This paper presents an analysis of the axial thrust of axial flow high-speed impellers under a turbulent regime of flow of an agitated liquid. The axial thrust is calculated from the measured total axial force affecting the cylindrical fully baffled mixing vessel and from the radial profile of the axial component of the ensemble-averaged mean velocity in the impeller discharge stream. The results of experimentally determined values of the dimensionless criteria (thrust number and momentum number) are successfully compared with the axial thrust of the pitched blade impellers calculated from the theoretically predicted simplified radial profiles of the axial component of the mean velocity in the impeller discharge stream. (c) 2012 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.