Numerical Simulations of Heat Transfer in Taylor-Couette Flow

Abstract

Numerical simulations have been performed to study the effects of the gravitational and the centrifugal potentials on the stability of heated, incompressible Taylor-Couette flow. The flow is confined between two differentially heated, concentric cylinders, and the inner cylinder is allowed to rotate. The Navier-Stokes equations and the coupled energy equation are solved using a spectral method. To validate the code, comparisons are made with existing linear stability analysis and with experiments. The code is used to calculate the local and average heat transfer coefficients for a fixed Reynolds number (Re = 100) and a range of Grashof numbers. The investigation is primarily restricted to radius ratios 0.5 and 0.7 for fluids with Prandtl number of about 0.7. The variation of the local coefficients of heat transfer on the cylinder surface is investigated, and maps showing different stable states of the flow are presented. Results are also presented in terms of the equivalent conductivity, and show that heat transfer decreases with Grashof number in axisymmetric Taylor vortex flow regime, and increases with Grashof number after the flow becomes nonaxisymmetric.