On the stability of the Couette–Taylor flow between rotating porous cylinders with radial flow

Abstract

We study the stability of the Couette-Taylor flow between porous cylinders with radial throughflow. It had been shown earlier that this flow can be unstable with respect to non-axisymmetric (azimuthal or helical) waves provided that the radial Reynolds number, $R$ (constructed using the radial velocity at the inner cylinder and its radius), is high. In this paper, we present a very detailed and, in many respects, novel chart of critical curves in a region of moderate values of $R$, and we show that, starting from values of $R$, as low as $10$, the critical modes inherited from the inviscid instability gradually substitute the classical Taylor vortices. Also, we have looked more closely at the effect of a weak radial flow (relatively low $R$) on the Taylor instability and found that a radial flow directed from the inner cylinder to the outer one is capable of stabilizing the Couette-Taylor flow provided that the gap between the cylinders is wide enough. This observation is in a sharp contrast with the case of relatively narrow gaps for which the opposite effect is well-known.