Experiment and numerical investigation are performed on swirling water flow in a vertical circular tube. This kind of flow is used in heat exchangers, combustion chambers, thermal power plants, and other mechanical equipment to move slurries or to convey materials. However, limited information on swirling flow in vertical circular tubes is available. In the current paper, the three-dimensional particle image velocimetry(PIV) technique is employed to compare the measured velocity profiles of water along the vertical circular tube with those of non-swirl flow. In addition, computational fluid dynamics(CFD) code was applied to calculation of the flow velocities with swirl.