 ##  [Actuator Disk Theory](/index.php/actuator-disk-theory) 

  ##  [Actuator Disk Theory](https://engineering.quantumdictionary.io/actuator-disk-theory-0) 

  

 [![Engineering & Applied Technologies Dictionary](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Engineering%20%26%20Applied%20Technologies.png.webp?itok=_IKO7_-n)](/index.php/topic-specific-dictionaries/engineering-applied-technologies)



**Engineering &amp; Applied Technologies Dictionary**

 







 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Definition

A momentum‑based idealization that represents a rotor, propulsor, or turbine as a permeable disk imposing a discontinuous pressure jump (or distributed body force) on the flow; using mass and momentum conservation across control volumes upstream, through, and downstream of the disk yields relationships between induced velocities, thrust and power for steady, incompressible, one‑dimensional axial f