Bifurcation phenomena in Taylor-Couette flow in a very short annulus

Abstract

We present the results of an experimental and numerical investigation into Taylor-Couette flow with gap-length to width ratios (Γ = l / d ) ranging from 0.3 to 1.4. Laser-Doppler-velocimetry is used to obtain quantitative information on the bifurcation set experimentally, and novel flow phenomena are uncovered. These results are compared with those obtained using numerical bifurcation techniques applied to a finite-element discretization of the Navier-Stokes equations. In general, the agreement is good and most of the observations are satisfactorily explained.