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In 1923, the Philosophical Transactions published G. I. Taylor’s seminal paper on the stability of what we now call Taylor–Couette flow. In the century since the paper was published, Taylor’s ground-breaking linear stability analysis of fluid flow between two rotating cylinders has had an enormous impact on the field of fluid mechanics. The paper’s influence has extended to general rotating flows, geophysical flows and astrophysical flows, not to mention its significance in firmly establishing several foundational concepts in fluid mechanics that are now broadly accepted. This two-part issue includes review articles and research articles spanning a broad range of contemporary research areas, all rooted in Taylor’s landmark paper. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Taylor–Couette and related flows on the centennial of Taylor’s seminal Philosophical Transactions paper (part 1)’.

International audience; Monodisperse and bidisperse granular flows are studied in rotating tumblers using DEM. In spherical tumblers, flowing particles’ trajectories do not follow straight lines but are curved. At the same time particles near the surface drift toward the pole, inducing two global recirculation cells. Combined with radial segregation, drift and curvature compete to impose the axial segregation pattern: Small-Large-Small (SLS) or Large-Small-Large (LSL). Fill level, rotation speed and wall roughness influence drift and curvature, and modify the resulting segregation pattern. In cylindrical tumblers, equivalent recirculation cells occur next to the end walls. A second pair of recirculation cells with a weak drift in the opposite direction appears at the center for long enough tumblers. Unlike the sphere case, curvature and drift in the primary cells combine to push large particles toward the end walls, explaining why large particle bands appear at the end walls for axial segregation in cylinder.

Walls in discrete element method simulations of granular flows are sometimes modeled as a closely packed monolayer of fixed particles, resulting in a rough wall rather than a geometrically smooth wall. An implicit assumption is that the resulting rough wall differs from a smooth wall only locally at the particle scale. Here we test this assumption by considering the impact of the wall roughness at the periphery of the flowing layer on the flow of monodisperse particles in a rotating spherical tumbler. We find that varying the wall roughness significantly alters average particle trajectories even far from the wall. Rough walls induce greater poleward axial drift of particles near the flowing layer surface, but decrease the curvature of the trajectories. Increasing the volume fill level in the tumbler has little effect on the axial drift for rough walls, but increases the drift while reducing curvature of the particle trajectories for smooth walls. The mechanism for these effects is related to the degree of local slip at the bounding wall, which alters the flowing layer thickness near the walls, affecting the particle trajectories even far from the walls near the equator of the tumbler. Thus, the proper choice of wall conditions is important in the accurate simulation of granular flows, even far from the bounding wall., 32 pages, 19 figures, regular article, accepted for publication in Physical Review E 2006

International audience; Building on the weakly nonlinear amplitude equation of the saturated Taylor vortices developing in a Taylor–Couette cell with a rotating inner cylinder and a fixed outer one, the physical mechanism underlying the destabilization of these vortices resulting in azimuthal waviness is addressed using Floquet analysis. For narrow gap configurations, analysis and direct numerical simulations together with existing experimental results support the idea that the waviness is generated by the axial shear in the azimuthal velocity due to the alternate advection by the Taylor vortices of azimuthal momentum between the cylinders. For wide gap configurations, this mechanism is no longer able to drive the azimuthal waviness and a different mechanism tends to select a subharmonic instability.

International audience; Models of monodisperse particle flow in partially filled three-dimensional tumblers often assume that flow along the axis of rotation is negligible. We test this assumption, for spherical and double cone tumblers, using experiments and discrete element method simulations. Cross sections through the particle bed of a spherical tumbler show that, after a few rotations, a colored band of particles initially perpendicular to the axis of rotation deforms: particles near the surface drift toward the pole, while particles deeper in the flowing layer drift toward the equator. Tracking of mm-sized surface particles in tumblers with diameters of 8-14 cm shows particle axial displacements of one to two particle diameters, corresponding to axial drift that is 1-3% of the tumbler diameter, per pass through the flowing layer. The surface axial drift in both double cone and spherical tumblers is zero at the equator, increases moving away from the equator, and then decreases near the poles. Comparing results for the two tumbler geometries shows that wall slope causes axial drift, while drift speed increases with equatorial diameter. The dependence of axial drift on axial position for each tumbler geometry is similar when both are normalized by their respective maximum values.

