PAMM · Proc. Appl. Math. Mech. 8, 10641 – 10642 (2008) / DOI 10.1002/pamm.

200810641

Numerical and experimental study of the flow in an eccentric

Couette-Taylor system with small gap
Nicoleta Scurtu1,∗ , Peter Stücke2 , and Christoph Egbers1
1
Department of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany
2
Institute of Automotive Engineering, West Saxon University of Applied Sciences Zwickau, Germany

Various papers were dedicated to the technical and industrial aspects of the Taylor-Couette flow, by analyzing the flow struc-
ture in dependence of characteristic parameters. Also some studies concerning the influence of an eccentrical position of the
rotating inner cylinder relatively to the fixed outer cylinder exist in the case of a large gap width. The principal technical
application of such studies is the flow in journal bearings where the gap width is very small, of the order 0.1% relative to the
inner cylinder radius. Analytical and numerical investigations of the flow in journal bearings are generally based on the two-
dimensional Reynolds approximation. This investigation in aiming at a validation of the range where the Reynolds equation
is applicable in relation to the characteristical parameters: gap width, eccentricity and Reynolds number.


c 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

1 Introduction
This paper is concerned with the study of the finite length Couette-Taylor system, namely the case of eccentric positioned
cylinders. We consider the viscous, incompressible flow between two eccentric rotating circular cylinders. If the inner cylinder
of radius R1 is rotating with angular velocity ω1 and the outer cylinder of radius R2 is fixed then the problem is specified by
four parameters, namely the normalized clearance Ψ, the aspect ratio Γ, the eccentricity  and the Reynolds number Re. By
notating the medium gap width H0 = R2 − R1 , e the distance between the cylinders axes and ν the kinematical viscosity of
the fluid, the geometrical and flow parameters are defined as Ψ = H0 /R1 , Γ = B/H0 ,  = e/H0 and Re = H0 R1 ω1 /ν.
For small normalized clearance this flow configuration is a simple model of a journal bearing and many studies on the two
dimensional steady flow between eccentric cylinders can be found. The analytical work of Sommerfeld [3] is showing that the
basic flow in the eccentric Couette-Taylor system is similar to the concentric case if the eccentricity is smaller than a critical
value c ≈ 0.3028. At larger eccentricities  > c a recirculation eddy occurs in the wide gap area. Eagles et al. [1] applied a
stability analysis of the flow and found that the critical Reynolds number which indicates the first instability increases over .
In the experiments of Vohr [5] the onset of vortices was determined at different small clearances and his results agrees
very good with the analytical predictions especially in the range of small eccentricity ( < 0.4). The linear stability of two-
dimensional steady flow between eccentric cylinders was studied numerically by Oikawa et al. [2] for medium and small gap
width, e.g. Ψ ∈ {0.205, 0.1}. They obtained results which are comparable with the experiments from [5].
Three-dimensional simulations were presented by Shu et al. [4] only at large normalized clearance Ψ = 0.5. Like in the
previous works, they conclude that the eccentricity stabilize the onset of Taylor vortices. At a constant Reynolds number the
strength of the Taylor vortices decreases when eccentricity increases. The flow pattern of the Taylor vortex flow is distorted
by the existence of separation at supercritical eccentricities. The recirculation area enlarges in axial, azimuthal and radial
directions in the same time as eccentricity increases. On axial planes which are near the vortex center, the separation flow is
closed, but on other axial planes, separation flow is opened with a certain regulation. The strength of the Taylor vortices is
different at different positions in azimuthal direction. The strongest Taylor vortex exists in the region between 45◦ and 90◦
downstream of the widest gap of cylinders, while the weakest one roughly appears at 45◦ downstream of the narrowest gap.
These positions approximately coincide with the position of maximum and minimum pressure.

