Torque scaling in Taylor-Couette flow - An experimental investigation

Abstract

Within this work we investigate experimentally the turbulent flow between two independently rotating concentric cylinders with radius ratio η = 0.5. The angular velocity of the fluid ω across the gap is measured by Particle Image Velocimetry and Laser Doppler Anemometry for different rotation rates of the inner and outer cylinder. The aim is to analyse the angular momentum transport Jω. In relation to this we measure, in addition to the optical methods, the torque effecting at the inner cylinder. For the case that only the outer cylinder rotates and the inner cylinder is at rest, we show, that for this linear stable flow, the torque is comparatively high and its dependency a non-trivial problem.