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Surface-layer similarity in turbulent circular Couette flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

Martin Claussen
Martin Claussen
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Bundestrasse 55, 2000 Hamburg 13, F.R.G.
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Abstract

Smith & Townsend's (1982) experimental data on circular Couette flow are re-examined in the framework of surface-layer similarity theory. Surface-layer similarity of horizontally stratified shear flow is shown to have its counterpart in a narrow-gap Couette flow between concentric cylinders. Smith & Townsend's data of mean angular momentum and mean-velocity profiles in a region near a cylinder lend support to the applicability of Monin–Obukhov similarity to circular Couette flow. Only for flows of very high Reynolds numbers is a region of logarithmic variation of mean profiles found close to the cylinder wall. Because of curvature effects on the flow, the mean profiles deviate from the logarithmic profile as distance from the cylinder wall increases. For flows of sufficiently low Reynolds number, but still very high Taylor number, no logarithmic profile seems to exist; instead, profiles in the viscous region and in the outer region are connected to each other by a ‘free-convection (rotation)’ profile. From Smith & Townsend's data the velocity field is not observed to follow the prediction of ‘free-convection’ similarity; however, the ‘free-convection’ profile is found in the distribution of mean angular momentum.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 144 , July 1984 , pp. 123 - 131
Copyright
© 1984 Cambridge University Press

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