
IS suggested to represent this relation.
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