A numerical study of the effects of curvature on the fluid dynamics of gas centrifuges

A finite element method for the approximate solution of the flow in rapidly rotating gas centrifuges is presented. The Onsager model, as amended by Maslen, is used in deriving the model equations to be discretized. The pancake effects are not assumed in the model, i.e., curvature terms are retained. To show the effects of these terms on the hydrodynamics of a gas centrifuge, numerical examples done with and without these curvature terms are presented and compared. Two flow models are used for the examples, one for flow driven by a linear temperature gradient along the wall and the other for flow driven by axial mass fluxes through the end caps of the centrifuge.