International audience; A generalized solution for pressure-driven, incompressible, Newtonian flow in a porous tubular membrane is challenging due to the coupling between the transmembrane pressure and velocity. To date, all analytical solutions require simplifications such as neglecting the coupling between the transmembrane pressure and velocity, assuming the form of the velocity fields, or expanding in powers of parameters involving the tube length. Moreover, previous solutions have not been validated with comparison to direct numerical simulation (DNS). We comprehensively revisit the problem to present a robust analytical solution incorporating Darcy's law on the membrane. We make no assumptions about the tube length or form of the velocity fields. The analytic solution is validated with detailed comparison to DNSs, including cases of axial flow exhaustion and cross flow reversal. We explore the validity of typical assumptions used in modeling porous tube flow and present a solution for porous channels in Supporting Information.

International audience; A generalized solution for pressure-driven flow through a permeable rotating inner cylinder in an impermeable concentric outer cylinder, a situation used commercially in rotating filtration, is challenging due to the interdependence between the pressure drop in the axial direction and that across the permeable inner cylinder. Most previous approaches required either an imposed radial velocity at the inner cylinder or radial throughflow with both the inner and outer cylinders being permeable. We provide an analytical solution for rotating Couette-Poiseuille flow with Darcy's law at the inner cylinder by using a small parameter related to the permeability of the inner cylinder. The theory works for suction, injection and even combined suction/injection, when the axial pressure drop in the annulus is such that the transmembrane pressure difference reverses sign along the axial extent of the system. Corresponding numerical simulations for finite-length systems match the theory very well.

International audience; The finite length of a Taylor-Couette cell introduces endwall effects that interact with the centrifugal instability. We investigate the interaction between the endwall Ekman boundary layers and the vortical structures in a finite-length cavity with counter-rotating cylinders via direct numerical simulation using a three-dimensional spectral method. To analyze the nature of the interaction between the vortices and the endwall layers we consider four endwall boundary conditions: fixed endwalls, endwalls rotating with the outer cylinder, endwalls rotating with the inner cylinder, and stress-free endwalls. The vortical structure of the flow depends on the endwall conditions. The waviness of the vortices is suppressed only very near the endwall, primarily due to zero axial velocity at the endwall rather than viscous effects. In spite of their waviness and random behavior, the vortices generally stay inside of the vθ=0 isosurface by adjusting quickly to the radial transport of azimuthal momentum. The thickness and strength of the Ekman layer at the endwall match with that predicted from a simple theoretical approach.

International audience; The endwalls in a Taylor-Couette cell introduce adjacent boundary layers that interact with the centrifugal instability. We investigate the interaction between the endwall Ekman layers and the Taylor vortices near transition from nonvortical to vortical flow via direct numerical simulation using a spectral method. We consider a radius ratio of η = 0.75 in a short annulus having a length-to-gap ratio of Γ = 6. To analyze the nature of the interaction between the vortices and the endwall layers, three endwall boundary conditions were considered: fixed endwalls, endwalls rotating with the inner cylinder, and stress-free endwalls. Below the critical Taylor number, endwall vortices for rotating endwalls are more than twice the strength of the vortices for fixed endwalls. This trend continues well above the transition to vortical flow, consistent with a simple force balance analysis near the endwalls. Stress-free endwalls result in endwall vortices that are similar in strength to those for rotating endwalls above the critical Taylor number. The endwall conditions significantly change the bifurcation diagram based on the radial velocity near the center of the annulus. For stress-free endwall conditions, the bifurcation is quite sharp, although only one fork of the bifurcation results unless the initial conditions are specifically set to favor the other fork. For rotating and fixed endwalls, there is a continuous transition from a featureless flow to a vortical flow due to the endwall vortices.

International audience; Differentially rotating cylinders result in a rich variety of vortical flows for cylindrical Couette flow. In this study we investigate the case of a short, finite-length cavity with counter-rotating cylinders via direct numerical simulation using a three-dimensional spectral method. We consider aspect ratios ranging from 5 to 6. Two complex flow regimes, wavy vortices and interpenetrating spirals, occur with similar appearance to those found experimentally for much larger aspect ratios. For wavy vortices the wave speed is similar to that found for counter-rotating systems and systems in which the outer cylinder is stationary. For the interpenetrating spiral structure, the vortices are largely confined to the unstable region near the inner cylinder. The endwalls appear to damp and stabilize the flow as the aspect ratio is reduced to the point that in some cases the vortical flow is suppressed. At higher inner cylinder speeds, the interpenetrating spirals acquire a waviness and the vortices, while generally near the inner cylinder, can extend all of the way to the outer cylinder.