A study of motions in a rotating liquid

Abstract

Starting with the equations of motion for a perfect, incompressible fluid referred to a coordinate system which rotates about a vertical axis with uniform angular velocity R , the physical condition of ‘small motion’ is determined which permits the equations to be linearized. The small motions resulting from forced oscillations of a rotating liquid are investigated. It is shown that there are three types of flow depending on the relative magnitudes of the impressed frequency β and the angular velocity R of the fluid. Two of the regimes are studied in detail. A similarity law is developed which gives the solution of a class of problems of oscillations for β > 2 R in terms of the solutions to similar irrotational problems. An attempt is made to explain how slow, two-dimensional motion can be produced by introducing a boundary condition which is three-dimensional (as observed in experiments performed by G. I. Taylor), by considering problems from the moment at which the disturbance is created from rest relative to the rotating system, with the only initial assumption that the fluid is rotating uniformly like a solid body. For the particular cases studied the results are in agreement with Taylor’s experiments, in that the flow is found to become steady and two-dimensional if the disturbance which causes it approaches a steady state. If the disturbance is due to a body which moves along the axis of rotation of the fluid, the steady two-dimensional behaviour may be expected everywhere except in the neighbourhood of the surface of an infinite cylinder which encloses the body and whose generators are parallel to the axis of rotation. To resolve an apparent disagreement between certain theoretical results by Grace on the one hand, and experimental evidence by Taylor and the author’s conclusions, on the other, arguments are advanced that the various results may be in agreement, provided Grace’s are given a new interpretation.