Effect of acceleration on the wavy Taylor vortex flow

In this paper, we use a laser optical technique to investigate the characteristics of a wavy Taylor vortex flow between two concentric cylinders, with the inner cylinder subjected to a wide range of predetermined acceleration and the outer one at rest. We focus on the inner/outer radius ratio of 0.894, with an acceleration (dRe/dt*) from 0.1123 to 2,247, and Reynolds number from Re/Rec=1.0 to 36. The results show that, with increasing Reynolds number, there is an initial increase in the wavelength of the wavy vortex flow (λ), and a decrease in the wave speed (c) before they asymptote to a constant value, which is a function of the acceleration. As for the wave amplitude (A), it is found that the effect of acceleration is significant only in a very narrow range of Reynolds numbers.