Abstract
This Letter reports experimental measurements of the velocity $v$ of a Taylor vortex front propagating into an unstable Couette state in rotating Couette-Taylor flow and of the wavelength selected by this dynamical process. The data are consistent with a constant velocity $v\ensuremath{\propto}{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}^{\frac{1}{2}}$, as predicted from an amplitude equation, but are nearly a factor of 2 smaller than that prediction. Recent dynamic experiments on the onset of Taylor vortex flow by Park, Crawford, and Donnelly are explained in terms of vortex-front propagation.
Keywords
Taylor–Couette flowPhysicsVortexFront (military)Couette flowAmplitudeFlow (mathematics)MechanicsWavelengthClassical mechanicsOpticsMeteorology
Affiliated Institutions
Related Publications
Cellular convection with finite amplitude in a rotating fluid
When a rotating layer of fluid is heated uniformly from below and cooled from above, the onset of instability is inhibited by the rotation. The first part of this paper treats t...
The stability of viscous flow between horizontal concentric cylinders
The critical conditions for the formation of Taylor vortices between horizontal concentric cylinders are considered in detail. (1) Where the flow is unidirectional round the ann...
Dynamical instabilities and the transition to chaotic Taylor vortex flow
We have used the technique of laser-Doppler velocimetry to study the transition to turbulence in a fluid contained between concentric cylinders with the inner cylinder rotating....
Time-dependent Kohn-Sham density-functional theory
A time-dependent Kohn-Sham theory is presented for obtaining the time-dependent density which has a periodic dependence on time. A set of coupled single-particle equations $\ens...
Flow regimes in a circular Couette system with independently rotating cylinders
Our flow-visualization and spectral studies of flow between concentric independently rotating cylinders have revealed a surprisingly large variety of different flow states. (The...
Publication Info
- Year
- 1983
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 1583-1586
- Citations
- 130
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
130
OpenAlex
3
Influential
119
CrossRef
Cite This
Guenter Ahlers,
David S. Cannell
(1983).
Vortex-Front Propagation in Rotating Couette-Taylor Flow.
Physical Review Letters
, 50
(20)
, 1583-1586.
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.50.1583
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1103/physrevlett.50.1583