The present work considers the turbulent flow inside a high-speed rotor-stator cavity with or without superimposed throughflow. New extensive measurements made at IRPHE by a two-component laser Doppler anemometer technique and by pressure transducers are compared to numerical predictions based on one-point statistical modeling using a low-Reynolds-number second-order full stress transport closure (Reynolds stress model). The advanced second-order model provides good predictions for the mean flow as well as for the turbulent field and so is the adequate level of closure to describe such complex flows. A better insight into the dynamics of such flows is also gained from this study. Indeed the transition between a Batchelor type of flow with two boundary layers separated by a central rotating core and a Stewartson type of flow with only one boundary layer on the rotating disk is characterized in the (r*,Ro) plane, where r* is the dimensionless radial location and Ro a modified Rossby number. The 5∕7 power-law of Poncet et al. [“Turbulent rotating disk with inward throughflow,” J. Fluid Mech. 522, 253 (2005)] describing the mean centripetal flow in a rotor-stator system is extended to different aspect ratios and to the case of centrifugal Batchelor type of flows.

This experimental study is devoted to the description of the different patterns resulting from instabilities which appear in the flow between a rotating and a stationary disk enclosed by a stationary sidewall. With the help of visualizations we describe the different flow regimes as functions of two control parameters: the Reynolds number and the aspect ratio of the gap separating the disks, which are varied over large continuous ranges. Moreover, visualizations and ultrasonic anemometry lead to the description of the different instabilities and to the construction of a transition diagram that summarizes the domains of existence of the various patterns. Two different scenarios of transition are mainly followed by the flow. When the gap between the two disks is more than the thickness of the two disk boundary layers, circular and spiral waves destabilize the stationary disk boundary layer. Transition occurs in this case by the mixing of these waves. On the other hand, when the two boundary layers are merged, finite-size turbulent structures can appear. They consist of turbulent spots or turbulent spirals which invade the laminar domains as the Reynolds number of the flow is increased.