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Effect of polymer additives on Görtler vortices in Taylor—Couette flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

S. H.-K. Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08855-0909, USA Present address: Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology, (UHKIST)Hong Kong.
S. Sengupta
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08855-0909, USA
T. Wei
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08855-0909, USA

Abstract

Taylor—Couette flow is ideal for studying drag-reducing polymer additives because, unlike turbulent boundary layers, the instabilities are better understood. Video records of laser-induced fluorescence experiments with and without polymers will be presented. Polyethylene-oxide (PEO) ‘oceans’ were used in concentrations of 20 and 100 p.p.m. In the Taylor number range, 3 × 104Ta ≤ 108, Newtonian flow consisted of Taylor vortices which span the gap between cylinders and much smaller Görtler vortices at the inner cylinder wall. Measurements of core-to-core separation between counter-rotating vortices were made to estimate the Görtler instability wavenumber. These measurements show that PEO addition increases the Görtler wavenumber for a given Taylor number. At the lower Taylor numbers, Görtler vortex formation was suppressed by PEO. This implies that polymers directly affect the evolution of centrifugal instabilities.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1995 Cambridge University Press

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