2 Results
Our purpose is the numerical and experimental study of the eccentric Couette-Taylor system with rotating inner cylinder and
fixed outer cylinder in the case of small clearance ratio Ψ ≤ 0.1 and finite aspect ratio of Γ = 20 by setting two types of
boundary conditions at the ends of the system. First we fixed the ends by setting zero velocity boundary conditions. The
second type of boundary conditions corresponds to the system with open ends, when the pressure is fixed while the normal
velocity gradient is set to zero.
For the concentric Couette-Taylor system at Ψ = 0.1, Γ = 20 and supercritical Reynolds number Re = 145 (Recr =
137.54, see [1]), the differences of the steady flows corresponding to the two types of boundary conditions at the ends are
shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The isosurface of the velocity magnitude |u| = 0.5 and the stream tracer plots in an azimuthal section
∗ N. Scurtu E-mail: scurtu@tu-cottbus.de, Phone: +49 (0)355 69 5013, Fax: +49 (0)355 69 4891

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10642 Sessions of Short Communications 10: Viscous flows

Fig. 1 Concentric system with fixed ends at Re = 145. Fig. 2 Concentric system with open ends Re = 145.

of the cylinder gap are shown in the upper line of Figs. 1 and 2 for fixed and open ends, respectively. In both cases a number of
18 complete Taylor vortices exists. The middle figures of Figs. 1 and 2 show the radial velocity component plotted along the
axial line ongoing through the middle of the gap. In the case of the system with fixed ends the mid-vortices pair are flowing
outward at the axial position z = 0, whereas for the system with open ends the mid-vortices pair are flowing inward. This fact
has essential influence on the curvature of the azimuthal velocity profiles in the radial direction, as can be seen in the lower
figures of Figs. 1 and 2. Along radial lines passing the center of a vortex, e.g. at z = 1/2∆w and z = 3/2∆w, ∆w being
the vortex width, the azimuthal velocity profiles are matching the Couette profile in both cases of end boundary conditions.
Whereas, along radial lines passing the conjunction of an outward flowing vortices pair the azimuthal velocity profile has a
concave curvature. This occurs in the middle of the fixed ends system and at z = ∆w in the open ends system. Along radial
lines passing the conjunction of an inward flowing vortices pair the azimuthal velocity profile has a convex curvature, as it
occurs in the middle of the open ends system and at z = ∆w in the system with fixed ends.
Comparisons with experimental results were carried out for the eccentric Couette-Taylor system at Ψ = 0.1, Γ = 20,
 = 0.25 and subcritical Reynolds number Re = 100. The numerical and experimental profiles of the azimuthal velocity
component along the radial line ongoing through the middle of the system at z = 0 are in very good agreement for both types
of ends boundary conditions as one can observe in Fig. 3. For the system with fixed ends the numerical and experimental
results match the analytical profile of the eccentric Couette flow. The convexity of the velocity profile corresponding to the
system with fixed ends is much higher than for the system with open ends.

References
[1] P. M. Eagles, J. T. Stuart, and R. C. DiPrima, The effects of eccentricity
on torque and load in Taylor-vortex flow, JFM 87, p. 209-231 (1978).
[2] M. Oikawa, T. Karasudani, and M. Funakoshi, Stability of flow between
Eccentric rotating cylinders, J. Phys. Soc. of Japan 58 (7), p. 2355-2364
(1989).
[3] A. Sommerfeld, Zur hydrodynamischen Theorie der Schmierstoffrei-
bung, ZAMP 50, p. 97-155 (1904).
[4] C. Shu, L. Wang, Y. T. Chew, and N. Zhao, Numerical study of eccentric
Couette-Taylor flows and effect of eccentricity on flow patterns, Theor.
Comp. Fluid Dyn. 18 (1), p. 43-59, (2004).
[5] J. H. Vohr, An experimental study of Taylor vortices and turbulence in
Fig. 3 Comparison between simulation, experimental and an- flow between eccentric rotating cylinders, Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Eng.
alytical data of the velocity profiles in subcritical regime. F. 90, p. 285 (1968).

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