The swirling flows of water and CTAC (cetyltrimethyl ammonium chloride) surfactant solutions in an open cylindrical container with a rotating disc at the bottom were experimentally investigated by use of a double-pulsed PIV (particle image velocimetry) system. The mass concentrations of CTAC solutions were in the range of 50–1000 ppm, and the Reynolds number based on angular velocity, kinematic viscosity of water and radius of rotating disc was fixed at 4.3 × 104. The aspect ratio of the height of the liquid filled into the cylindrical vessel to the radius of the vessel was set to 1.0. The secondary flow patterns in the meridional plane and the tangential velocities were obtained. The flow pattern in the meridional plane for water at the present high Reynolds number differed greatly from that at low Reynolds numbers, and an inertia-driven vortex was pushed to the corner between the free surface and the cylindrical wall by a counter-rotating vortex caused by vortex breakdown. For the 1000-ppm surfactant solution flow, the inertia-driven vortex located at the corner between the bottom and the cylindrical wall whereas an elasticity-driven reverse vortex governed the majority of the flow field. The radial distributions of the time-averaged tangential velocities also differed for water and surfactant solutions. The rotation of the fluid caused a deformation of the free surface with a dip at the center. The dip was largest for the water case and decreased with increasing surfactant concentration.
