The cavitating Taylor-Couette flow

This work presents an investigation of a new phenomenon of the Taylor-Couette flow: the onset of Taylor vortices in a cavitating fluid. This particular form of the Taylor-Couette flow develops if the shear flow between a rotating inner and a fixed outer cylinder approaches the critical Taylor number and the vapor pressure of the fluid simultaneously. This process is achieved by increasing the rotational speed of the inner cylinder, which causes an increase of the radial pressure gradient inside the laminar flow. The fully developed Taylor vortex flow is characterized by a pressure distribution in the azimuthal plane showing a local minimum adjacent to the wall of the inner cylinder between a pair of vortices that form a radial flow towards the outer cylinder. Thence, cavitation occurs simultaneously if the local pressure minimum drops below the vapor pressure of the fluid. This transition from a two-dimensional (Couette) into a three-dimensional (Taylor) flow triggered the idea to apply a newly developed ...