Dynamics of a rotor partially filled with a viscous incompressible fluid

A rotor partially filled with a viscous incompressible fluid is modeled as planar system. Its structural part, i. e. the rotor, is assumed to be rigid, circular, elastically supported and running with a prescribed time-dependent angular velocity. Both parts, structure and fluid, interact via the no-slip condition and the pressure. The point of departure for the mathematical formulation of the fluid filling is the Navier-Stokes equation, which is complemented by an additional equation for the evolution of its free inner boundary. Further, rotor and fluid are subjected to volume forces, namely gravitation. Trial functions are chosen for the fluid velocity field, the pressure field and the moving boundary, which fulfill the incompressibility constraint as well as the boundary conditions. Inserting these trial functions into the partial differential equations of the fluid motion, and applying the method of weighted residuals yields equations with time derivatives only. Finally, in combination with the rotor equations, a nonlinear system of 12 differential-algebraic equations results, which sufficiently describes solutions near the circular symmetric state and which may indicate the loss of its stability. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)