Vortex breakdown in the lower fluid of two-fluid swirling flow

Abstract

This paper describes the first experimental evidence of the vortex breakdown development in the lower fluid in a sealed vertical cylindrical container in which two immiscible fluids circulate, driven by a rotating lid. The lower fluid is water, and the upper fluid is sunflower oil. In both fluids, the rotation generates centrifugal meridional circulations separated by a thin anticentrifugal circulation layer attached to the interface from below. An advanced technique of particle image velocimetry and proper laser illumination allows for the measurement of velocity and recognition of the patterns of flow in oil and water. As the rotation speeds up, a tornadolike swirling ascending jet forms near the axis-bottom intersection. A circulation cell (vortex-breakdown bubble, VBB) then emerges near the center of the water domain, approaches the bottom, and disappears. This scenario of the appearance and disappearance of the VBB is similar to that occurring in a single-fluid flow and in the upper fluid of a two-fluid flow.