Related papers: Nonlinear stability of laboratory quasi-Keplerian …
We report a direct-numerical-simulation study of Taylor-Couette flow in the quasi-Keplerian regime at shear Reynolds numbers up to $\mathcal{O}(10^5)$. Quasi-Keplerian rotating flow has been investigated for decades as a simplified model…
Most flows in nature and engineering are turbulent because of their large velocities and spatial scales. Laboratory experiments of rotating quasi-Keplerian flows, for which the angular velocity decreases radially but the angular momentum…
We present measurements of quasi-Keplerian flows in a Taylor-Couette device that identify the boundary conditions required to generate near-ideal flows that exhibit self-similarity under scaling of the Reynolds number. These experiments are…
We investigate the linear instability of flows that are stable according to Rayleigh's criterion for rotating fluids. Using Taylor-Couette flow as a primary test case, we develop large Reynolds number matched asymptotic expansion theories.…
A concise review is given of astrophysically motivated experimental and theoretical research on Taylor-Couette flow. The flows of interest rotate differentially with inner cylinder faster than outer one but are linearly stable against…
Taylor-Couette (TC) flow is used to probe the hydrodynamical stability of astrophysical accretion disks. Experimental data on the subcritical stability of TC are in conflict about the existence of turbulence (cf. Ji et al. Nature, 444,…
We investigate the nonlinear dynamics of turbulent shear flows, with and without rotation, in the context of a simple but physically motivated closure of the equation governing the evolution of the Reynolds stress tensor. We show that the…
The relation between rotating plane Couette and Taylor-Couette flows is clarified. The identity of their linear stability limits is explained by considering the effect of the Coriolis force in the rotating frame. Experimental data are used…
The velocity fluctuations in a spherical shell arising from sinusoidal perturbations of a Keplerian shear flow with a free amplitude parameter \epsilon are studied numerically by means of fully 3D nonlinear simulations. The investigations…
Hydrodynamic unstratified keplerian flows are known to be linearly stable at all Reynolds numbers, but may nevertheless become turbulent through nonlinear mechanisms. However, in the last ten years, conflicting points of view have appeared…
Quasi-Keplerian flow, a special regime of Taylor-Couette co-rotating flow, is of great astrophysical interest for studying angular momentum transport in accretion disks. The well-known magnetorotational instability (MRI) successfully…
Taylor-Couette flow -- the flow between two coaxial co- or counter-rotating cylinders -- is one of the paradigmatic systems in physics of fluids. The (dimensionless) control parameters are the Reynolds numbers of the inner and outer…
It is shown that linear instability of plane Couette flow can take place even at finite Reynolds numbers which meets with known experimental data. This new result of the linear theory of hydrodynamic stability is obtained only due by…
We numerically compute the flow of an electrically conducting fluid in a Taylor-Couette geometry where the rotation rates of the inner and outer cylinders satisfy $\Omega_o/\Omega_i=(r_o/r_i)^{-3/2}$. In this quasi-Keplerian regime a…
Context: Subcritical transition to turbulence has been proposed as a source of turbulent viscosity required for the associated angular momentum transport for fast accretion in Keplerian disks. Previously cited laboratory experiments in…
In plane Couette flow, the incompressible fluid between two plane parallel walls is driven by the motion of those walls. The laminar solution, in which the streamwise velocity varies linearly in the wall-normal direction, is known to be…
Subcritical transition to turbulence in Keplerian accretion disks is still a controversial issue and some theoretical progress is required in order to determine whether or not this scenario provides a plausible explanation for the origin of…
Recent studies have brought into question the view that at sufficiently high Reynolds number turbulence is an asymptotic state. We present the first direct observation of the decay of turbulent states in Taylor-Couette flow with lifetimes…
The flow of an electrically conducting fluid in a thin disc under the action of an azimuthal Lorentz force is studied experimentally. At small forcing, the Lorentz force is balanced by either viscosity or inertia, yielding quasi-Keplerian…
In this note, which is of general stability theory interest, we discuss some of the key assertions usually stated in the context of the transition to turbulence problem. In particular, the two main points made here in the setting of the…