In order to simulate the results of practical cleaning tests on closed processing equipment, based on wall shear stress predicted by computational fluid dynamics, a critical wall shear stress is required for that particular cleaning method. This work presents investigations that provide a critical wall shear stress of 3 Pa for the standardised EHEDG cleaning test method. The cleaning tests were performed on a test disc placed in a radial flowcell assay. Turbulent flow conditions were generated and the corresponding wall shear stresses were predicted from CFD simulations. Combining wall shear stress predictions from a simulation using the low Re k-epsilon and one using the two-layer model of Norris and Reynolds were found to produce reliable predictions compared to empirical solutions for the ideal flow case. The comparison of wall shear stress curves predicted for the real RFC with the empirical solution showed that the empirical solution gives a good prediction even in the real RFC from a radius of 15 mm and outwards. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.