Resistance law dependence on radius ratios for turbulent Taylor-Couette flow from extended local balance model

Abstract

Abstract Turbulent Couette-Taylor flow is the most interesting kind of flow for theoreticians and experimenters. There are a great number of theories and experiments for larger and larger Reynolds numbers. The picture becomes more complex if we consider the case of independently rotating cylinders. The most simple quantity is a torque, acting on the lateral surface of inner cylinder by rotating fluid. How can we deduce theoretically the torque from Navier-Stokes equation? Unfortunately we have only bounds on this variable yet. So we cause use models of turbulence to predict the torque dependence on Reynolds numbers or Taylor number and on radius ration. Here we present the results of simple calculations, based on extended local balance model. The study compares the theory with experiments.