Subcritical turbulent transition in rotating and curved shear flows
Abstract
Description
The effects of global flow rotation and curvature on the subcritical transition to turbulence in shear flows are examined. The relevant time-scales of the problem are identified by a decomposition of the flow into a laminar and a deviation from laminar parts, which is performed for rotating plane Couette and Taylor-Couette flows. The usefulness and relevance of this procedure are discussed at the same time. By comparing the self-sustaining process time-scale to the time-scales previously identified, an interpretation is brought to light for the behavior of the transition Reynolds number with the rotation number and relative gap width in the whole neighborhood (in parameter space) of the non-rotating plane Couette flow covered by the available data.
16 pages, 2 figures, refereed proceeding of the Bristol 2004 Conference on Laminar Turbulent Transition and Finite Amplitude Solutions
16 pages, 2 figures, refereed proceeding of the Bristol 2004 Conference on Laminar Turbulent Transition and Finite Amplitude Solutions