Numerical study of eccentric Couette-Taylor flows and effect of eccentricity on flow patterns

Abstract

In this study, the differential quadrature (DQ) method was used to simulate the eccentric Couette-Taylor vortex flow in an annulus between two eccentric cylinders with rotating inner cylinder and stationary outer cylinder. An approach combining the SIMPLE (semiimplicit method for pressure-linked equations) and DQ discretization on a non-staggered mesh was proposed to solve the time-dependent, three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in the primitive variable form. The eccentric steady Couette-Taylor flow patterns were obtained from the solution of three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. The reported numerical results for steady Couette flow were compared with those from Chou and San and Szeri. Very good agreement was achieved. For steady eccentric Taylor vortex flow, detailed flow patterns were obtained and analyzed. The effect of eccentricity on the eccentric Taylor vortex flow pattern was also studied.