This paper presents an experimental and a numerical method to analyze the formation of the steady-state solid-liquid interface in a cooled axially rotating pipe for turbulent flow and constant wall temperature. The experimental investigations show that wavy ice layers occur when the fluid acceleration due to growth of the solid phase is strong enough to cause a flow laminarization. The comparison of the experiments with the numerical calculations reveals that the applied Reynolds stress turbulence closure is able to capture the effects caused by the acceleration as well as the laminarization due to flow rotation.