ON THE STABILITY OF SPIRAL FLOW BETWEEN ROTATING CYLINDERS

Abstract : The stability of a viscous fluid between two concentric rotating cylinders with an axial flow is investigated. Two methods of solution are employed to study this problem, when both cylinders are rotating in the same direction and when the gap between the cylinders is small. Results are given for small amounts of axial flow which indicate that the critical Taylor number increases with increasing amounts of axial flow. The results are compared with previous experimental and theoretical results. The problem when both cylinders are rotating in opposite directions is studied in the small gap case and results are obtained for small amounts of axial flow. These results indicate that the Taylor number increases with increasing amounts of axial flow. (Author)