Visual Observations and Torque Measurements in the Taylor Vortex Regime Between Eccentric Rotating Cylinders

Abstract

The instability of Taylor vortices in the flow between a stationary outer cylinder and an eccentric rotating inner cylinder has been investigated by visual observations and by torque measurements. It is shown that both a “weak” and “strong” wavy mode of instability can be detected by torque measurements, giving critical Taylor numbers in good agreement with visual observations.