Co-rotating Taylor–Couette flow enclosed by stationary disks

Abstract

AbstractWe report results of a combined numerical and experimental study on axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric flow states in a finite-length, co-rotating Taylor–Couette system in the Taylor vortex regime but also in the Rayleigh stable regime for moderate Reynolds numbers (${\leq }1000$). We found the dominant boundary-driven axisymmetric circulation to play a crucial role in the mode selection and the bifurcation behaviour in this flow. A sequence of partially hysteretic transitions to other axisymmetric multi-cell flow states is observed. Furthermore, we observed spiral states bifurcating via a supercritical Hopf bifurcation out of these multi-cell states which strongly determine the shape of the spiral. Finally, an excellent agreement between experimental and numerical results of the full Navier–Stokes equations is found.