Simulations of the Rotor-Stator-Cavity Flow in Liquid-Floating Rotor Micro Gyroscope

Abstract

When rotating at a high speed in a microscale flow field in confined spaces, rotors are subject to a complex flow due to the joint effect of the centrifugal force, hindering of the stationary cavity and the scale effect. In this paper, a rotor-stator-cavity (RSC) microscale flow field simulation model of liquid-floating rotor micro gyroscopes is built, which can be used to study the flow characteristics of fluids in confined spaces with different Reynolds numbers (Re) and gap-to-diameter ratios. The Reynolds stress model (RSM) is applied to solve the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equation for the distribution laws of the mean flow, turbulence statistics and frictional resistance under different working conditions. The results show that as the Re increases, the rotational boundary layer gradually separates from the stationary boundary layer, and the local Re mainly affects the distribution of velocity at the stationary boundary, while the gap-to-diameter ratio mainly affects the distribution of velocity at the rotational boundary. The Reynolds stress is mainly distributed in boundary layers, and the Reynolds normal stress is slightly greater than the Reynolds shear stress. The turbulence is in the state of plane-strain limit. As the Re increases, the frictional resistance coefficient increases. When Re is within 104, the frictional resistance coefficient increases as the gap-to-diameter ratio decreases, while the frictional resistance coefficient drops to the minimum when the Re exceeds 105 and the gap-to-diameter ratio is 0.027. This study can enable a better understanding of the flow characteristics of microscale RSCs under different working conditions.