Floquet-based analysis on three-dimensional non-axisymmetric instabilities in oscillatory-driven Taylor–Couette flows and their low-frequency asymptotic behavior using Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin method

Abstract

This paper revisits the linear stability analysis of oscillatory-driven flows between two oscillating cylinders against non-axisymmetric disturbances. This study is motivated by the lack of a sufficiently reliable theoretical analysis giving insight into the experimentally observed spiral-like non-axisymmetric patterns when the cylinders are counter-oscillating. A new generalized time-dependent algebraic eigenvalue problem is constructed from the linearized set of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations around the purely azimuthal basic state. Numerical evaluation of the critical eigenvalues combining both Floquet theory and spectral method reveals the existence of frequency ranges where this basic state becomes unstable against three-dimensional non-axisymmetric disturbances before it does so for two-dimensional axisymmetric ones. Indeed, as the oscillation frequency of the cylinders increases, the azimuthal wave number of the critical eigensolution is found to change from 0 to 2 to 1 and then back to 0. The primary bifurcation exchange between two instability modes with different azimuthal wave numbers occurs via different types of codimension-2 bifurcation points giving rise to discontinuities in the critical axial wave number where reversing and non-reversing non-axisymmetric Taylor vortex flows are identified. In addition, by extending our numerical calculations to the co-oscillating case, we show that the axisymmetric disturbances are the most unstable confirming thus existing experimental findings. Furthermore, a Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin (WKB) analysis is performed to shed light on the asymptotic behavior of these time-dependent flows in the low-frequency limit when the cylinders are slowly oscillating.