Turbulent Spot in Linearly Stable Taylor Couette Flow

Turbulent Spot in Linearly Stable Taylor Couette Flow

Alidai, A.
Greidanus, A.J.
Delfos, R.
Westerweel, J.

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Process and Energy

2015-10-14

The transition from the laminar to the turbulent regime in linearly stable shear flows, for example, pipe and plane Couette flows, occurs abruptly with no precursor. The evolution of turbulent spots has been studied to better understand the dynamics of this transition and the onset of turbulence. These studies have mostly focused on pipe flows for which a finite lifetime of spots was proven. The same conclusion was drawn in the only available study performed in a Taylor Couette setup. Here, the spot lifetime is measured in a different size TC setup. It is shown that the lifetime is indeed finite and also very sensitive to boundary conditions, but not much to perturbation mechanisms. A scaling approach is provided which suggests in addition to the Reynolds number, the aspect and radius ratios are influential parameters on the lifetime. It is found that the spot size varies during its lifetime and increases with the Reynolds number that confirms the rise in turbulence proliferation by approaching the transitional point.

transient turbulence
Taylor Couette
turbulent spot
local and global perturbations

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c1ae967e-5e54-4096-8a1d-9c744ee7c8f6

Springer

1386-6184

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-015-9664-7

Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, 96 (3), 2016

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2015 Springer