Stability boundary and wave number selection for Taylor vortex flow
This dissertation is concerned with determination of the Eckhaus stability boundary and study of a spatial ramp of the Reynolds number R as a wavenumber-selection mechanism for Taylor Vortex Flow (TVF) between concentric stationary outer and rotating inner cylinders. A calculation of this boundary for an infinitely long system is presented. The calculation includes a linear analysis of the stability of circular Couette Flow, the derivation of the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) amplitude equation, and a linear analysis of the stability of steady solutions to this equation. A similar calculation of Rayleigh-Bernard convection is also presented. Experimental results for the location of the Eckhaus boundary for radius ratios eta = 0.930, 0.892, and 0.747 are presented. They agree well with those obtained from the GL equation for values of R close to the critical Reynolds number R/sub c/, and with those obtained from a recent calculation for values of R up to 2R/sub c/. However, for wavenumbers larger than the critical q/sub c/, the experimental boundaries lay measurably above the theoretical calculations and are not consistent with the weak dependence on eta expected theoretically. An experimental study of a spatial ramp in R as a wavenumber selection mechanism is discussed.
- Research Organization:
- California Univ., Santa Barbara (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5860828
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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