Taylor-Couette system with asymmetric boundary conditions

We report on a study on stability, bifurcation scenarios and routes into chaos in Taylor-Couette flow. By increasing the Reynolds number with the angular velocity of the driving inner cylinder, the flow bifurcates from laminar mid-plane- symmetric basic flow via a pitchfork bifurcation to mid-plane-symmetric Taylor vortex flow. Both flow states are rotationally symmetric. We now compare the dynamical behaviour in a system with symmetric boundary conditions with the effects in an asymmetric system. We also could vary the gap widths. The different flow states can be detected by visualization with small aluminium flakes and also measured by Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV)and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The dynamical behaviour of the rotating flow is discussed by time series analysis methods and velocity bifurcation diagrams and then compared with numerical calculations.